EKIP403 Introduction to Literary Studies (3 cr)

Content

Text-based, topic-based and task-based work. The course will be posted in Optima where the topics, texts and tasks will be available. The texts will comprise a varied selection of prose and verse.

Completion methods

Group work combined with contact teaching - for more detail see below.

Before each meeting there will be a new topic, a literary text to read that is used to illustrate that topic, and an accompanying task (ie questions to answer).

In the classes students will be given the opportunity to compare their individual answers to the week's questions within a small group; there will then be whole group feedback in which answers to the questions are discussed, with some feedback as appropriate from the course tutor.

Usually near the end there will be a short presentation by the tutor in preparation of the next week's topic.

Open University: contact teaching, web-based tasks, learning assignments, an exam or a combination of these (methods of study will be specified in the annual teaching programme before the start of each academic year).

Assessment details

Assessment by written examination.

Open University: Active participation (100% attendance usually required). Learning assignments or an exam.

Students usually come to the Department having had little experience of thinking critically about literature. Add to that the fact that the literature here is in a foreign language, and it is understandable if some students may approach the idea and process of learning about literary study with some uncertainty. Yet as University students of English, including many future teachers of English, the rich resource of literature in English should be one that students are able to benefit from both in their own reading and in the case of teachers of English in their professional lives. So the critical tools provided on this course provide a foundation for reading and writing about literature.

Attendance policy. 100% attendance is usually expected. The effect of any necessary absences on that student's work will be assessed by the teacher, and where necessary extra work in compensation may be required. More than two absences may result in the student having to leave to course, if in the teacher's judgment too much has been missed. Since this is a foundation course, absences can put students at a serious disadvantage. Note that attendance at the first class is required.