American Literature Competencies

Early American Literature (English 235)

African American Literature I: The Beginnings through the Harlem Renaissance

Students who successfully complete this course will be able to:

• apply rhetorical and literary terminology to explain features of major works of African American literature before the Harlem Renaissance.
• articulate relationships between African American culture and American culture as a whole.
• articulate connections between individual and collective narratives to course themes.
• explain connections among the texts through oral and written forms.
• express in written form connections between the themes studied and their personal experiences.

Afro-American Lit II:The Depression through the Black Arts Movement English 334

Students who successfully complete this course will be able:

• apply rhetorical and literary terminology to explain features of major works of African American literature from the Harlem Renaissance to today.
• analyze relationships between African American culture and American culture as a whole.
• articulate connections between individual and collective narratives to course themes.
• apply oral history research techniques. 
• explain connections among the texts through oral and written forms.
• express in written form connections between the themes studied and your personal experience.

Modern American Drama (World War I to Present) ENGLISH 426/626

Learning statements/outcomes: At the end of the course, students will be able to: 

• Demonstrate ability to analyze/interpret American dramatic literature
• Participate thoughtfully and critically in class discussions 
• Deliver cogent oral presentations fulfilling requirements of specific assignments
• Write a research paper demonstrating relevant writing and research skills at the upper-level undergraduate or graduate level   

 

Contemporary American Literature (English 428/628)

Students who successfully complete this course will be able to:

• analyze literary works with regard to their aesthetic and philosophical dimensions and their historical contexts

• provide definitions of the terms modern and postmodern and articulate controversies surrounding these definitions

• appropriately incorporate secondary sources in a research paper

• bring remarkable passages from assigned readings to class to describe to the class (or in writing) their significance in the work as a whole

• make productive contributions to class discussions.

Ethnic American Literature after 1945 (English 430)

Students who successfully complete this course will be able to:

• demonstrate knowledge of foundational texts of contemporary American ethnic literature since 1945;
• identify and discuss the roles which gender, race, age, class, ethnicity, wealth , poverty and geography have played in creating contemporary American ethnic literature;
• enhance their understanding of the historical, cultural, and social and rhetorical contexts in which contemporary American ethnic literary texts were written;
• demonstrate knowledge of  major issues tackled by ethnic American writers after 1945, with special emphasis on the issues of national identity, construction of history, and discursive traditions;
• draw out useful definitions of American identity for different cultural and ethnic groups; and
• enhance skills of conducting research, writing critical papers, and giving oral presentations, according to professional standards of literary studies scholarship.