SFE10108 English: Culture Studies I (Autumn 2017)

The course is connected to the following study programs

Mandatory course in the one-year English programme. May be taken as an optional course in the 60 ECTS part of the bachelor programme in Society, Language and Culture.

Lecture Semester

1st semester (autumn).

The student's learning outcomes after completing the course

KNOWLEDGE
The student has:

-knowledge and understanding of British culture and society from a historical perspective
-knowledge of literary epochs and themes in British literature;

SKILLS
The student has:

-ability to analyse and evaluate a selection of British fiction;
-analytical and critical skills in their encounters with fiction and factual prose
-an interest in British culture and literature
-skills in written and oral presentation and argumentation in English

GENERAL COMPETENCE
The student has:

-skills in searching, evaluating and using secondary literature in the university college's library and in BIBSYS and other databases.

Content

The culture studies part focuses on the topics that can supposedly best create an understanding of typical British values and norms. An introduction is given to the development of national institutions, politics, society and culture.

The literature part of the course gives an overview of literary analysis and the literary-historical development from the 16^th century until today. Three novels are read as well as two plays, three short stories  and a selection of poetry and non-fiction from different epochs. The texts are studied from the perspective of the time and society they emerged from.

Forms of teaching and learning

The course is taught as lectures and seminars. The students are expected to participate actively in discussions and group tasks. Group work outside scheduled classes is encouraged, where the students will study the course reading and cooperate on coursework.

Workload

Approx. 420 hours

Coursework requirements - conditions for taking the exam

The students submit two papers and receive feedback on them. The last paper requires documentation that secondary literature is used.
All coursework must be approved before a student may take the final exam.

Examination

A 5-hour written exam
Language use as well as content count in the assessment.
Permitted aids: English-English dictionary.
The exam paper is assessed on the A-F grading scale, and both parts of the exam need to be passed.

Course evaluation

Feedback from our students is important and enables us to improve courses and study programmes. This course is evaluated each semester. 

The evaluations from the students are treated by the staff, the head of studies and the committee for programme quality.

Literature

Updated June 16th 2016

Required Literature:

• MLA Handbook 8th edition
• The Norton Anthology for English Literature: The Major Authors. 9th Edition, vols. 1 and 2.

Novels:

• Jane Austen: Northanger Abbey
• Virginia Woolf: Mrs Dalloway (the full text can be found in the Norton Anthology)
• Monica Ali: Brick Lane

Plays:

• William Shakespeare: Othello (the full text can be found in the Norton Anthology)
• Tom Stoppard: Arcadia

A selection of poetry from the Norton Anthology (may be subject to change):

• William Shakespeare: 2 sonnets
• John Donne: 'Death be not Proud'
• John Milton: 'When I Consider How My Light is Spent'
• Wordsworth: 'Upon Westminster Bridge' and 'I wandered lonely as a cloud'
• John Keats: 'Ode on a Grecian Urn'
• John Clare: 'Decay'Christina Rossetti: 'In an Artist's Studio'
• Robert Browning: 'My Last Duchess'
• William Butler Yeats: 'Easter 1916'
• Wilfred Owen: 'Anthem for Doomed Youth'
• T. S. Elliot: 'The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock'
• W.H. Auden: 'Musée des Beax Arts'
• Seamus Heaney: 'Punishment'
• Philip Larkin, "MCMXIV"
• Carol Ann Duffy, "Prayer"
• Tony Harrison, "v"

Prose and short stories from the Norton Anthology:

• Jonathan Swift: 'A Modest Proposal'
• Katherine Mansfield: 'The Garden Party'
• Doris Lessing: 'To Room 19'
• James Joyce 'The Dead'

For reference (not required but may be useful):

• Peck, J. and M. Coyle. Literary Terms and Criticism
• Griffith, K. Writing Essays about Literature

Civilization:

• McCormick, J. Contemporary Britain. Palgrave MacMillan (newest edition).
• Cunliffe, B, The Penguin Illustrated History of Britain and Ireland (2004)

All material handed out in lectures or published on the learning platform is part of the curriculum. All students must have access to an English-English dictionary, for instance Collins Cobuild Dictionary, Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English, Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary or another dictionary for non native speakers of English (Learner's dictionaries).