DEFINITION: an Option Is a Subdivision of a Major Academic Field of Study

REQUEST FOR CHANGE OR NEW OPTION: B.A. in English-Literature and Language Option

DEFINITION: An option is a subdivision of a major academic field of study. It provides a greater specificity within the broad body of knowledge of that major field of study. The curriculum requirements may include both specific required courses and elective courses from which the student makes selections in order to meet the total credit hour requirements for the major.

SPECIFICATION: The requirements for an option should include a set of unique required courses which students must take in addition to those specific courses required for the major field of study. An option may appear on the student’s transcript. An option will be considered as a reasonable and moderate extension of an existing major with a major core of 15 hours or more within the minimum of 32 hours required for a major. The option should consist of approximately one third to one half of the total hours for the major. The 40-hour minimum for upper division courses must be maintained.

APPROVAL SIGNATURES REQUIRED BELOW:

Dept. Chair: ______Date: ______

Dean: ______Date: ______

UTEC:______Date:______

CIE (if applicable) ______Date: ______

CCPI: ______Date: ______

WID: ______Date: ______

Senate: ______Date: ______

Provost: ______Date: ______

B.A. in English-Literature and Language Option Give number, name and hours of all courses listed in each area. Mark all new courses which do not presently exist: *. Mark all Gen. Ed. Courses: #. Mark all WID courses: +. If there is no change from Existing Requirements, put SAME in Proposed column. EXISTING Option/Major Semester PROPOSED Option/Major Semester Requirements Hours Requirements Hours 1. University 60 Same 60 General Ed.: 2. Core 199 Intro to Literary Studies 12 228 Intro to British Lit 15 Courses: 228 Intro to British Lit 238 Intro to American Lit 238 Intro to American Lit 258 Intro to World Lit 258 Intro to World Lit 299 Critical Reading and Writing* 476 Senior Seminar*+ 3. Option Option of Study : Literature and Option of Study: Courses: Language a. One upper-division 3 a. One upper-division early 3 course in Forms, chosen British literature course, chosen from among the from among the following: following: 311 Studies in Medieval Brit Lit 300 Short Story# 312 Studies in Renaissance and 302 Popular Forms 17th Century Brit lit 304 Poetic Forms* 410 Chaucer 305 Non-fiction Forms* 412 Shakespeare 306 Forms of the Novel* 414 Milton; 310 Forms of Drama* and 393 American Film Genres; 400 Topics in Literature 395 Film and Literature 401 Major Authors and 409 Independent Study when 400 Topics in Literature appropriate 409 Independent Study when appropriate b. One upper-division later 3 British literature course, chosen b. One upper-division course 3 from among the following: in Traditions, chosen from 319 Studies in 19th Century Brit among the following: Lit 301 Women and Literature# 324 Studies in 20th Century Brit 311 Studies in Medieval Lit British Literature 326 Studies in British Novel I 312 Studies Renaissance and 327 Studies in British Novel II; Seventeenth-Century British and Literature 400, 401, 409 when appropriate. 314 Shakespeare 319 Studies in 19th Century c. Two upper-division American 6 British Literature literature courses, chosen from 324 Studies in Modern and among the following: Contemporary British 331 Studies in 19th Century Literature American Lit 331 Studies in Nineteenth 334 Studies in 20th Century Century American Literature American Lit 334 Studies in Twentieth 335 Studies in American Poetry Century American Literature 336 Studies in American Fiction 335 Studies in American I Poetry 338 Studies in American Fiction 337 Contemporary American II Literature* 340 American Nature Writing 340 American Nature 341 Studies in American Drama Writing 346 African American Fiction 347 The Novel in Context* 348 Ethnic Literatures of the US; 353 Great Books# and 355 Myths, Legends & 400, 401, 409 when appropriate Literature# 390 Film History d. One upper-division World 3 400 Topics in Literature literature course, chosen from 401 Major Authors among the following: 409 Independent Study 353 Great Books 355 Myths, Legends & c. One upper-division course 3 Literature in Social Justice, chosen from 356 Literature of the Bible among the following: 358 Studies in Non-Western 307 Issues for Women Literature Writing* 360 Modern Drama; 346 Studies in African- and American Fiction 400, 401, 409 when appropriate 348 Ethnic Literatures of the US# e. One advanced writing course, 3 350 Postcolonial Literature* chosen from among the 351 Marginalized Literature* following: 357 Nation and Literature* 380 Writing in the Humanities 358 Studies in Non-Western and Social Sciences+ Literature# 383 Public and Persuasive 392 World Cinema*; Writing+ and 387 Writing Workshop: 400 Topics in Literature Nonfiction+ 401 Major Authors 480 Computers and Writing+ 409 Independent Study when 481 Topics in Rhetoric and appropriate Composition+ d. One upper-division course 3 f. One upper-division English 3 in Theory/Language, chosen language/linguistics course, from among the following: chosen from among the 368 Studies in Literary following: Theory 370 Rhetorical Grammar 370 Rhetorical Grammar 372 The English Language in 372 English Language in Historical and Social Contexts Historical and Social Contexts g. One upper-division course in 3 389 Film Theory and literary/rhetorical theory: Criticism 368 Literary and Rhetorical 473 Topics in Linguistics Theory 474 World Englishes*

h. 406 Senior Project 1 e. 376 Professional 1 Development Workshop Departmental Electives 3 Departmental Electives: 6 s.h. 12 must be upper division. 4. Minor: 16-18 Same 16-18 5. Open 2-4 Same 2-4 Electives: TOTAL EXISTING S. H.: 120 TOTAL PROPOSED S.H.: 120 * New course # Gen. Ed. course + WID course Changes in WID course requirements or inclusion of new WID courses must go to WID Committee. JUSTIFICATION OF OPTION:

a. STUDENT NEEDS TO BE SERVED: The above proposal represents a complete revision of the English Major. Based on three years of review, scholarly research, evaluation of learning outcomes, and extensive discussions with the entire English faculty, the department firmly believes that these proposed changes will better serve students, faculty, and Western. Though some of our students go on to teaching or further academic study at the graduate level, the majority find employment in careers too numerous and diverse to list. However, a small sampling of our recent graduates would include these career options: copywriter, insurance adjuster, secretary, videogame developer, publicist, project manager, and radio producer. What all these choices have in common is an emphasis on literacy and critical thinking. Through new core requirements and new upper-division electives, we believe this proposed revision will better help students develop the skills they need to succeed in a number of careers by emphasizing these four key areas:  Reading: Graduating students should be active readers who understand how form, culture, and history affect the process of interpretation, able to recognize and critically reflect on their own positions and assumptions.  Writing: Graduating students should be able to develop ideas through writing clearly and concisely, to recognize their own writing processes, and to develop strategies to improve those processes.  Critical thinking: Graduating students should be able to understand and locate themselves within a variety of literary and critical traditions, integrating multiple approaches to interpretation into their continuing intellectual development.  Language: Graduating students should understand how basic elements of the English language developed historically or individually and how membership in specific social and geographic groups affects the functions of those elements in reading, writing, and speaking. b. RELATIONSHIP TO EXISTING OFFERINGS WITHIN THE DEPARTMENT: The English-Literature and Language option is the heart of the English department at Western. Even if students go on to complete one of our minors in Professional Writing, Creative Writing, or Journalism, they must nonetheless complete core requirements of this option to graduate with a major in English. The changes to our requirements will not negatively affect students who take our minors. Indeed, we believe the changes in the directed electives will make it easier for our students to explore such options by providing more flexibility in their choices and expanding the range of courses the department offers at the 300 and 400 level.

The changes to this English Literature and Language option will affect the Comprehensive Major in English Education. In particular, the addition of ENG 476, “Senior Seminar” to the core, as well as the transformation in structure for the directed electives, will change some of the requirements for Education majors. Nonetheless, these are very minor changes, and if anything Education students will have more flexibility in their choice of courses. Additionally, we have consulted at length with our education specialists, and they are in full support of these changes. Finally, we are of course submitting a proposal to change the Comprehensive Major in English—Teacher Certification, which will explain these changes in detail. c. RELATIONSHIP TO OFFERINGS IN OTHER DEPARTMENTS: Because the English major includes many areas that are also taught in other academic departments, we have consulted and obtained letters of support from the following:  Broadcasting has given us their full support for our offerings in film, including proposed courses or changes to existing courses: ENG 389 “Film Criticism;” ENG 392 “Film and Literature;” ENG 393 “American Film Genres;” ENG 390, “Film History;” ENG 392, “World Cinema;”  Foreign Languages and Literatures have given us their full support for our course, ENG 357, “Nation and Literature.”  Theater has given their full support to our course ENG 310, “Forms of Drama.”  Women’s Studies has given their full support to ENG 307, “Issues for Women’s Writing.”

d. INDICATE THE EXTENT TO WHICH THE NEW OPTION REQUIREMENTS WILL MEET THE 40 HOUR MINIMUM FOR UPPER DIVISION COURSES: Our new core requirements and directed electives put even more emphasis on upper-division courses, adding a Senior Seminar as a core requirement, and asking students to take a minimum of 22 hours at this level. Along with their General-Education requirements, our students will have no trouble meeting this requirement.

e. ADDITIONAL EQUIPMENT REQUIRED: None.

WIU LIBRARIES OFFERS AN ARRAY OF INSTRUCTIONAL SUPPORT FOR CLASSES. WHAT LIBRARY MATERIALS (INCLUDING MONOGRAPHS, BOOKS, DATABASES, ELECTRONIC RESOURCES, OR AUDIOVIDUAL MATERIALS) OR INSTRUCTION WILL BE HELPFUL TO SUPPORT THIS OPTION?

The Department of English and Journalism has worked with the library over the years to keep its resources in literature and criticism current, and will continue to do so. Thus, library holdings in literature and criticism are adequate for this course. Additionally, online resources such as Project Muse, JSTOR, and other databases offer a wide range of materials to support our courses.

f. OTHER IMPLICATIONS (e.g. GRADTRAC, etc.): None.

EFFECTIVE DATE: Fall 2007.

REDISTRIBUTION OF TEACHING LOAD: None.

PROJECTED ENROLLMENT IN OPTION: 125.

LIST COURSES (IF ANY) TO BE DELETED IN CONJUNCTION WITH APPROVAL OF THIS REQUEST: Some courses, such as ENG 199 and ENG 406 will be deleted when we implement our new program, but because of current scheduling requirements and the need to phase in the new program while accommodating current students, we will wait to delete the older courses until Fall 2008.

RATIONALE:

Proposed Revision to the English Major

Though there were a myriad of concerns both large and small that informed our choices, we believe the following reflect the most important needs and goals of this proposed revision:  Incorporate the best innovations and transformations in English studies from the past thirty years.  Create a more intellectually challenging and transformative experience for students.  Better prepare students for careers or further schooling.

To achieve these goals, the department proposes the following:  Changing the required core courses.  Significantly transforming the structure of directed electives.  Offering new courses that reflect changes in the field of English studies.  Changing titles, descriptions, and divisions of existing courses to support this new approach.

Innovations, Transformation, and Changes to the Core and Directed Electives:

Over the past thirty years, English studies have undergone striking changes. Historically, studying English meant above all the national traditions of British and American literature, but a changing world has challenged this paradigm. Literatures in English from around the world have become far more important to the discipline, rivaling British and American traditions. Thus literatures written in English from around the globe are now the focus of vast scholarly attention. The past thirty years have simultaneously seen scholars emphasizing methods of interpretation equally with reading national traditions. Thus methods of reading and interpretation have become a primary focus of study at every level of the discipline. Often such scholarship emphasizes what are essentially theoretical, rhetorical, and formal approaches to the study of texts. Further, because strategies of interpretation and forms of literature exist and develop beyond the limit of any one national literature, such approaches demand comparisons beyond the scope of any single, national tradition. The scholarship of the past thirty years also emphasizes the critical potential of literature and literary studies to raise questions of social justice. The entire field of postcolonial studies and the growing importance of marginalized literatures is moving the field of English studies towards the articulation of ethical questions and the consideration of literature (and literary modes of analysis) as a force in the politics of everyday life.

The structure of the current English Major emphasizes the national traditions of British and American Literature, and it emphatically centers on the first few years a student is in the major. It does not include a capstone experience or make professional development a priority.

The current core:  Eng 199 Intro to Literary Studies  Eng 228 Intro to British Lit  Eng 238 Intro to American Lit  Eng 258 Intro to World Lit

The emphasis of this curriculum is on introductory courses, national literatures, and a model of historical coverage.

Similar to the current core, the current directed electives put British and American national traditions at the center of the curriculum, with courses in literary forms, world literature, writing, and language as additions in support of this central mission of historical coverage.

Current directed electives:  2 courses in British Literature  2 courses in American Literature  1course in World literature  1 Writing course  1 language course

We believe that our proposal for a new core and directed electives will better reflect the state of our discipline and provide a more intellectually diverse and challenging experience for our students. It includes a greater emphasis on literary forms and critical approaches to language and interpretation, and while national traditions are still a key part of the program, they now occupy a much different place in the curriculum, providing a foundation that will be dramatically expanded by our new directed electives.

New core requirements:  228, Introduction to British Literature  238, Introduction to American Literature  258, Introduction to World Literature  299, Critical Reading and Writing  476 Senior Seminar (WID)

In addition to changing the emphasis of content, the proposed core now includes courses at the junior and senior level. In particular, we have included a new and much more rigorous methods course to better prepare students for upper division work. Finally and most importantly, a required senior seminar serves as intensive intellectual capstone experience. This core more fully prepares students for upper-division work, and it also emphasizes participation in the major in the senior year.

Our proposed directed electives also reflect both changes in the discipline and our desire to provide a more intellectually challenging experience to our students. Formerly, directed electives could be in British Literature, American Literature, Linguistics, Literary Theory, and World Literature. In our proposed directed electives, we have created four categories to distinguish our offerings and ask that students take at least 3 hours in each :

 Forms  Traditions  Social Justice  Language and Theory

These categories reflect the major approaches that define the study of language and literature today. Forms emphasizes rhetorical and structural descriptions and analysis, and it provides students precise language and concepts to understand how the structures of literature inform its meaning. Traditions emphasizes the historical development of literature, particularly in terms of national histories. Language and Theory courses give students the tools to precisely understand language and reflect on how texts come to mean in a variety of discourses, cultural contexts, and philosophical perspectives. Social Justice has become one of the most important aspects of writing and reading literature. Over the past thirty years, literary scholars have emphasized issues of justice as the central question of literary studies, claiming that literature has a unique force and potential to understand and address issues of cultural power and politics. Examples would include the role of literature in responding to racism, gender identities, class conflict, and disability to name only a few. We propose that students must take at least one course from each category in their directed electives, for a minimum of twelve hours in these upper-division offerings. Beyond providing a more intellectually diverse experience for students, we also believe these new requirements will better serve the varied goals that students bring to our major.

Our directed electives also include a newly revised course, 376, “Professional Development Workshop.” This course will help our majors prepare for their transitions to careers or further schooling, helping them frame the meaning of their experience as English majors, explore career and education options, and create the documents and applications necessary for a smooth and successful transition to the next phase of their professional or educational lives.

Previously, majors in this option had only 3 s. h. of departmental electives. With this proposal, they now have 12 s.h., (at least 9 s.h. of these must be taken in upper-division courses). Thus, students have the freedom to choose among any upper division courses in the department, including courses in creative and professional writing, to complete their final 12 hours. Students most interested in national traditions might well choose to immerse themselves in those courses. However, many of our students go on to careers where courses in language, theory, and forms would better serve their needs as they apply for jobs as technical writers, editors, publicists, managers, etc.

SUMMARY OF CHANGES:

Proposed New Courses ENG 299 ENG 304 ENG 305 ENG 306 ENG 307 ENG 307 Cross Listing Request ENG 310 ENG 337 ENG 347 ENG 350 ENG 351 ENG 357 ENG 392 ENG 474 ENG 476 ENG 476 Multiple Titles Request

Changes in Title, Division, Description, and Prerequisites ENG 406

Changes in Title, Description, and Prerequisites ENG 302 ENG 368 ENG 390 ENG 490

Changes in Division and Prerequisites ENG 190 ENG 412 ENG 493

Changes in Description and Prerequisites ENG 372

Changes in Prerequisites ENG 228 ENG 238 ENG 258 ENG 311 ENG 312 ENG 319 ENG 324 ENG 331 ENG 334 ENG 335 ENG 340 ENG 346 ENG 400 ENG 401