English

At the end of their program of study, English Majors should be able to:

• Demonstrate an understanding of the power of words by reading critically, interpreting responsibly, writing and speaking with clarity and grace, reasoning intelligently, and arguing thoughtfully and persuasively for a range of audiences and purposes;
• Exhibit the kind of intellectual independence and sustained, critical thought required for the production of high-quality literary, linguistic, textual and/or rhetorical scholarship, using the current resources available for conducting primary and secondary research in the discipline of English;
• Discover, assert, and insert their own critical “voice” in ongoing dialogues, critiques, and debates – both oral and written, general and specific – that characterize the discipline of English, including debates over aesthetic value, literary historiography, and disciplinary politics;
• Apply linguistic, literary, rhetorical, and cultural theory to texts and their contexts in order to elucidate complex issues and to suggest additional avenues of critical inquiry;
• Demonstrate their understanding of major linguistic processes and subsystems, appreciating the importance of data collection in language study;
• Bring their understanding of language to bear on their discussions of writing, whether literary or otherwise;
• Recognize the impact of cultural environments upon language, respecting and understanding language diversity;
• Demonstrate familiarity with a significant body of texts within – and on the margins of – a variety of literary traditions (e.g., British, American, continental European, Asian, African, and Latin American); and
• Demonstrate sensitivity to the concrete historicity of texts and to the development of literary traditions, cultural values, modes of thought, and uses of language over time.