Unit information: English Language through Literature: Exploring Short Stories in 2016/17

Unit name	English Language through Literature: Exploring Short Stories
Unit code	LANG14020
Credit points	20
Level of study	C/4
Teaching block(s)	Teaching Block 1 (weeks 1 - 12)
Unit director	Ms. Taylor
Open unit status	Not open
Pre-requisites	Students require a proficiency of at least 6.0 in IELTS (min. 5.5 in writing and 5.0 in other components).
Co-requisites	None
School/department	Centre for Academic Language and Development
Faculty	Faculty of Arts

Description including Unit Aims

This course is designed for international L2 students who have an advanced knowledge of and proficiency in English and would like to enhance their literary reading, writing and speaking skills through the study of literary texts, specifically the short story genre. It aims also to develop students' critical thinking and discourse analysis skills as well as enable them to use literary critical theory to analyse a group of short stories.

In detail, this unit aims to:

• Enable students to further enhance their knowledge of both the English language and the short story genre through reading, discussion and writing about chosen literary texts.
• Enhance academic writing and speaking skills, through completion of a short course assignment and longer summative essay on chosen text(s), and through formal and informal discussions and assessed presentations.
• Develop students' critical thinking and discourse analysis skills.
• Enable students to engage more closely with the culture of the setting in which the language is used and appreciate how it shapes the production of such literacy texts.
• Enable students to use literary critical theory to analyse a group of short stories.

Intended Learning Outcomes

At the end of this module students should:

ILO1: Have an understanding of the short story genre and the works of several English-writing authors;

ILO2: Have a better understanding of style, literary language, structure and grammar of the genre;

ILO3: Have enhanced skills for independent reading;

ILO4: have developed critical and discourse analysis skills;

ILO5: Be better able to express themselves in an academic written and spoken context

Teaching Information

There will be one two hour session per week for one teaching block. It is in the form of a seminar session, which will consist of a series of mini-lectures interspersed with discussion of the content of the mini-lectures and the reading or other set material for that week. Students will be taught using a communicative approach and will be in groups no larger than 16 to allow for such discussion.

Assessment Information

This unit will be assessed through the submission of two pieces of coursework,
two essays, and assessment, a presentation. The essays will assess ILOs 1, 2, 3 4 and 5. The individaul presentation is based on the student coursework and will assess ILOs 1, 2, 4, and 5.

Weighting:

Coursework

Essay 1 (600- 800 words) 25%

Essay 2 (1,200 words) 50%

Assessment:

Individual Presentation 25%

Reading and References

du Maurier, D. ‘Don’t Look Now in Don’t look Now and Other Stories. London: Penguin

Don’t Look Now (1973). [film]. Directed by Roeg. N. London: Casey Productions.

Hughes, T. (1947). The Rain Horse. London: Faber & Faber.

Foster Wallace, D. (1989). The Girl With Curious Hair. London: W.W.Norton & Company

Foster Wallace, D. Brief Interviews with Hideous Men. London: Little, Brown & Company.

Perrault, C. (1697). Little Red Riding Hood

Self, W. (1991). The North London Book of the Dead in The Quantity Theory of Insanity. London: Bloomsbury.

The Company of Wolves (1984) [film]. Written by Carter, C. and directed by Jordan, N. Surrey: Shepperton Studios

Walker. A. (1988). The Flowers. New York: Harcourt