Undergraduate - Area of study English

Berwick, Gippsland and off-campus learning

Offered by the School of Applied Media and Social Sciences

English offers a sequence of units focusing on English language as it is used for a range of communicative and cultural purposes. The approach is interdisciplinary (drawing on linguistics, philosophy, sociology, communications as well as traditional disciplines of literary criticism) and the range of texts studied is diverse (including contemporary and canonical literature, formal and academic writing, popular fiction, poetry and journalism). The emphasis is on the complex relations between the texts we read for pleasure or craft to communicate with others and the social and intellectual conditions which give birth to them. In this way, English combines a love of reading with a passion for thinking, to provide a chance to understand and debate the significance and purpose of communication and culture in its many varied forms.

The English minor may be of interest to students studying the humanities and seeking to improve their English literacy - an attribute increasingly valued by a range of employers. The English program aims to equip students with high levels of English language skills and cultural literacy, including developed aptitudes for the understanding and use of English for a variety of purposes, advanced skills in critical reading and interpretation, and an appreciation of the cultural and social history which has shaped the world we live in.

Outcomes

On completion of the English minor, students will have:

• general competence in the understanding and use of English for a variety of purposes
• a range of effective reading strategies, including strategies of evaluation, and advanced skills in close and critical reading
• an appreciation of the complex relations between cultural and material history and between literature, life and society
• an ability to debate the significance of literature and the various ways of engaging in literary interpretation
• detailed knowledge of the aesthetic form and social context of production of a selection of key works in literary history.