EAS1032 - Approaches to Criticism
2020/1 Module description
| Staff | Dr Mark Steven - Lecturer |
|---|---|
| Credit Value | 30 |
| ECTS Value | 15 |
| NQF Level | 4 |
| Pre-requisites | None |
| Co-requisites | None |
| Duration of Module | Term 1: 11 weeks; Term 2: 11 weeks; |
Module description
This module will introduce you to a broad range of critical and theoretical approaches to reading texts. Such approaches, developed throughout the twentieth and twenty-first century and deployed by English Studies scholars, are intended to be both worthy of historical study in their own right and useful to your own research at university. Over the course of the module you will explore a range of ways in which you might approach familiar and unfamiliar texts, and be encouraged to question exactly what a text might be and why it is worth our critical attention.
Module aims
To cover a significant range of critical and theoretical approaches to literary and film studies in the context of English Studies, including work on language and meaning, texts and reading, the mind and the brain, ideology and power, gender and sexuality, race and empire. The module encourages you to recognise dialogue and dissent within the field, and introduces the ground rules for scholarship in the discipline of English Studies.
ILO: Module-specific skills
- 1. Demonstrate an appreciation of a range of important problems in textual interpretation
- 2. Demonstrate an understanding of the broader context for and history of English Studies
- 3. Demonstrate a capacity to apply a variety of methodologies and theoretical approaches to literary and film texts
- 4. Demonstrate a basic appreciation of the concepts of 'authorship', 'textuality', 'ideology', 'discourse', 'subjectivity', 'performativity' and 'space and place' and of their role in our study of texts
ILO: Discipline-specific skills
- 5. Demonstrate a basic ability to understand and analyse theoretical ideas, and to apply these ideas to literary texts
- 6. Demonstrate a basic ability to interrelate texts and discourses specific to their own discipline with issues in the wider context of cultural and intellectual history
- 7. Demonstrate a basic ability to analyse contemporary debates in light of the history of the discipline
ILO: Personal and key skills
- 8. Through writing assessments, demonstrate appropriate research and bibliographic skills, a basic capacity to construct a coherent, substantiated argument, and a capacity to write clear and correct prose
- 9. Through research for module discussion and essays, demonstrate basic proficiency in information retrieval and analysis
- 10. Through sitting their final examination, demonstrate basic proficiency in the use of memory and in the development, organisation, and expression of ideas under pressure of time
Syllabus plan
Whilst the content varies from year to year, it is envisioned that it will cover some or all of the following topics:
Term 1:
- What is Criticism?
- The Critique of Political Economy
- Culture and Ideology
- Empire and its Discontents
- World-Systems, World Literature
- Structuralism
- Poststructuralism & Deconstruction
- Discourse and Power
- New Media Studies
- Environment in Crisis
Term 2:
- Psychoanalysis
- Neuroscience
- Bodies + Medicine
- Critical Race Studies
- Feminism
- Gender
- Queer Theory and Sexuality
- Affect and Emotion
- Humanities After the Human
Learning activities and teaching methods (given in hours of study time)
| Scheduled Learning and Teaching Activities | Guided independent study | Placement / study abroad |
|---|---|---|
| 67.5 | 232.5 | 0 |
Details of learning activities and teaching methods
| Category | Hours of study time | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Scheduled learning and teaching activities | 20 | Lectures |
| Scheduled learning and teaching activities | 44 | 2-hour seminars |
| Scheduled learning and teaching | 1.5 | Film screening and Q&A session (2 hours). Attendance compulsory and assessed (Term 1) |
| Scheduled learning and teaching | 2 | Film screening and Q&A session (2 hours). Attendance compulsory and assessed (Term 1) |
| Guided independent study | 130.5 | Reading, research and essay preparation |
| Guided independent study | 80 | Seminar preparation (individual) |
| Guided independent study | 22 | Student-led study group activities 2-hour |
Formative assessment
| Form of assessment | Size of the assessment (eg length / duration) | ILOs assessed | Feedback method |
|---|---|---|---|
| Glossary entry | 1000 words | 1, 4-9 | Feedback sheet with opportunity for office hours follow-up |
Summative assessment (% of credit)
| Coursework | Written exams | Practical exams |
|---|---|---|
| 55 | 45 | 0 |
Details of summative assessment
| Form of assessment | % of credit | Size of the assessment (eg length / duration) | ILOs assessed | Feedback method |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Essay | 45 | 1500 words | 1-9 | Feedback sheet with opportunity for office hours follow-up |
| ExaminationTake-home examination | 45 | 24 hours | 1-7, 10 | Feedback sheet with opportunity for office hours follow-up |
| Module participation | 10 | Continuous | 1-7, 9 | Oral feedback from tutor with opportunity for office hours follow-up |
Details of re-assessment (where required by referral or deferral)
| Original form of assessment | Form of re-assessment | ILOs re-assessed | Timescale for re-assessment |
|---|---|---|---|
| Essay | Essay 1500 words | 1-9 | Referral/Deferral period |
| Take-home examination | 24 hours | 1-7, 10 | Referral/Deferral period |
| Module participation | Repeat study or Mitigation | 1-7, 9 | Referral/Deferral period |
Re-assessment notes
Deferral – if you miss an assessment for certificated reasons judged acceptable by the Mitigation Committee, you will normally be either deferred in the assessment or an extension may be granted. The mark given for a re-assessment taken as a result of deferral will not be capped and will be treated as it would be if it were your first attempt at the assessment.
Referral – if you have failed the module overall (i.e. a final overall module mark of less than 40%) you will be required to submit a further assessment as necessary. If you are successful on referral, your overall module mark will be capped at 40%.
Indicative learning resources - Basic reading
Basic reading:
- Module Pack available to students at the beginning of term (from Print Services).
Secondary reading:
- Peter Barry, Beginning Theory. Manchester: Manchester University Press, 2000.
- Eagleton, Terry. The Function of Criticism. London: Verso, 2005.
- 2008.
- Vincent B. Leitch, William E. Cain, Laurie Finke, and Barbara Johnson, eds. The Norton Anthology of Theory and Criticism. New York: Norton, 2010
Module has an active ELE page?
Yes
Indicative learning resources - Web based and electronic resources
Available as distance learning?
No
Origin date
2011
Last revision date
05/03/2020
Key words search
Critical Theory, Theory, Criticism, Marxism, Ideology, Hegemony, Poststructuralism, Discourse, Postmodernism, New Historicism, Cultural Studies, Authorship, Psychoanalysis, Neuroscience, Feminism, Gender, Queer Theory, Body Studies, Disability Studies, Critical Race Studies, Masculinity, Affect, Postcolonialism, Decolonisation, Ecocriticism, World-Systems
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