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2021/2022

English Prose

Code: 100267 ECTS Credits: 6
Degree Type Year Semester
2500245 English Studies OT 3 0
2500245 English Studies OT 4 0
The proposed teaching and assessment methodology that appear in the guide may be subject to changes as a result of the restrictions to face-to-face class attendance imposed by the health authorities.

Contact

Name:
Joan Curbet Soler
Email:
Joan.Curbet@uab.cat

Use of Languages

Principal working language:
english (eng)
Some groups entirely in English:
Yes
Some groups entirely in Catalan:
No
Some groups entirely in Spanish:
No

Prerequisites

 

  • Students are advised to have passed all first and second year subjects in the English Studies degree before  taking this subject.
  • The required level of English is C2, which requires the student to understand what he or she reads or hears without effort. S/he should be able to summarize information from other sources, both oral and written, build up arguments and present them coherently. S/he should also be able to express him or herself spontaneously, fluently and precisely, and distinguish subtleties in all kinds of situations.

 

Objectives and Contextualisation

The 2021-2022 edition of "Prose in English" will focus on the study of the 19th and early 20th Century narrative in English.

When completing the course, the student will be able to:

  • Recognize the distinctive characteristics that determine the narrative genre in English.
  • Demonstrate their knowledge of the historical evolution of the genre throughout the 19th and early 20th centuries.
  • Make basic critical contributions to literary theory, from an informed perspective.
  • Demonstrate their knowledge of the interaction between critical discourse and literature, especially showing the interconnection between the two.

Competences

    English Studies
  • Critically assessing the scientific, literary and cultural production in the English language.
  • Develop critical thinking and reasoning and knowing how to communicate effectively both in your mother tongue and in other languages.
  • Generate innovative and competitive proposals in research and professional activities.
  • Identify the main literary, cultural and historical currents in the English language.
  • Produce clear and well structured and detailed texts in English about complex topics, displaying a correct use of the organisation, connection and cohesion of the text.
  • Rewrite and organize information and arguments coming from several sources in English and presenting them in a coherent and summarised way.
  • Students can apply the knowledge to their own work or vocation in a professional manner and have the powers generally demonstrated by preparing and defending arguments and solving problems within their area of study.
  • Students must be capable of communicating information, ideas, problems and solutions to both specialised and non-specialised audiences.
  • Students must develop the necessary learning skills in order to undertake further training with a high degree of autonomy.
  • Students must have and understand knowledge of an area of study built on the basis of general secondary education, and while it relies on some advanced textbooks it also includes some aspects coming from the forefront of its field of study.
  • Utilising new technologies in order to capture and organise information in English and other languages, and applying it to the personal continued training and to the problem-solving in the professional or research activity.
  • Working in an autonomous and responsible way in a professional or research environment in English or other languages, in order to accomplish the previously set objectives.

Learning Outcomes

  1. Apply the acquired knowledge to the generation of innovative and competitive research on a basic level.
  2. Apply the knowledge and competences acquired in the professional and academic activities related to literature, history and culture.
  3. Applying appropriate secondary academic sources to text comments and argumentative essays about literary genres and literary criticism in English.
  4. Applying the acquired methodologies of work planning to work in an environment in the English language.
  5. Applying the acquired scientific and work planning methodologies to the research in English.
  6. Applying the information in English that is available on the Internet, in databases, etc. to the work and/or research environments.
  7. Carrying out oral presentations about topics related to the genres of English literature and its academic criticism using secondary academic sources.
  8. Communicating in the studied language in oral and written form, properly using vocabulary and grammar.
  9. Demonstrate a master of the specific methods of individual academic work that prepare the student for a postgraduate specialised education in the same or a different field of study.
  10. Demonstrate a sound knowledge about advanced topics related to the study of literature and culture.
  11. Distinguishing the main ideas from the secondary ones and summarising the contents of primary and secondary texts related to the literary genres and literary criticism in English.
  12. Drawing up academic essays of medium length in relation to the genres of the English literature and its academic criticism using secondary academic sources.
  13. Effectively communicating and applying the argumentative and textual processes to formal and scientific texts.
  14. Explaining in an advanced level, the nature and main traits of the literary genres and literary criticism in English.
  15. Localising secondary academic sources in the library or on the Internet related to the literary genres and literary criticism in English.
  16. Locating and organising relevant information in English that is available on the Internet, in databases, etc.
  17. Mastering the advanced knowledge and scientific methodologies related to linguistics, literature, history and culture that prepare the student for a postgraduate specialised education in the same or a different field of study.
  18. Produce new professional initiatives.
  19. Students must be capable of comprehending advanced academic or professional texts in their own language or the another acquired in the degree.
  20. Students must be capable of precisely arguing ideas and opinions in their own language or another acquired in the degree.
  21. Summarising the content of primary and secondary academic sources about literary genres and literary criticism in English.

Content

The course will deal with the following novels (19th and 20th C):

AUSTEN, Jane. Mansfield Park

DICKENS, Charles. David Copperfield

WOOLF, Virginia. Between the Acts

JOYCE, James. Ulysses

 

Methodology

1 ECTS credit = 25 hores; 6 credits = 150 hores
Guided activities (30%, 1.8 cr)
Supevised activities (15%, 0.9 cr)
Autonomous activities (50%, 3 cr)
Assessment activities (5%, 0.3 cr)

Annotation: Within the schedule set by the centre or degree programme, 15 minutes of one class will be reserved for students to evaluate their lecturers and their courses or modules through questionnaires.

Activities

Title Hours ECTS Learning Outcomes
Type: Directed      
Class Debate 20 0.8 4, 6, 20, 16
Lectures 25 1 19
Type: Supervised      
Writing tasks and activities assessed in class 15 0.6 4, 5, 1, 19, 16
Type: Autonomous      
Reading and study 65 2.6 4, 6, 19, 18, 16

Assessment

  • Academic essay (1)= 40%
  • Academic essay (2) = 40%
  • Class Participation = 20%

 Please, note:

  • All the subjects in this degree follow continous assessment.
  • All the exercises are COMPULSORY.
  • The submission of either the paper or the exam invalidates the student to get a final mark of "No avaluable."
  • The student's command of English will be taken into account when makring all exercises and for the final mark. It will count as 25% of this mark for all the exercises.
  • On carrying out each evaluation activity, lecturers will inform students (on Moodle) of the procedures to be followed for reviewing all grades awarded, and the date on which such a review will take place.

 

RE-ASSESSMENT CONDITIONS:

  • Students whose final average mark of the two exercises is 3,5 to 4,9 (without counting the class participation mark and the forum contribution mark) and who have completed Continuous Assessment may take re-assessment.
  • If the final average mark of the two exercises is inferior to 3,5 or if the student has failed both exercises, they will miss the opportunity of reassessment and will be granted a Fail.
  • The reassessment consists of a two-hour written exam on matters related to the subject. The exam is awarded a Pass/Fail mark and the maximum possible final mark is a 5. In case students cannot do the exercises (essay - exam) on the date set up by the teacherfor justified medical reasons, they may do the exercise(s) on a different date agreed by the teacher.

 

VERY IMPORTANT :

Partial or total plagiarising will immediately result in a FAIL (0) for the plagiarised exercise (first-year students) or the WHOLE subject (second-, third-and fourth-year students). PLAGIARISING consists of copying text from unacknowledged sources -whether this is part of a sentence or a whole text - with the intention of passing it off as the student's own production. It includes cutting and pasting from internet sources, presented unmodified in the student's own text. Plagiarising is a SERIOUS OFFENCE. Students must respect authors' intellectual property, always identifying the sources they may use; they must also be responsible for the originality and authenticity of their own texts.

In the event of a student committing any irregularity that may lead to a significant variation in the grade awarded to an assessment activity, the student will be given a zero for this activity, regardless of any disciplinary process that may take place. In the event of several irregularities in assessment activities of the same subject, the student will be given a zero as the final grade for this subject.

In the event that tests or exams cannot be taken onsite, they will be adapted to an online format made available through the UAB’s virtual tools (original weighting will be maintained). Homework, activities and class participation will be carried out through forums, wikis and/or discussion on Teams, etc. Lecturers will ensure that students are able to access these virtual tools, or will offer themfeasible alternatives.

 

Assessment Activities

Title Weighting Hours ECTS Learning Outcomes
Academic essay (1) 40% 5 0.2 4, 5, 1, 2, 6, 3, 20, 19, 10, 17, 9, 11, 13, 8, 16, 12, 21
Academic essay (2) 40% 5 0.2 4, 5, 1, 2, 6, 3, 20, 19, 10, 17, 9, 11, 14, 8, 15, 16, 12, 21
Participation 20% 15 0.6 20, 7, 14, 13, 8, 18, 15

Bibliography

 

Compulsory reading:

AUSTEN, Jane. Mansfield Park (*) We recommend the following editions: Oxford (ISBN: 9780191920424) o Penguin (ISBN: 9780141199870).

DICKENS, Charles. David Copperfield (*) We recommend the following editions:  Oxford (ISBN: 9780191920615) o Penguin (ISBN: 9780141199160).

WOOLF, Virginia. Between the Acts (*) We recommend the following edition:  Penguin (ISBN: 9780241372500).

JOYCE, James. Ulysses (*) We recommend the following edition: Penguin (ISBN: 9780141182803).

 

Secondary bibliography:

BLOOM, Harold. The Western Canon: The Books and School of the Ages. New York: Harcourt Brace, 1994.

CASERIO, R. (Ed.). The Cambridge Companion to the Twentieth-Century English Novel (Cambridge Companions to Literature). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2009.

EAGLETON, Terry. The English Novel: An Introduction. Chicester: Wiley-Blackwell, 2004.

KELLY, Garry. English Fiction of the Romantic Period, 1789-1830. London & New York: Longman, 1989.

LODGE, David. The Art of Fiction. London: Secker & Warburg, 1992.

 

Software

No specific software will be used.