Current Courses
Current English courses are described below and future course descriptions are available as schedules are finalized. For descriptions of all English graduate courses, refer to the Graduate Catalog.
Spring 2013 Course List:
ENG 601: Research in English Studies (Composition)
ENG 605: Teaching in English Studies (Composition)
ENG 607: Literary Theory II
ENG 612: Workshop in Fiction Writing
ENG 613: Workshop in Poetry Writing
ENG 618: Materials Development for Teaching English Language Learners
ENG 623: Phonetics and Phonology
ENG 624: Foundations of Second Language Acquisition
ENG 626: Morphology and Syntax
ENG 628: Language and Culture
ENG 630: Contrastive Analysis
ENG 646: Studies in American Ethnic Literature
ENG 650: Seminar in Literature
ENG 657: Postcolonial Studies
ENG 661: Early British Studies
ENG 684: Topics in Second Language Acquisition
ENG 686: Topics in Linguistics - Language and Gender
ENG 695: Medieval and Early Modern Rhetoric
ENG 699: Contemporary Theories of Composition
Spring 2013 Course Descriptions:
ENG 601: Research in English Studies (Composition)
Tuesdays, 2:00-4:40 p.m.
Prof. Jackie Grutsch McKinney
This section of English 601 is an introduction to the various research methods used in the field of Rhetoric and Composition. We will explore ways of researching in the field by reading published research, learning ethical and institutionally-appropriate ways of conducting research, studying the writing of research, and taking on mini-research projects. Particular attention will be given to the art of articulating research questions and selecting appropriate methods for answering such questions--a skill that must be mastered by students before entering the final stage (thesis or dissertation) of their degree.
By the end of the course, students should have a better understanding of how knowledge is made in the field of Rhetoric and Composition historically and presently. Such an understanding is pertinent to those who currently (or intend to) study, teach, or publish in the field.
ENG 605: Teaching in English Studies (Composition)
Thursdays, 6:30-9:10 p.m.
Prof. Jennifer Grouling
Any reflexive writing teacher wonders how to get better at teaching. Daily, teachers confront issues, questions, and situations and need to make informed choices on how to act. This course gives students two key tools for addressing pedagogical questions. First, students will be acquainted to the rich field of Composition Studies and will learn how to look to the existent literature to put their current queries into the context of the field. Specifically, students will learn about major theories, pedagogies, and epistemologies of writing from the past half century.
Secondly, students will learn how to shape a research question and conduct qualitative (teacher) research to study classroom environments. Learning how to study one’s own teaching is invaluable in improving one’s craft.
Students can expect to engage in discussions, readings, collaborative work, presentations, a qualitative classroom-based research project, and a conference proposal.
ENG 607: Literary Theory II
Tuesdays, 6:30-9:10 p.m.
Prof. Joyce Huff
Have you ever found yourself reading criticism of a work of literature and felt as if you were missing part of the conversation? Have you felt curious about the critic’s underlying assumptions and frame of reference? Well, this course will offer you the opportunity to explore some of the various schools of theory that inform literary criticism today and to reach a better understanding of current debates and trends in the critical conversation. In addition, you will practice working with current theories in order to gain the skill and comfort-level needed to employ them in your own scholarly work. You will also be given the opportunity to examine your own basic assumptions about texts, authors and readers and to position your own scholarship within the world of contemporary theory.
The course will cover an assortment of current theoretical positions, which will include some or all of the following: Cultural Studies, Deconstruction, Feminist Theory and Masculinity Studies, Queer Theory, Marxism, New Historicism, Postcolonial Theory, Psychoanalysis, Critical Race Studies, Reader Response Criticism and Disability Studies. We will be reading primarily essays and excerpts from theoretical books, but we will also hone our critical skills on a few short literary pieces. Course requirements will include a short paper, a seminar paper, presentations and participation in discussion, both in class and on-line.
ENG 612: Workshop in Fiction Writing
Mondays, 2:00-4:40 p.m.
Prof. Sean Lovelace
A graduate class is a bit different, in that I assume several things: 1.) Rigorous examination of complex concepts of fiction writing. 2.) You understand CW vocabulary/techniques and how to apply these to workshop feedback. 3.) You have your own projects you are working on. I will do much less teaching of the basics of fiction, and will assign less specific assignments. The majority of this class will be READING quality works, DISCUSSION of craft, and WORKSHOPPING your own quality manuscripts. You will write two original flash fiction texts.
WORKSHOP requirements : A majority of the class will be dedicated to workshop, or peer review, of your own original fiction (knowing this, you shouldn’t submit any work that you aren’t comfortable sharing with the class). Every student is expected to thoroughly read their peers’ work, and to give thoughtful and respectful feedback. Although focusing on workshopping student stories at this time, we will continue with fiction concepts and our discussions of published fiction as well.
Texts:
* The Elephant Vanishes by Haruki Murakami .
* The Road by Cormac McCarthy
* Flaming Iguanas by Erika Lopez
* A Supposedly Fun Thing I'll Never Do Again: Essays and Arguments by David Foster Wallace
* Self Help by Lorrie Moore.
* Drinking at the Movies by Julia Wertz
*Trout Fishing in America by Richard Brautigan.
* Fires of Our Choosing by Eugene Cross.
* I will also have copies, electronic readings, and literary magazines.
Contact Professor Lovelace (salovelace@bsu.edu) with any questions.
ENG 613: Workshop in Poetry Writing
Thursdays, 2:00-4:40 p.m.
Prof. Mark Neely
This is a graduate-level course in poetry writing, designed for students in our MA Creative Writing program, MA General program, and for other MAs and PhDs interested in reading and writing poetry. About half the class will be devoted to discussion of readings, including several collections by contemporary poets. We will talk about how the authors attempt to unify these collections, and look closely at the dazzling number of formal choices poets make in their work. The readings will help inspire the poems written for the class, inform the way we discuss your poems, and offer strategies for revision. Written assignments include poems, reading responses, and a portfolio of poems at the end of the semester.
Readings will include essays on poetics and the following books:
The Vintage Book of Contemporary American Poetry , J.D. McClatchy, ed.; The Best American Poetry 2012, Mark Doty and David Lehman, eds.; Lovely Asunder, Danielle Cadena Deulen; Maybe the Saddest Thing, Marcus Wicker; and Fire to Fire, Mark Doty.
ENG 618: Materials Development for Teaching
English Language Learners
Wednesdays, 12:00-2:40 p.m.
Prof. Lynne Stallings
Ready, set, evaluate, modify, and create! In this TESOL Materials course, students will build on their experiences in ENG 616 and ENG 617 to develop principled frameworks for materials evaluation and design. Working both in small groups and individually, students will analyze, modify, and create language-teaching materials that meet the needs and wants of language learners and teachers.
ENG 623: Phonetics and Phonology
Mondays and Wednesdays, 3:00-4:15 p.m.
Prof. Frank Trechsel
Speech sounds and the linguistics methods employed in their description, classification, and analysis as elements in language systems. Relationships among speech sounds in a language
ENG 624: Foundations of Second Language Acquisition
Mondays, 12:00-2:40 p.m.
Prof. Megumi Hamada
Covers the foundations of second language acquisition theories and research, and introduces various issues related to second language learning and teaching.
ENG 626: Morphology and Syntax
Tuesdays and Thursdays, 12:30-1:45 p.m.
Prof. Frank Trechsel
A detailed examination of the patterns of word and phrase building in natural languages. Emphasizes both formal and functional approaches.
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Tuesdays, 2:00-4:40 p.m.
Prof. Carolyn MacKay
There are enormous differences in the ways in which members of different cultures organize and exploit their linguistic resources. These differences are so pervasive that most researchers believe it is not possible to describe a culture without referring to the patterns of language use through which culture is expressed. This course looks at some of these patterns in an effort to describe both the nature of language and culture and the inextricable link between them. Among the topics to be discussed are: the acquisition of language and culture, code-switching, ethnography of communication, language ideology, verbal art and performance, narrative structure, language maintenance and death, language contact, and cross-cultural miscommunication.
ENG 630: Contrastive Analysis
Mondays, 6:30-9:10 p.m.
Prof. Elizabeth Riddle
A comparison of selected lexical, syntactic, pragmatic and discourse characteristics of a variety of languages with those of English as relevant to the teaching of English as a second/foreign language and second language acquisition, and to the study of linguistic typology and language universals. The main goals are:
1. To familiarize students with selected characteristics of a variety of languages in contrast to English, with selected language universals, and with linguistic typology.
2. To develop students’ analytical, research, and academic writing skills.
The readings will be book chapters and journal articles on electronic reserve through Bracken Library.
Prerequisites: ENG 520, 621, knowledge of a foreign language. The latter can be at a low level, such as 4 semesters of a language in college.
ENG 646: Studies in American Ethnic Literature –
Intersections in Ethnic American Literatures
Wednesdays, 2:00-4:40 p.m.
Prof. Maria Windell
Even at the time of the American Revolution writers referred to the nation as a “melting pot.” In this course we will examine that metaphor as we read through various intersections—some explicit and some implicit—in ethnic American literatures. We will consider how American Indian, Latino/a, African American, and Asian American writers deal with issues such as race, class, gender, sexuality, language, nationhood, and culture. Each ethnicity is represented by nineteenth-century and contemporary fictional works. The course is structured chronologically, so as to trace trends in American inclusion, exclusion, assimilation, and ethnic pride. Within the context of the critical texts we read, we will discuss the shared experiences of ethnic American authors as well as those particular to authors of the same ethnicity.
Readings include: “The Heroic Slave;” Joaquín Murieta; The Squatter and the Don; Mrs. Spring Fragrance; The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven; Tropic of Orange; A Mercy; and three films: Lone Star; The Lost City; and Machete
ENG 650: Seminar in Literature –
FROM GUTENBERG TO GOOGLE:
WHAT KIND OF FUTURE FOR THE BOOK?
Tuesdays and Thursdays, 12:30-1:45 p.m.
Prof. Frank Felsenstein
"Printing, gunpowder and the compass: These three have changed the whole face and state of things throughout the world; the first in literature, the second in warfare, the third in navigation; whence have followed innumerable changes, in so much that no empire, no sect, no star seems to have exerted greater power and influence in human affairs than these mechanical discoveries." (Francis Bacon, Novum Organum, [1620], Liber I, CXXIX )
This three-credit graduate seminar will offer an introduction to the history and sociology of the book in Western Europe and America, tracing the transition from a manuscript-based to a primarily print-based culture. It will explore the development and cultural impact of printing from its invention by Johann Gutenberg through to the age of the internet and the digital book. In their respective contexts, the effect of printing on late Medieval and Renaissance manuscript culture may be considered as the closest historical parallel to the acceleration of cyber culture within our own lifetime. Did early printing bring about the demise of manuscript culture? In turn, can the traditional book have a future in the digital age? Are there valuable lessons to be learned from studying the past?
The Rare Book Room in the Bracken Library houses unique examples of late medieval manuscripts and early printed books (including an original sheet from the Gutenberg Bible, the very first printed book in the western world). We shall be learning about the revolutionary effect of the new technology in the era of the Renaissance and of the Reformation, and we shall also be studying the subtle and significant changes to the book as a physical object. Classes on “Space and the Book” and “Time and the Book” will allow us to consider important aspects of the scientific and cultural impact of the hand press. Among topics that will also be given coverage are the making of illuminated books, incunabula (books printed through to 1500), the early texts of Shakespeare, the development of the newspaper and of periodical publications, chapbooks, almanacs, questions of censorship, techniques of book illustration, private press books, the beginnings of printing and the book trade in America, and the present-day textual editing of early modern books. We shall plan too a study visit to the Lilly Library (which owns a replica eighteenth-century hand press) . You will have the opportunity to explore research being conducted on habits of reading in the Midwest during the 1890s, utilizing Ball State’s pioneering “What Middletown Read” database – see www.bsu.edu/libraries/wmr. In addition, you will be encouraged to participate in the international conference, “Print Culture Beyond the Metropolis,” which will be hosted by the Center for Middletown Studies, in conjunction with the Departments of English and History, on 15 and 16 March 2013.
The seminar does not require prior technical knowledge of either bibliography or printing. It is aimed at those who are interested in the interdisciplinary nature of book history and who wish to research the momentous cultural impact of Gutenberg's invention. Those considering a career in areas such as school or college teaching, journalism, publishing, librarianship, bookselling, and the media may particularly benefit from the course. The History of the Book is now an established feature of many graduate programs in the English-speaking world on both sides of the Atlantic.
Please feel free to contact me for further information at felsenstein@bsu.edu.
ENG 657: Postcolonial Studies
Wednesdays, 6:30-9:10 p.m.
Prof. Amit Baishya
This course in postcolonial literature and theory has two major goals:
i) It aims to familiarize students with concepts and techniques of analysis that define this field of discourse. This will include an exploration of key concepts such as colonialism, imperialism, the subaltern, hybridity, colonial discourse, nationalism, anticolonialism, decolonization, bio/necropolitics, and “slow” violence among others.
ii) Viewed from the standpoint of the production of knowledge-objects, this course will also map key historical “moments” in the field. We will trace the impact of the dominant ethico-political concerns of the particular historical “moment” on the continuing development and growth of postcolonial discourse. My own view on this question is that this field has passed through three distinct “moments,” none of which are mutually exclusive. The first is the “moment” of anticolonial thought and praxis, where the question of decolonization and liberation from colonial rule was paramount. The second “moment” is the period of “classical” postcolonial theory (the Said-Spivak-Bhabha axis), where the critique of representations was the foundational question. The post-“classical” moment of postcolonial theory—the one which is probably unfolding before us right now—seems to be shifting its focus to an analysis and critique of the disciplinary, tactile and visceral impact of the violence wrought by sovereign entities on the human body. Moreover, a recent trajectory has also begun exploring the concept of “slow” violence placing postcolonial theory in conversation with ecocriticism. We will discuss the strengths and limitations of this “structuralist” attempt at mapping this field of literary/critical discourse, and also assess the gains and losses that accrue when a particular theoretical optic becomes institutionalized as a “normal” mode of analysis.
Primary texts we will read will possibly include Rudyard Kipling’s Kim, Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness, Jose Rizal’s Noli me Tangere, Aime Cesaire’s Discourse on Colonialism, Frantz Fanon’s The Wretched of the Earth, Assia Djebar’s Children of a New World, Michael Ondaatje’s Anil’s Ghost, Amitav Ghosh’s The Hungry Tide and short stories by Saadat Hasan Manto, Mahasweta Devi and Indira Goswami. Primary readings will be supplemented by relevant theoretical material. We will also watch Gillo Pontecorvo’s The Battle of Algiers and (possibly) Dennis Villeneuve’s Incendies together at some point of time in the semester.
ENG 661: Early British Studies –
The Role of “Auctoritas” in Medieval Literature and Scholarship
Mondays, 6:30-9:10 p.m.
Prof. Miranda Nesler
In composing literary narratives, medieval authors explicitly expressed concern about “auctoritas”—the authority that emerged from verified source-work and participation in ongoing literary dialogues. Yet medieval literary origin and production were not—and are not—stable concepts. Oral, scribal, and emerging print cultures, combined with a lack of preservation over time, have generated variance and instability. Given this, what were the limits of medieval writers’ “auctoritas”? What does it mean for us, as scholars and teachers, to edit or present medieval texts as singly identifiable or unified entities? In this course, students will begin by considering the cultural conditions surrounding medieval textual production. Not only will students undertake historical research, but they will also consider how medieval authors represented their own vexed literary creations.
ENG 684: Topics in Second Language Acquisition –
Second Language Reading
Wednesdays, 6:30-9:10 p.m.
Prof. Megumi Hamada
What are the underlying processes involved in learning to read in a second language?
Is it simply learning vocabulary or grammar? The fact is that reading involves multiple processes, some of which are at the subconsious level. This course introduces each of the component skills involved in reading, from lower-level processing (how we process and recognize letters and words) to higher-level processing (how we understand sentences and how we understand the message from a given text). Some of the topics to be covered are: letter detection, word recognition (phonological, morphological, and semantic processing), vocabulary knowledge, sentence parsing, and discourse comprehension. Throughout the topics, we will discuss cross-linguistic influence (L1 transfer) and teaching implications. There is no prerequisite for this class. For any questions, please contact Megumi Hamada at mhamada@bsu.edu.
ENG 686:Topics in Linguistics –
Language and Gender
Thursdays, 2:00-4:40 p.m.
Prof. Carolyn MacKay
Do men and women talk differently? What are the implications of variation in language use on social relations? How can we research these questions? This course is designed to provide a detailed examination of the relationship between language and gender. Because language use is one of the most important factors influencing our judgments about others, it is important to understand how biological sex and gender roles and identities are involved in those judgments. We will describe and analyze the ways that men and women use language (including pronunciation, word choice, grammar, conversational norms, politeness strategies, and narrative styles) to construct gender identities. In addition we will look at cross-cultural studies of language and gender and the patterns of language socialization of girls and boys. Western European assumptions about language use will be assessed in light of this cross-cultural evidence. This course will use the methods and analyses taken from linguistics, anthropology and psychology in examining the interaction of gender, gender identities and language use.
ENG 695: Medieval and Early Modern Rhetoric
Mondays, 6:30-9:10 p.m.
Prof. Webster Newbold
This course presents Western rhetorical theory and practice from the fifth into the seventeenth century, preceded by an overview of Greco-Roman classical rhetoric. We will focus on several major rhetoricians and primary texts as exemplars of the various periods as well as examine the role and viability of alternative rhetorics. The course offers insight into the vocation and impact of rhetoric in the medieval and early modern period, and the contributions it has made to theory and practice in a variety of fields, but concentrating especially on education. It will also explore the implications medieval and early modern rhetoric have for contemporary writing pedagogy. Requirements include two-to-three short seminar papers for leading discussion, a longer term paper, and a final exam.
ENG 699: Contemporary Theories of Composition
Wednesdays, 6:30-9:10 p.m.
Prof. Michael Donnelly
In this course, we will survey the major theoretical movements in composition studies by considering the work of a number of significant theorists with diverse perspectives. The course is intended to ground students in the theoretical and historical knowledge needed for both teaching and scholarship in composition. We will work at identifying, understanding, and critiquing the theoretical foundations of a wide variety of approaches to studying and teaching writing.
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