|
|
|
Fall 2006 Graduate Course Descriptions
English 520: Introduction to Linguistics
Prof. Elizabeth Riddle
TR 9:30 - 10:45
Course description available in RB 295.
Back to top
English 536: Theory and Research in TESOL
M 6:00 - 8:40
Course description available in RB 295.
Back to top
English 537: Methods and Materials in TESOL
Prof. Karen Lybeck
W 9:00 - 11:40
Course description available in RB 295.
Back to top
English 601: Research Methods in Linguistics
Prof. Carolyn MacKay
T 2:00 - 4:40
This course is a graduate-level introduction to research methods in
linguistics. The course will focus on research methodology: project
design, data collection, and data analysis. This course will also
introduce students to the writing of grant proposals, abstracts for
professional conferences, and review articles. Students will get
hands-on experience in working with issues related to original research.
As a final paper they will be expected to design a research project
(choosing a topic, articulating hypotheses and goals, describing the
significance of the project, researching the literature available, and
determining the methods of data collection and analysis). Students will
write a conference abstract, a literature review for the project, and
will write a book review of one of the key sources for their topic. The
final paper is a complete research proposal.
Back to top
English 601: Research Methods in Literature
Prof. Robert Habich
M 2:00 - 4:40
English 601 is designed to introduce graduate students majoring in
literature to some of the resources, issues, terminology, methods, and
uses of literary research. A "hands-on" seminar, it requires weekly
ungraded reports as well as five graded papers: an evaluation of three
similar reference sources; an annotated bibliography of major
scholarship and criticism for an author of your choice; a paper
“solving” a literary myth or hoax; a report on the current status of a
professional or research issue; and a research statement and proposal.
The goals of the course are
- To give you practice using research resources available in
Bracken Library and elsewhere, both on-line and in print
- To familiarize you with some of the scholarly issues impacting
the critical study of literature: establishing texts, evaluating
evidence, editing documents
- To help you develop some of the basic writing tasks of literary
scholars: establishing research issues, creating fundable "problems"
for grants, preparing a bibliography, and
- To communicate some of the fun of doing primary literary
research.
Back to top
English 605: Teaching in English Studies
Prof. Carole Clark Papper
TR 12:30 - 1:45
In 1982 the Conference on College Composition and Communication
issued its “Position Statement on the Preparation and Professional
Development of Teachers of Writing.” Acknowledging the importance of
teacher preparation, the statement argued that “[t]o provide effective
instruction in writing for learners at any age and at all academic
levels, teachers need, first of all, experience in writing and also some
theoretical knowledge to guide classroom practice.”
English 605 is designed to respond to that call for preparation in
the teaching of writing. It provides an introduction to composition
pedagogy, a complex and often contentious field. Interdisciplinary and
dynamic, composition pedagogy demands intellectual flexibility and an
inquiring attitude. We will address three baseline questions: what do we
know about composing; what do we know about teaching composing; how are
both of those questions subject to our theoretical “terministic
screens.”
The aim of the course is to help you become a good teacher, a
reflective and thoughtful teacher, well versed in the scholarship of the
discipline and the lore of classroom. To that end, the class invites
careful pedagogical thinking, not agreement. You will discover,
articulate, and examine your beliefs about composing so that you can
make informed decisions about teaching and take responsibility for the
consequences of those decisions.
General goals:
- Familiarize you with what we mean when we talk about “writing”
- Help shape what you “know” about writing into what you can teach
about writing
- Navigate the relationship between theory and practice
- Engage you in a reflective teaching stance
- Build a community within the writing program of teachers engaged
in the same complex process of teaching writing
- Introduce you to the discipline of composition studies so that
you can become both a contributor and a collaborator
- Offer a safe zone for an exploration and exchange of ideas
Please note the last goal. Because English 605 is required of all
graduate students interested in teaching in the writing program, we will
have a class of diverse perspectives and diverse disciplinary
orientations. Conversations will be lively; disagreements over both
theories and practices will be frequent. I want us to all to feel free
to voice our views and respectfully respond to the views of others. This
is the way in which we can foster a dialogue that elicits an ongoing
reconsideration of our thinking.
Texts:
- Barnett, Timothy. Teaching Argument in the Composition Course
(provided)
- Roen, Pantoja, Yena, Miller, Waggoner. Strategies for
Teaching First-Year Composition. Urbana, IL: NCTE, 2002.
- Villanueva, Victor. Cross-Talk in Comp Theory. 2nd.
Urbana, IL: NCTE, 2003.
Back to top
English 608: Seminar in Theory
Enabling Discourses: Disability Studies in English
Prof. Joyce Huff
MW 5:00 - 6:15
I am not one of the physically challenged –
I’m a sock in the eye with a gnarled fist
I’m a French kiss with a cleft tongue.
These are the opening lines from a poem by Cheryl Marie Wade, one of
the leaders of the disability culture movement. Wade is one of the many
writers, scholars and activists who are currently redefining what it
means to be disabled in American culture. Writers and philosophers have
long been fascinated by people whose bodies and minds differ from the
norm. However, it is only in the past decade or so that the academy has
begun to theorize disability and to focus attention on disabled
subjectivities as well as on the cultural, intellectual and artistic
productions of people with disabilities. In fact, in just the past few
years, the MLA officially recognized Disability Studies as a division
and produced one of the first Disability Studies readers.
In this course, we will look at some of the ways in which the field
of Disability Studies is reconceptualizing disabled identities and
challenging past representations of the disabled. We will examine the
theoretical underpinnings of contemporary Disability Studies as well as
the ideas and attitudes current in the field. We will discuss such
issues as literary representations of disability, freak shows,
disability rights, fat and body image, madness, Deaf culture, eugenics,
AIDS, murderball and the works of contemporary writers, artists and
performers with disabilities.
Possible works for study include: theoretical writings, such as
Rosemarie Garland Thomson’s Extraordinary Bodies and Freakery,
and Lennard Davis’s Enforcing Normalcy; memoirs by writers such
as Alice Walker, Audre Lorde, news correspondent John Hockenberry, fat
rights activist Marilyn Wann, and parent/scholar Michael Berube; works
of literature, such as Richard III, The Elephant Man,
Children of a Lesser God, Girl Interrupted, Regeneration and
Geek Love; and films, such as Freaks, Murderball
and Vital Signs: Crip Culture Talks Back. Course requirements
will include a short paper, a seminar paper, presentations and
participation in discussion, both in class and on-line.
Back to top
English 610: Theory of Creative
Writing
Prof. Mark Neely
MW 3:30 - 4:45
This graduate creative writing class course is designed specifically
for MA students in English who are beginning the Creative Writing
program at Ball State, but open to all graduate students interested in
reading and writing broadly across the genres. Our program encourages
cross-genre work and this course will ask students to consider the
possibilities inherent in the writing of fiction, creative nonfiction,
and poetry with the goal of encouraging students to both think
critically about creativity and the mechanical elements of their craft
and to experiment with various forms and styles. In addition to reading
writers on writing (on topics such as creativity, imaginative and
critical processes, language usage, creative writing pedagogy,
etcetera), students will also read, write, and critique original
fiction, creative nonfiction, and poetry. Class time will consist of
discussion of assigned reading, writing assignments and experiments,
writer visits (including all members of the graduate faculty in Creative
Writing talking about their own genre specialization), and workshops.
Texts for this course may include The Midnight Disease: The Drive
to Write, Writer's Block, and the Creative Brain, by
Alice Flaherty, Writers on Writing by Pack and Parini, current
issues of the AWP Writer's Chronicle, and one book recommended by
each of the graduate Creative Writing faculty.
Course requirements will include a class presentation, regular
reading responses and exercises, workshop critiques, a creative
assignment in each of the three genres, and a final project.
Back to top
English 612: Fiction Writing Workshop
Prof. Barbara Bogue
TR 2:00 - 3:15
Enrollment in Fiction Writing Workshop, English 612,
will draw from students pursuing the Master's Degree in English Studies:
Creative Writing, as well as students pursuing the PhD with or without
the creative writing cognate, students pursuing a Master's Degree in
English Studies (general, literature, rhetoric and composition), and
master's degree candidates from other departments such as journalism.
This workshop in graduate level fiction writing builds upon the
students' previous experiences in the undergraduate fiction writing
workshops; class members will consist of those who have had considerable
experience in literature, not all, perhaps, and those who have had
considerable experience in writing fiction. Those without experience in
writing literary fiction will need to meet with the professor before
enrolling.
This class will emphasize more than reading or listening
to and critiquing each other’s stories; it is the hope of this professor
that a community of writers will be forged through support,
encouragement, and respect for one another and work produced. The
course, which is to be structured upon the submissions of original works
of fiction and the critiques by class members of those stories, will
also include reading of published stories (Best American Short Stories,
handouts, and other stories of your individual selection); discussion
of, and writerly responses (annotations) of those stories; a visiting
guest writer or two (funding pending); reading and discussion of essay
handouts concerning creative writing in the academy; and assigned
out-of-class or in-class writing exercises. I will also ask you to read
and respond to one book about writing (or an option to this assignment).
Attendance at readings by visiting writers to the Ball State University
campus will also be expected.
The focus of the class, however, is the fiction writing
of each student. These stories are the heart of the class and the most
significant element. Stories will be photocopied and distributed ahead
of workshop. The English Department requires that the student bear the
expense of the photocopies.
Texts:
-
Best American Short Stories (edition to be
announced), required
-
Becoming a Writer, Brande (required or approved
option)
-
Writing Fiction, Burroway (when appropriate for
student)
Back to top
English 621: Modern English Grammar
Prof. Elizabeth Riddle
W 6:30 - 9:10
Course description available in RB 295.
Back to top
English 622: History of the English Language
Prof. Herbert Stahlke
TR 12:30 - 1:45
The course covers the development of English from its Indo-European
roots, examining changes and influences through the Proto-Germanic,
Continental Germanic, Old English, Middle English, and Early Modern
English periods. Attention is given phonological, morphological,
syntactic, and lexical development, including influences from Old
European language, and from Latin, Greek, French, and other languages.
Papers include five short research studies on topics provided by the
instructor or suggested by students. There are also periodic quizzes and
regular homework.
Required texts:
- Algeo, John. 2004. Problems in the origins and development of
the English language, 5th ed. Boston: Thomson Wadsworth.
- Beal, Joan C. 2004. English in modern times. London:
Arnold. (EMT)
- Pyles, Thomas, and John Algeo. 2004. The origins and
development of the English language, 5th ed. New York: Thomson
Wadsworth. (ODEL)
- Course pack of selected readings (available from TIS)
Back to top
Prof. Frank Trechsel
MW 12:00 - 1:15
Course description available in RB 295.
Back to top
Prof. Carolyn MacKay
R 2:00 - 4:40
This course is a graduate-level introduction to sociolinguistics,
focusing on the correlation between language use and region and language use
and social factors such as age, sex, social class/network, ethnicity, etc.
The course will be conducted as a seminar; therefore, active
participation in class discussions is expected and encouraged. Regular
attendance, familiarity with readings, and prompt and careful preparation of
weekly assignments are required. The requirements for the course are 2
papers. The first paper will discuss in detail an aspect of linguistic
variation of interest to the student (e.g. Chicano English, the use of
'like', uptalk, the origin of African American English, the Northern Cities
Shift, Gullah, features of women's language, Hoosier dialect, etc.) and the
second paper will involve data collection and the analysis of variable
language use.
Back to top
Prof. Mary Theresa Seig
M 9:00 - 11:40
Course description available in RB 295.
Back to top
English 643: The Age of American Realism
Prof. Kecia McBride
M 6:30 - 9:10
Although the study of discrete literary movements has been challenged by
many scholars, recent work in the field of American literature continues to
emphasize both the value of historical and cultural context as well as the
specific influence of literary realism and (especially) naturalism on the
American canon, both past and present. The purpose of this course is to
explore the literary, historical, and cultural representation of American
fiction in the rapidly changing landscape of the late 19th and early 20th
century. We will review the philosophical foundations (in social science,
philosophy, economics, and psychology) as well as the aesthetic
characteristics of realism and naturalism. The simultaneous and overlapping
influences of materialist and scientific determinism, domestic and
sentimental fiction, populism, the gothic, social realism, and regionalism
will also be discussed, along with relevant cultural and historical
influences. Most importantly, though, we will focus on a rich sampling of
novels and short fiction from this period.
Tentative Reading List (Literature)
The longer texts are likely to be selected from this list:
- Rebecca Harding Davis, Life in the Iron Mills (1861)
- W.D. Howell, The Rise of Silas Lapham (1885)
- Henry James, The Portrait of A Lady (1908; first edition
1881)
- Hamlin Garland, “Up the Cooly” (1891) and other selected stories
- Frank Norris, McTeague (1899)
- Theodore Dreiser, Sister Carrie (1900)
- Stephen Crane, Great Short Works of Stephen Crane (1893-
1900)
- Kate Chopin, The Awakening (1899)
- Edith Wharton, The House of Mirth (1905) or Age of
Innocence (1920)
- Willa Cather, My Antonia (1918)
- John Steinbeck, The Grapes of Wrath (1939)
- Evelyn Scott, The Narrow House (1929)
- Ann Petry, The Street (1946)
Short pieces are likely to include those written by: Mary Wilkins
Freeman, Sarah Orne Jewett, Constance Woolson, William Dean Howells, Mark
Twain, Ambrose Bierce, Charles Chesnutt, Jack London, Sui-Sin Far, Zitlaka-Sa,
Ellen Glasgow, Susan Glaspell, Jane Addams, Sherwood Anderson, William
Faulkner, Raymond Carver
Critical Texts
We will review a range of touchstone texts in literary criticism, from
W.D.Howells and Henry James to the present. We will also discuss recent
theoretical/cultural studies of the period, including those by Michael
Davitt Bell, Amy Kaplan, Michael Anesko, John Crowley, Elsa Nettles, David
Shi, Jennifer Fleissner, Kenneth Warren, and Tom Lutz.
Course Requirements
paper; One literary research presentations; One cultural report; Informal
Responses (weekly); active participation in class; lots of reading!
Office: RB 297; Phone: 285-8583 email:
kdmcbride@bsu.edu
Back to top
English 646: Studies in American Ethnic
Literatures
Asian American and Latino/a Writers & Questions of Identity
Prof. Deborah Mix
TR 5:00 - 6:15
This course will focus on the literatures of two ethnic groups—Latino/as
and Asian Americans—and the ways in which these authors and their works
articulate questions of identity. Starting with 19th-century contexts (such
as the Chinese Exclusion Act and the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo), we’ll
investigate some of the ways that writers from these two groups have sought
to represent their communities’ experiences, to challenge stereotypes and
racism, to consider the intersections of ethnicity with gender and
sexuality, and to articulate their own voices and aesthetics.
We’ll begin with some theories of ethnic literatures as a way to identify
some of the guiding questions and concerns that structure both the
production of the texts themselves and the frameworks in which we read
ethnic literatures. The readings for this class will be clustered into two
“units”: we’ll cover Asian American literature first, then move on to
Latino/a writers’ works. In addition to primary sources, we’ll be reading at
least one critical essay connected to each writer’s work.
Probable texts include: Bulosan, Carlos. America Is in the Heart
(1946) Far, Sui Sin. Mrs. Spring Fragrance and Other Stories (1912)
Hwang, David Henry. M. Butterfly (1986) Kingston, Maxine Hong.
China Men (1980) Okada, John. No-No Boy (1957) Selected poetry
and short stories
Anzaldúa, Gloria. Borderlands/La Frontera (1987) José Martí.
Our America (1891) Mena, María Cristina. The Collected Stories
(1913-1931) Rivera, Tomás. …y no se lo tragó la tierra/And the Earth Did
Not Swallow Him (1987) Ruiz de Burton, María Amparo. The Squatter and
the Don (1885) Selected poetry and short stories
Coursework will include a book review, a class presentation, a seminar
paper, and regular contributions to class discussion.
Back to top
English 653: Studies in Drama
Irish Drama since 1899
Prof. Lauren Onkey
T 6:30 - 9:10
This course will explore how Irish theatre has constructed, rejected ,
recast, and exploded concepts of nation, national identity, and national
theatre since the establishment of the Irish Literary Theatre in 1899. We
will organize our work around three key developments: the emergence of a
national theater movement in the early 20th c. and its relationship to the
political nationalism that led to Irish independence in 1921; theatrical
representations of the war in Northern Ireland since 1969, with a special
focus on the establishment of Derry’s Field Day Theater Company in 1980; the
impact of the sweeping cultural changes in Ireland over the last twenty
years on drama since the 1990s. We will rely on relevant theoretical and
critical work in postcolonial studies and Irish cultural studies to frame
our discussions.
Tentative list of playwrights: W.B. Yeats, J.M. Synge, Lady Gregory, Sean
O’Casey, Samuel Beckett, Brendan Behan, Brian Friel, Anne Devlin, Stewart
Parker, Marie Jones, Frank McGuinness, Christina Reid, Dermot Bolger, Marina
Carr, Martin McDonagh.
If you have any questions, please contact me at
lonkey@bsu.edu.
Back to top
Prof. Frank
Felsenstein
W 6:30 - 9:10
This seminar will explore a broad selection of Shakespeare’s
plays and his non-dramatic poetry through the perspective of wordplay and
wit, and in terms of the plays in performance. The elaborate linguistic and
relational patterns that emerge in the sonnets find their counterpart in
plays that employ complex rhetorical and dramatic strategies to delve into
the inner strengths and foibles of the human heart and mind. The plays
chosen for study will allow us to experience the extraordinary imaginative
fertility of Shakespeare’s art as poet and dramatist. Our study will allow
us to encounter the plays in performance through film, and, depending upon
local theatrical schedules, on stage. Attention will also be paid to the
textual history of individual plays and to the historical development of the
Shakespearean canon. Our selection will include plays in different genres
taken from different periods in Shakespeare’s dramatic career.
Back to top
English 690: Seminar in Composition
Prof. Carole Clark Papper
W 2:00 - 4:40
This course will begin by reviewing the roles rhetoric has played in
the public arena and how rhetoric has served various political and
social functions over the past 2500 years. While not ignoring the
theoretical, we will focus on the pragmatic rather than the
philosophical applications of rhetoric. Employing various contemporary
rhetoric lenses, we will examine topics that include
- Post 9/11 rhetoric--both visual and verbal
- Contemporary political rhetoric--both visual and verbal
- Social rhetoric (as embodied in film and media through
- Religious rhetoric and its social and political implications
- Educational rhetoric ( with a particular focus on
representations of "No Child Left Behind," and the current push to
expand that approach into higher ed)
- The Rhetoric of cultural critique and academic freedom
Our objective for the course will include viewing dominant discourses
in U.S. society and using contemporary and post-modern 'screens' to
dissect and analyze those discourses, as well as to compare them to
alternative views (anarchist, third party, progressive, etc.).
Required texts:
- Readings packet with
- articles from journals including College Composition and
Communication, the Quarterly Journal of Speech,
Rhetoric Society Quarterly, Rhetoric Review, Rhetoric
and Public Affairs, and Philosophy and Rhetoric.
- Samples of historical and contemporary political rhetoric
- Booth, Wayne. Modern Dogma and the Rhetoric of Assent. U
of Chicago Press, 1974
- Burke, Kenneth. The Rhetoric of Religion: Studies in Logology.
U of California Press, 1970.
- Brock, Bernard L. Kenneth Burke and the 21st Century.
SUNY Press, 1999.
- Ivie, Robert L. Democracy and America's War on Terror, U
of Alabama Press, 2006.
- Stuckey, Mary E. Defining Americans: The Presidency and
National Identity. U of Kansas Press, 2004
Graded Assignments:
- Class Discussion -- leadership of and participation in (25%)
- Book Review -- oral/multi-modal presentation and paper (25%)
- Seminar Paper -- (50%): minimum 20 pp (5000 words)
Back to top
Prof. Paul Ranieri
W 6:30 - 9:10
Classical Rhetoric, embodied in the primary texts of such figures as the
pre-Sophists, Sophists, Aspasia, Plato, Aristotle, Isocrates, Cicero,
Quintilian, and Augustine, is not only the heart of education in antiquity,
but also the touchstone to which contemporary thought on writing and
rhetoric always returns, if only to disclaim or deny. This course will study
those primary texts that have been the core of classical rhetoric; it will
look at contemporary responses to these texts; and it will lead up to the
demise of ancient influences as the Roman empire dissolved and Europe moved
into the medieval era.
Texts --Required:
- The Rhetorical Tradition, 2nd ed. (eds. Bizzell and Herzberg—Bedford)
- On Rhetoric: A Theory of Civic Discourse, Aristotle (trans.
Kennedy—Oxford UP)
- Landmark Essays on Classical Greek Rhetoric (ed. Schiappa—Hermagoras)
Optional:
- A Synoptic History of Classical Rhetoric, 3rd ed. (ed.
Murphy/Katula—Hermagoras)
- A Short History of Writing Instruction, 2nd (ed. Murphy—Hermagoras)
Back to top
English 696: Nineteenth-Century
Rhetoric
Prof. Linda Hanson
T 2:00 - 4:40
This course is designed to provide a "survey of the
nineteenth-century theories of composition that established the roots of
contemporary teaching practices." We will examine identified trends, key
primary and secondary texts, and the factors that contributed to shaping
those trends. The primary focus of the course will be intellectual inquiry
into the currently accepted perceptions of nineteenth-century rhetoric. We
will address "special research problems from a nineteenth-century rhetorical
perspective using recognized techniques of research, extensive readings in
selected texts, group discussions, and conferences." A primary goal is for
each of us to articulate our views of nineteenth-century rhetoric in papers
of publishable quality.
Required Texts
-
Herzberg, Bruce, and Patricia Bizzell. The
Rhetorical Tradition, 2nd ed. Bedford, 2001.
-
Golden, J., and E.P.J. Corbett. The Rhetoric of
Blair, Campbell, and Whately, Southern Illinois, 1990.
-
Johnson, Nan. Nineteenth-Century Rhetoric
in North America. Southern Illinois, 1991.
-
Selected readings on electronic or BL reserve.
Back to top
English 721: Topics in English
Grammar
Prof. Elizabeth Riddle
TR 12:30 - 1:45
Course description available in RB 295.
Back to top
|
| |
 |
More Information
Related Links
|
| |
|
|
