Module Catalogue 2024/25

Pre Requisite Comment

Need at least a an A-Level in any of French, German or Spanish

Co Requisite Comment

None

Aims

- To introduce you to four different types of text: the short story, the play, poetry, and the novel.
- To show and enable you to practise critical approaches to these different types of text.
- To equip you with tools for close reading and textual analysis.
- To enable you to develop critical, widely contextualised, and theoretically informed approaches to the subject.
The course assumes no prior knowledge of the texts to be studied and no previous experience of studying literature to Advanced level is necessary.

Outline Of Syllabus

There are 36 contact hours in the module, all of them obligatory:
- Each week there is a one hour seminar in language groups (i.e. 23 hours of seminars).
- In semester 1 in weeks 1–3 and 5–6 and in semester 2 in weeks 1–2 and 5–6, there are additional one hour plenary lectures (i.e. 9 hours of lectures).
- In semester 1 and semester 2 in weeks 4 and 7, there are additional individual "surgery hours" (i.e. 4 hours of surgery).

Intended Knowledge Outcomes

The study of literature develops skills of close textual analysis which are equally crucial in sociological, historical, political, and linguistic studies.
•      
Literature is an integral part of a country’s culture and history and offers insight into the social, political and cultural context in which it is produced.

Reading literary texts gives unique advantages for language learning: total immersion in the language, expansion of vocabulary, internalisation of grammatical structures, seeing language used in context.

Intended Skill Outcomes

At the end of the module students should be able to:
- read critically literature in the language(s) of their choice
- use the standard reference works;
- write an appropriately documented and organized essay and a literary commentary
- take notes effectively in lectures, from journals, electronic sources and secondary material;
- use a standard format (the Harvard or author-date system) for footnotes and references.

Teaching Rationale And Relationship

Lecture materials (in the form of recordings) will provide essential introductions to the set texts and their authors and to their literary genres (short story, play, novel, poetry) more widely. They will also offer guides to the use of literary terms. Students will be expected to work through the lecture materials and accompanying
directed reading/viewing which will be clearly signposted on Canvas. Evaluation from last year showed that a majority of students appreciated the online elements as part of the module contact hours and the blended learning mode of teaching showed to be very effective as it allowed students time to reflect in their own time.

In seminars, students will analyse the chosen texts in detail, working through specific questions and specific extracts; emphasis will be placed on close literary analysis, and they will be given support to develop and practise their skills. Students will be expected to carry out guided independent reading and to prepare questions – of a simple but also more extensive nature – in advance of seminars.

The module talk will provide an introduction to and benchmark of the module and its teaching methods (that students can refer back to) and the Q&A will facilitate debate around the key topics and issues in the module.

The drop-in sessions will be mainly to go through assessment queries in person.

Assessment Rationale And Relationship

The essay in semester 1 allows students to practise and develop their close reading skills and textual analysis.

The summative exam in semester 2 assesses students’ ability to write about the novel or poetry studied in semester 2, using the terms taught and the skills practised throughout the academic year. The students will also be asked to analyse an unseen English-language extract, again to practise close textual analysis.

The formative essay in semester 1 on the short story allows students to develop and test out their close reading skills and receive feedback before going on to write the longer summative essay. They will be given guidance on essay writing before the formative essay is written and be given individual and full-cohort feedback on the formative essay that will support them to write the summative essays.

General Notes

N/A