English Learning Outcomes

The English Department supports the college-wide Core Learning Outcomes, with particular attention given to the following points: (1) Engage and Take Responsibility as Active Learners, (2) Think Critically, (3) Communicate Effectively, and (5) Utilize Information Literacy Skills.  The department also promotes program-specific outcomes for its three primary programs — Composition, Literature & Humanities, and Written Arts.

Composition Program: Developmental Goals

In pre-college composition courses, students, whether beginning, developmental, or underprepared, become competent, functional, confident writers. To do so, they—
1. Demonstrate an understanding of the relevance of language and composition in different contexts.
2. Engage constructively in the challenges of writing and reading.
3. Demonstrate an understanding of the basic conventions of language and composition.

Composition: Program-Specific Learning Outcomes

To ensure that our composition program meets these goals, our faculty members pursue the following learning objectives, each expressing what our graduates should know and be able to do:
1. Develop appropriate content to support claims in expository, persuasive, and critical writing.
2. Arrange content in appropriate patterns—spatial, chronological, relational, logical—to develop ideas persuasively.
3. Edit to meet readers’ expectations for clarity and grammatical correctness.
4. Analyze and evaluate the choices writers make to achieve rhetorical and aesthetic purposes.
5. Locate appropriate primary and secondary sources efficiently in conducting literary research.
6. Quote primary and secondary sources correctly and document research correctly and ethically.
7. Understand the use and role of technology in the writing process.

Literature & Humanities: Program-Specific Learning Outcomes

To ensure that our Literature and Humanities program meets these goals, our faculty members pursue the following learning objectives, each expressing what our graduates should know and be able to do:
1. Ask questions about the meaning and value of human life and experience.
2. Analyze how culture, history, and memories are passed on from generation to generation.
3. Understand how diverse cultures and people see the world and our place in it, and how diverse cultures and people express themselves.
4. Develop multiple perspectives and approaches to a subject through reading and analysis.
5. Develop and utilize criteria for understanding excellence of achievement in this subject area
6. Demonstrate understanding of the role creativity plays in human experience.

Written Arts:  Program-Specific Learning Outcomes:

1. Creative Skill-building: Students will be able to describe and discuss how  the “creative” in creative writing grows out of specific, demonstrable skills and techniques, both traditional and innovative, and not just open-ended, ad hoc, piecemeal attempts at "writing one's feelings."
2. Community/Historical/Interdisciplinary awareness: Students will gain an understanding of the history, tradition, and current practices of the writing disciplines, and how they relate to the other arts, both through research and through active participation in local, current literary events.
3. Professional Development (AFA): Students will gain practical experience in design and production of literary events and magazines, and familiarity with the editorial process.