The Department of Languages, Literature, and Communication seeks to expose all Grace College students to God-honoring courses in writing, literature, modern languages, and communication. Students will leave furnished with a versatile communication skill set necessary to be articulate and successful in any career field.
The English program seeks to develop perceptive and critical thinking abilities through the study of literature and the English language and to furnish creative and researched methods of writing to express these insights.The English major is balanced with attention to literature, language, and writing. Courses are taught by professors who are equipped to integrate biblical principles into the scope of literature and language study. English majors are thus prepared for graduate school and for careers in writing, publishing, editing, teaching English to speakers of other languages, and as librarians.
Course Requirements for a B.A. English
Examples of courses in this major:
A contemporary survey of English covering traditional grammar, structural linguistics, and transformational grammar. The course covers grammar and usage on a theoretical and explanatory basis, dealing as well in dialectology and the linguistic features of Black and Spanish-influenced English.
An historical survey of the backgrounds and development of the English language from Indo-European origins to the present. Students gain experience reading Old and Middle English texts and studying medieval English dialects. Semantics, methods of word formation, lexicography, and differences between American and global English are covered.
A survey of the development of American literature from colonial times through revolutionist, romantic, and transcendentalist prose, poetry, and fiction up to mid-nineteenth century, augmented by select longer fictional works.
A study of the era, life, and works of this great literary master, with a close reading and video viewing of histories, comedies, and tragedies, as well as a study of his other poetic contributions.
A study with intensive concentration on the various theories and schools of literary criticism, such as formalism, new historicism, deconstruction, dialogism, and basic textual criticism, among others. Representative readings and application to selected texts are features of the course to provide the student with precise skills in explications of texts.