Course No: ENG104
Credits:
4
Date: August 2010
Course Title:
Introduction to Literature (Fiction)
Institution:
Rogue Community College
Type of Course:
Transfer
Length of Course:
A minimum of forty (40) lecture hours per one term.
Prerequisites:
RD30 or designated placement test score as shown on current
indicator chart; WR121 (may be taken concurrently).
Department Assignment:
Humanities/English
Course Description: Introduction to Literature is a course which provides a survey of important
works of fiction by writers from different cultures and time periods. The course is designed to
foster thoughtful interpretation, analysis, and appreciation of fiction.
Course Outcomes, Skills, and Assessment: On successful completion of this course, students
will be able to:
Expected Outcomes:
1. Become familiar with the
literary genre of fiction through
reading and analyzing folktales
and fables, short stories and/or
novels, with emphasis on such
elements as point of view, plot,
setting, characterization, tone,
style, theme, and symbolism.
(One short novel will be read by
the class as a whole, and a longer
novel will be chosen by students
working groups for four or five to
serve as the focus for each
group’s oral presentation.
Key ISLO Indicators
COM 2 - Express ideas
clearly in oral, written
and visual work.
1
Assessment Methods:
1. Will demonstrate their
knowledge of the elements of
fiction through short response
papers, longer analytical papers,
journals, tests, and/or oral and
written presentations working
with substitutions in style, setting,
point of view, etc.; In addition to
demonstrating their ability to read
with appreciation and to analyze
the formal elements of literature,
students will reveal their ability to
work collaboratively with their
peers through the preparation of a
panel discussion on a novel
selected by their group.
Expected Outcomes:
2. See the value of traditional and
contemporary critical approaches
to literature, such as the
biographical, moral/philosophical,
formalist, psychoanalytical,
mythological or archetypal,
Marxist, feminist,
deconstructionist, readerresponse, and new historicism.
Becoming familiar with these
approaches will aid the student in
the process of close reading and
independent analysis.
3. Acquire knowledge of literary
movements and connect them
with pertinent social and
historical movements.
Key ISLO Indicators
CT 2 - Raise significant
and relevant questions.
COM 2 - Express ideas
clearly in oral, written
and visual work.
Assessment Methods:
2. Students will use techniques
from different schools of literary
criticism in oral and written
discussions of short stories and
novels, occasionally interpreting
the same work from two or three
different theoretical vantage
points.
CT 2 - Raise significant
and relevant questions.
CT 3 - Locate, organize,
analyze, and interpret
data.
COM 2 - Express ideas
clearly in oral, written
and visual work.
3. In papers of literary analysis,
students will cite passages from
their reading to indicate their
awareness of such movements as
romanticism, realism, naturalism,
modernism, and their impact on
the form and focus of literary
works; Students will achieve 75
percent or better on a written test
over this material. They will
demonstrate this knowledge in
class discussions and/or panel
presentations.
4. Learn to examine the way their
own experiences and expectations
shape their reading of texts, and to
apply to their own situations the
philosophical and psychological
insights gleaned from literary
fiction.
CT 1 - Recognize own
and others’ emotions,
assumptions, biases, and
cultural contexts.
COM 2 - Express ideas
clearly in oral, written
and visual work.
4. Students will produce at least
four reaction papers, keep a
reading journal, and engage in
regular class discussions and
small group interactions.
5. Heightened awareness of the
part gender, race, and culture play
in literary expression.
COM 2 - Express ideas
clearly in oral, written
and visual work.
5. Students may create a dramatic
situation to present to the class,
demonstrating how a given work
might be changed if the gender,
race, time and place were
different in a particular work.
Some of these may be videotaped
and exchanged with other
sections of ENG104.
2
Expected Outcomes:
6. Drawing on collaborative
learning, students will develop an
increased ability to communicate,
both orally and in writing, their
insights into the literary works
covered and an enhanced ability
to appreciate and evaluate the
responses of their classmates.
Key ISLO Indicators
CT 1 - Recognize own
and others’ emotions,
assumptions, biases, and
cultural contexts.
COM 2 - Express ideas
clearly in oral, written
and visual work.
COM 3 - Collaborate
effectively to achieve
course/learning goals.
Assessment Methods:
6. At least once a week, students
will be asked to write a short
response to one question over the
assigned reading. Working in
groups, students will evaluate
responses produced by their
classmates and select especially
informative or thoughtful
responses to share with the rest of
the class.
Typical Required and Recommended Textbook(s): Kennedy, X.J., and Dana Gioia.
Literature: An Introduction to Fiction, Poetry, and Drama, 9th ed.
Format:
A combination of lecture, class discussion, and group activities. Short quizzes,
reading journals, and response papers based on reading. Approximately two
substantial analytical papers. Midterm and final exams.
TYPICAL COURSE OUTLINE:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
Reading a Story
Point of View
Character
Setting
Tone and Style
Theme
7.
8.
9.
10.
11.
12.
Symbol
Evaluating a Story
Reading Long Stories and Novels
A Writer in Depth
Stories for Further Reading
Criticism: On Fiction
3