CCOG for ENG 237 archive revision 201804

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Effective Term:
Fall 2018 through Summer 2021

Course Number:
ENG 237
Course Title:
Working-Class Literature
Credit Hours:
4
Lecture Hours:
40
Lecture/Lab Hours:
0
Lab Hours:
0

Course Description

Introduces U.S. and global literature by and/or about the working class. Recommended: ENG 104, ENG 105 and/or ENG 106. Audit available.

Intended Outcomes for the course

Upon completion of the course students should be able to:

  1. Analyze literature to identify the differences and similarities in working-class experiences across time and national contexts.
  2. Identify recurring themes within working-class literature both within and across national contexts.
  3. Identify differences in style and form in working class literature that are shaped by national status, traditions, and/or cultures.
  4. Identify the variety of contexts—historical, cultural, sociological, and political—under which literature is produced and distributed.
  5. Produce critical, reflective, and/or creative writing about working-class literature.

Integrative Learning

Students completing an associate degree at Portland Community College will be able to reflect on one’s work or competencies to make connections between course content and lived experience.

Course Activities and Design

Class meeting time consists of lecture, group discussion, and small group discussion. Meeting time may also include the following:  writing; performing; viewing film; listening to performances, guest speakers, or audio recordings.

Outcome Assessment Strategies

Assessment tools may include
• informal responses such as quizzes, study questions or journals;
• participation in small-and full- group discussion;
• in-class and out-of-class writing;

• formal academic essays;
• presentations by individuals and groups;
• short and long essay examinations;
• close reading exercises using support/evidence;
• portfolios of creative writing or visual art forms;
• dance, theatrical or spoken-word performances;
• academic essays that evaluate various interpretations of a text and their relative validity. Both instructor and peer evaluation may be incorporated into the assessment process.

Course Content (Themes, Concepts, Issues and Skills)

The course will introduce and foster understanding of:

• the confines and fluidity of class identity in and the influence of these questions of identity in literature by/about the working class

• ways and reasons that working-class literature has traditionally been marginalized

• stereotypes and generalizations of working-class as primarily male, white and industrial, and the response of working-class literature to such generalizations

• the ways that working-class literature identifies intersections of race, gender, ethnicity, citizenship, educational status, and sexual orientation with class identity

• the relationship between traditional notions of literary genres (poetry, fiction, drama) and forms such as letters, memoirs, oral history, songs, speeches, leaflets

• rhetorical considerations, especially with regards to socio-historical context, intended audience and political purpose of working-class texts

• the relationships between creativity and productivity, especially within the context of power and ownership

• themes of power and powerlessness

• the significance of linguistic styles in representing power relationships