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Programme: BAHons English

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Code Faculty Department
01240212 Faculty of Humanities Department: English
Credits Duration NQF level
Minimum duration of study: 1 year Total credits: 120 NQF level:  08

Admission requirements

  1. Relevant bachelor’s degree
  2. A weighted average of at least 60% in English at third-year level but students with a weighted average of 70% or more in English at final-year level will receive preference
  3. An entrance examination may be required
  4. Additional modules (English 310 Reading Medieval and Early Modern literature and/or English 320 Reading the Nineteenth Century) may be required in order to reach the desired level of competency

 

Minimum credits: 120

ENG 778 and ENG 701 is compulsory.

Select 3 core modules - 45 credits

Elective Modules

Any 2 modules from the list or, at the discretion of the relevent head of department, one to two honours modules offered by other departments in the Faculty of Humanities - 30 credits.

Core modules

  • Module content:

    This module provides a survey of poetics and literary theory in English, with particular reference to developments since the beginning of the 20th century. It covers aspects such as new criticism, structuralism and post-structuralism, as well as feminist and Marxist approaches to literature.

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  • Module content:

    The module begins with a general introduction to literary approaches to African writing. Thereafter a selection of texts representing diverse genres is studied. You are encouraged to attend live performances of African and South African plays and to read current editions of African and South African journals for reviews and scholarly articles.

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  • Module content:

    The module begins with a general introduction to literary approaches and concepts in contemporary African writing. Thereafter a selection of texts from both Africa and South Africa is studied.

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  • Module content:

    This module provides and overview of the history and range of short story writing in South Africa and covers the work of individual writers such as Bosman, Smith, Head, Rive, Ndebele, Matthews, Essop, Wicomb and Vladislavic. Students are also encouraged to examine new work published in literary journals.

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  • Module content:

    The module introduces both the theoretical and practical dimensions of TESOL (Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages). Areas covered include (i) the nature of the foreign/second language learning process;(ii) the major approaches and methods of foreign/second language teaching; and (iii) focused methodologies for teaching grammar, pronunciation, vocabulary, speaking and listening.

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  • Module content:

    A range of interest in children’s literature is represented in this module: children’s literature as a social formation, in education and in psychology. The module discusses literature for, by and about children, in different methodologies and modes.

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  • Module content:

    This module provides a thorough coverage of English grammar and phonology with special attention to the structures and sounds that are most problematic for foreign learners. The module also suggests methods for the effective teaching of grammar and pronunciation in the ESL/EFL classroom.

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  • Module content:

    The module develops language-editing skills, using a variety of texts from different fields and of varying levels of complexity. Students edit texts to produce grammatical, idiomatic and logical English texts, taking into account peculiarities of South African English and local needs. They adjust work to meet the needs of a specified target audience. The principles of plain language editing are applied, in addition to strategies to overcome textual complexities for given target audiences, ranging from academics to neo-literates. A special focus is the editing of translations in the SA context.

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  • Module content:

    The module caters for students wishing to replace a complete honours module with a specialised topic (in an extended research report form) on any aspect of English language or literature.

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  • Module content:

    This module caters for students who have an interest in writing and who wish to produce original, creative work of their own. It is practical in orientation, and the aim is to guide and assist students in producing a portfolio of creative work of a high standard.

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  • Module content:

    This module introduces the student to the reading and appreciation of Old and Middle English art forms in which the emphasis falls on aesthetic and moral issues, rather than on psychological ones. The module is an integrated one beginning with the study of the Old English epic, Beowulf, and includes Anglo-Saxon models as well as homiletic or heroic poems. The Middle Ages witness the reintroduction of English as the language of court, in preference to French, and the growth of narrative and lyrical poetry. Representations of both types of poetry are studied.

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  • Module content:

    This module explores a range of works written between 1660 and 1760 and, in keeping with recent critical approaches to the period, emphasises the age’s exuberance, comic and satiric energy, and willingness to experiment with literary forms. Writers discussed include Pope, Johnson, Swift, Wycherley, Congreve and a selection of less well-known female poets and dramatists.

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  • Module content:

    In reading works by writers such as the "Gawain" poet, Malory and Spenser, students will be encouraged to see how such works can conform to generic conventions while also reflecting the preoccupations and values of very different societies. Features of romance present in contemporary fantasy literature will also be discussed.

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  • Module content:

    The modernist movement is examined in the context of contemporary developments in psychology, physics and anthropology, with an emphasis on the break with traditional literary and artistic conventions. Literary developments will be discussed in relation to seminal texts in poetry, prose and drama, including the work of Yeats, Eliot, Hardy, Lawrence, Joyce, Conrad and Beckett.

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  • Module content:

    This module will introduce students to certain key concepts in relation to postmodernism and postmodern literature. A wide range of texts will be studied. These may include works by British, American, Canadian and South African writers.

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Elective modules

  • Module content:

    This module will introduce students to key concepts in popular culture studies. The module undertakes an interdisciplinary examination of popular texts such as newspapers, television, movies, graphic novels, mobile media and digital and VR culture. Students will be exposed to multimedia texts and popular discursive approaches from cultural studies, gender studies and Black aesthetics.

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  • Module content:

    The module covers a selection of Shakespeare's plays chosen to give some idea of the scope and development of his work as well as a selection of Elizabethan, Jacobean and Restoration texts.

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