Program Learning Outcomes

  1. Knowledge Base: Linguistics. Students will apply and evaluate multiple models of language. Students will respond critically to linguistic scholarship and utilize appropriate sources in constructing critical arguments about language. (ILO 1, 2, 3, 4)
  2. Effective Communication. Students will write discipline-appropriate reviews and research, using appropriate sources and documentation standards. In both individual and collaborative assignments, student will produce course-appropriate projects and papers. Students will present work orally in a discipline-appropriate format. (ILO 1, 2, 3, 4)
  3. Appreciation of Diversity. Students will analyze data from a diverse variety of languages. Students will identify and analyze examples of the relationship between language, power, and society. (ILO 1, 2, 3, 4, 5)
  1. Knowledge Base: Literary Studies. Students will demonstrate knowledge of British, American, transnational, and world literatures, including works by major authors and major movements in literary history. Students will be able to identify and discuss various features of literary traditions and genres (poetry, fiction, drama), while showing awareness of developments in language and literature brought about by social, historical, and cultural changes. Students will demonstrate knowledge of literature from historically underrepresented groups and texts that expand traditional ideas of the literary canon. (ILO 4, 5)
  2. Critical Analysis. Students will demonstrate the ability to read literary texts on different levels including aesthetic responsiveness, awareness of literary traditions, and critical analysis. Students will be able to describe a given text’s formal qualities and the historical, cultural, and literary contexts that inform it, and apply those contexts in interpretations of texts including perspectives that center culture, gender, race, class, sexuality and /or other aspects of human identity as categories of analysis. Students will analyze literary texts from a variety of critical and theoretical perspectives, applying one or more methodologies in their critical interpretations of literary texts. (ILO 1, 2, 4, 5)
  3. Effective Communication. Students will produce oral presentations and formal and informal writing in a variety of discipline-appropriate forms. Student work will analyze and respond to literary and critical texts as well as to student writing. Students will analyze, describe, and practice negotiating the conventions of the construct of ‘standard written English. Students will construct oral and written arguments that advance a thesis, support it with appropriate evidence, and present it through effective organization. Students will demonstrate an awareness of how conventions of oral and written communication vary from one rhetorical situation to another and the ability to communicate effectively in a variety of linguistic situations (ILO 1, 2, 4, 5)
  4. Research Skills. Students will produce literary analyses informed by independent research. Students will locate and evaluate appropriate sources, both print and electronic, and both primary and secondary, for the study of given texts. In writing, students will demonstrate their ability to use these sources effectively to build and support a cogent and persuasive argument. Students will document sources ethically and appropriately. (ILO 1, 2, 3)

English: Education Only

  1. Extended Studies. Students will demonstrate knowledge of an extended studies area in TESL, Theatre Arts, Communications, or Literature. (ILO 1, 2, 5)
  2. Knowledge Base: Pedagogy. Students will demonstrate knowledge of composition pedagogy, including TESL, and reflect on and articulate their experiences as pre-service and continuing English teachers, both in writing and orally. (ILO 4, 5)
  1. Knowledge Base: Literature. Students will demonstrate an in-depth, advanced understanding of a wide variety of texts by writers working in English across time periods and traditions, including literature from historically underrepresented and marginalized groups, and the contexts—historical, cultural, and literary—that inform them. (ILO 1)
  2. Theoretical and Critical Perspectives. Students will demonstrate an in-depth, advanced understanding of the theoretical and critical perspectives that have shaped literary study, including debates about the relationship between literature and questions of culture, race, gender, class, sexuality, and /or other aspects of human identity as categories for analysis. Students will engage critically with a range of methodological approaches to the study of literature and apply analytic paradigms to their own analyses of literary texts. (ILO 1, 2, 5)
  3. Effective Communication. Students will demonstrate the ability to communicate complex critical analyses of literature clearly both orally and in writing in forms consistent with disciplinary practice. In written contexts, students will prepare original interpretive arguments about literature that are supported by cogent textual analysis, contextualized historically and socially, informed by critical and theoretical paradigms, and presented clearly and professionally. In oral contexts, students will demonstrate the ability to present such complex arguments clearly and respond to questions from a listening audience. (ILO 2, 3, 4)
  4. Research Strategies and Skills. Students will design and implement effective research programs that generate original, independent interpretations of literature. Students will find, analyze, and apply appropriate secondary sources in their analyses of literary texts. Students will situate their interpretations of literature within ongoing critical conversations, recognizing and demonstrating the contributions their work makes to the wider discipline. Students will demonstrate the ability to utilize and document chosen sources ethically and professionally. (ILO 5, 6, 7)

For the Rhetoric/Composition Emphasis

  1. Knowledge Base: Rhetoric and Composition. Students will demonstrate an in-depth, advanced knowledge of a wide variety of rhetorical perspectives and theoretical standpoints from the classical through contemporary periods. Students will analyze cogently and critically important issues in contemporary composition studies in order to present and explain major positions within rhetorical theory and their differences. Students will demonstrate the ability to recognize, identify, and analyze a range of modes of discourse.
  2. Composition Pedagogy. Students will assess, analyze, and evaluate current theories and practices in the teaching of composition, including ones that center anti-racist and culturally responsive pedagogies; and presenting and explaining various aspects of composition theory and practice in a manner appropriate to an audience of future educators and writing studies scholars.
  1. Knowledge Base: Linguistics/Applied Linguistics. Students will demonstrate expertise, both orally and in writing, in important subdisciplines of linguistics and applied linguistics, including language pedagogy. Students will respond critically to linguistic scholarship, citing appropriate sources. (ILO 1, 2, 3, 4, 5)
  2. Effective Communication. Students will write a variety of documents (e.g. essays, short papers, reviews, field work), following disciplinary conventions and following disciplinary conventions, including but not limited to methods of formatting and citations as appropriate. Students will produce both oral and written course-appropriate projects and papers both individually and collaboratively with classmates. Students will give discipline-appropriate conference-style presentations in a manner befitting the profession. (ILO 1, 2, 3, 4, 5)
  3. Research. Students will produce original research papers and/or projects that present new findings or proposals in the fields of linguistics and ESL pedagogy. Students will situate their work within current disciplinary and/or theoretical understandings and conduct their research following ethical conventions of the profession throughout all stages. (ILO 1, 2, 3, 5, 6)
  4. Language Pedagogy. Students will evaluate theories, approaches, and methods that influence language teaching. Students will connect language teaching activities to relevant theories, approaches, and methods. Students will prepare and deliver effective and socially responsible ESL/EFL lessons, both individually and in groups. (ILO 1, 2, 3, 4, 6)

CSUDH has a rich history of preparing teachers, and the English department takes special pride in the way it prepares students to become English teachers at the secondary level. We have developed our Subject Matter Preparation Program in English (SMPP) after having drawn upon several important sources: the experience and expertise of our faculty; the Standards of Quality and Effectiveness for Single Subject Teaching Credential Programs; and the academic and professional needs of our students.&n The English department bases its SMPP on the following beliefs:

  1. The SMPP must teach students to read perceptively, write effectively, and think critically.
  2. The SMPP must provide both breadth and depth in the study of literature; it must prepare students to analyze complex issues, synthesize information from multiple sources, and communicate ideas using a variety of formats and technologies.
  3. The SMPP must provide a foundation in the structure of language and the way in which (particularly non-native) English speakers can improve their proficiency
  4. The SMPP must develop strong writing skills and the ability to inform others about composition theories and practices.
  5. The SMPP must contain pedagogic foci as well as purely content-based foci.
  6. The SMPP must celebrate the rich diversity that reflects not only our own campus but the neighborhoods in which our graduates will teach.
  7. The SMPP must clearly provide its students with advisement that makes program outcomes clear and understandable.
  8. The SMPP must ensure that its final assessment of candidate secondary school English teachers fits together with stated program goals.
  9. The SMPP must evolve over time to meet changing demands not only in the academic study of English but of the teaching conditions that our students will face. Such evolution must come after careful consideration of systematic program review and changing content standards.