Syllabus for a 4-year Bachelor’s Degree

The Department of English offers a four-year BA Honors in English Program with a concentration either in English Literature or English Language. The syllabus is designed to improve the language skills and knowledge of English literature for Bangladeshi students. The literature courses mainly follow an established English canon, the language and linguistics courses have been refurbished with the latest ideas, theories and practices in the field. The syllabus consists of 25 core courses and 10 courses as concentration, in either literature or language.

The total course requirements for degree program are as follows:

 

Major	25 courses	75 credits
General Education Course	6 courses		18 credits
Option/Minor	10 courses		30 credits
Total	41 courses		123 credits

 

GED Courses (English Language)

Course Code	Course Title
ENG 101	Communication Skills
ENG 102	Academic Skills I
ENG 103	Academic Skills II

Note: Placement in English courses will be based on diagnostic tests. Candidates achieving high marks in English diagnostic tests will be exempted from ENG 101 and ENG 102.

 

The Course List

The following list shows both the Core Courses and the Concentration Courses of Literature and Language streams in their final chronological order.

ENG 101 Communication Skills

ENG 102 Academic Skills I

ENG 103 Academic Skills II

ENG 104 Introduction to Literature

ENG 105 Introduction to Linguistics

ENG 106 Political and Social History of England

ENG 201 Essay & Short Story

ENG 202 English Phonetics

ENG 203 Elizabethan and Romantic Poetry

ENG 204 English Morphology

ENG 205 Nineteenth Century Novel

ENG 206 English Syntax

ENG 207 Victorian Literature

ENG 208 Semantics

ENG 209 Shakespeare

ENG 210 Pragmatics & Discourse Analysis

ENG 301 The Modern Novel

ENG 302 Sociolinguistics

ENG 303 Elizabethan and Restoration Drama

ENG 304 Psycholinguistics

ENG 305 American Literature

ENG 306 Introduction to English Language Teaching

ENG 307 Literary Criticism

ENG 308 Historical Linguistics

ENG 309 Stylistics

ENG 310 Modern British Literature

ENG 401 Communicative English

ENG 499 Dissertation

 

CONCENTRATION ELECTIVE (10 COURSES/30 CREDITS)

Students can choose any ten of the following courses from their field of concentration. These courses should be taken in the final four terms of their studies.

 

CONCENTRATION ELECTIVE FOR LITERATURE

ENG 331 Representation of Women in literature

ENG 332 English Satire

ENG 333 English Prose from Bacon to Swift

ENG 334 Eighteenth Century Fiction

ENG 435 Continental Literature

ENG 436 American Literature

ENG 437 Old and Middle English

ENG 438 Classics in Translation

ENG 439 Cultural Studies

ENG 440 Postcolonial Theory and Literature

ENG 335 Literary Theory

ENG 336 Modern Poetry

ENG 431 Modern Drama

ENG 432 Contemporary Literature in English

ENG 433 Comparative Literature

ENG 434 Feminist Readings of Literature

 

CONCENTRATION ELECTIVES FOR LANGUAGE AND ELT

ENG 341 History of English Language Teaching

ENG 342 Theories of Second Language Acquisition

ENG 343 Teaching English as a Second Language

ENG 344 Materials Development

ENG 345 Syllabus Design

ENG 346 Teaching Language through Literature

ENG 441 Teaching Grammar and Composition

ENG 442 Teaching Comprehension and Reading

ENG 443 English for Specific Purposes

ENG 444 Testing and Assessment

ENG 445 Teaching Practicum

ENG 446 Computer Assisted Language Learning

ENG 545 ELT Research Project

ENG 546 Problems and Prospects of ELT in Bangladesh

ENG 541 Language Policy and Planning

ENG 542 Creative Writing

ENG 544 Languages of the World

ENG 545 History of English Language Teaching

ENG 546 History of English Language

 

Four-year Distribution

	Term 1	Term 2	Term 3
Year 1	GED English	GED English	GED English
Year 2	3 courses	3 courses	3 courses
Year 3	3 courses	3 courses	3 courses
Year 4	4 courses	4 courses	4 courses

 

COURSE DESCRIPTIONS

The Course Descriptions list includes only a general pedagogical statement about each course.

 

CORE COURSES (20 courses/ 60 credits to be done from the listing below)

ENG 105 Introduction to Linguistics

This course offers an introduction to linguistic analysis, focusing on speech sounds, words, sentence structure, meaning, and language change. Time permitting, some attention will also be paid to language acquisition.

ENG 202 English Phonetics

The course will discuss the anatomical and physiological workings required for speech production. The course will mainly discuss the articulatory phonetics -- speech organs, types of speech sounds, distinctive features, sounds in connected speech, supra segmental features of English language, and methods of phonetic transcription.

ENG 204 English Morphology

Morphology, the study of words, is interrelated with syntax, phonology, lexicon, and semantics. This course is an introduction to the study of the internal structure of words. Topics will include a survey of word formation processes such as affixation, reduplication, internal change, and compounding.

ENG 206 English Syntax

This course will study the structural properties of English language. It will cover the structure of phrases, clauses and sentences, as well as the functions these units carry out in language. The course will also study the three main theoretical perspectives of grammar: traditional grammar, structural grammar, and transformational grammar.

ENG 208 Semantics

The course will introduce the systematic study of meaning in language, ranging from problems in the semantic structure of lexical systems, and syntactic and morphological contributions to sentence meaning.

ENG 302 Sociolinguistics

This course is designed to give the students information of language in relation to society. In this course, the students will learn about social attitudes to language, function of language in society, language variations, language problems and sociolinguistic research.

ENG 304 Psycholinguistics

This course is a general introduction to psycholinguistics: the study of the human ability to produce and comprehend language. It covers areas such as speech perception, word recognition, lexical ambiguity, sentence comprehension, sentence production, and language acquisition. We will look at how language behavior illuminates our understanding of the mind and the brain, and how properties of the mind and brain influence human language. The students will learn something about the nature of language, how it is used, how our language skills develop, and how they can be impaired.

ENG 401 Communicative English

This is a job-oriented course. The course will teach the students English language skills and use of English for the purposes of self-employment. The emphasis will be on the acquisition of skills through classroom/laboratory practice rather than on theoretic frameworks.

ENG 309 Stylistics

The aim of this course is to study literary works, techniques of linguistics and literature and the relationship between linguistics and literature. It will study in-depth the methods and techniques used by writers to create particular effects with language.

ENG 499 Dissertation

Students will write a dissertation in consultation with a supervisor on any area in their specialized stream. At the end of the semester students will be required to make a presentation to a board of examiners.

ENG 104 Introduction to Literature

This course introduces students to the major genres of literature such as short and long fiction, and non-fiction prose with a view to introducing students to the forms and styles of these genres of literature.

ENG 106 Political and Social History of England

This course introduces students to the major social and political events of England and also of Europe from the Tudor period to the end of the 20th Century and the different literary movements during these periods.

ENG 205 Nineteenth Century Novel

This course includes the major novelists of the time and their representative works.

ENG 203 Elizabethan and Romantic Poetry

The course includes selections from the Romantic poets; authors will include Wordsworth, Coleridge, Shelley, Keats and Byron.

ENG 303 Elizabethan and Restoration Drama

Students will not only read plays from the two periods but will gain a perspective on the historical, religious and political background of the ages. Texts will include selections from Thomas Kyd, Christopher Marlowe, William Shakespeare, Ben Jonson, and William Congreve.

ENG 209 Shakespeare

The course aims to familiarize students with Shakespeare's craft, use of language and with the rudiments of Shakespearean stage structure through the reading of Shakespearean plays and poetry. Texts will include a mixture of Shakespearean tragedy, comedy, history plays, the problem plays and selected sonnets.

ENG 307 Literary Criticism

This course introduces students to some of the fundamental ideas of literary criticism. It examines different views about literature.

 

Concentration Elective for Literature

ENG 331 Representations of Women in Literature

The course examines representations of women in canonical literary work by men and women in the light of major issues raised by current feminist criticism.

ENG 332 English Satire

The purpose of this course is to familiarize students with famous satires in English.

ENG 333 English Prose from Bacon to Swift

This course consists of prose writings from the Elizabethan to the Nineteenth Century. It includes selected writings of Bacon, Addison and Steele, Swift, Boswell and Lamb.

ENG 334 Eighteenth Century Fiction

Students will focus on the rise of the novel and discuss the major works of prose fiction of the period. The texts to be studied include Robinson Crusoe, Gulliver's Travels, Joseph Andrews, Tom Jones and Rasselas.

ENG 435 Continental Literature

The course aims at familiarizing students with some major writers of Continental Literature. It includes works of Flaubert, Tolstoy, Brecht, Pirendello, Baudelaire, Garcia Lorca and Rilke.

ENG 436 American Literature

The course covers the earliest writings in American literature starting from the colonial period to the 19th century. Writers include Ann Bradstreet, Jonathan Edwards, Nathaniel Hawthorne, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, Henry David Thoreau, Henry James, Mark Twain and Whitman.

ENG 437 Old and Middle English

This course contains epics and poetical pieces written in old and Middle English available in modern English translation.

ENG 438 Classics in Translation

The aim of this course is to familiarize students with the ancient classics in the form of Greek and Roman plays and epics in translation.

ENG 439 Cultural Studies

The course will deal with writings on culture from the nineteenth century to modern cultural studies. Writers include Mathew Arnold, Simon During, Roland Barthes, Stuart Hall, Cornel West and Edward Said.

ENG 440 Postcolonial Theory and Literature

Students will interrogate the category of postcolonial theory and literature to discern the pitfalls of using such a broad terminology. They will also enquire into the different forms of literature and writing that can be encompassed within this category.

ENG 335 Literary Theory

The aim of this course is to familiarize students with different literary theories. The course includes selected works of Freud, Cleanth Brooks, E M Froster, M H Abrams, R Barthes, William Wordsworth, Fish, Said, and Kora Kaplan.

ENG 336 Modern Poetry

Students will deal with the complexities of modernism and related issues. Poets include T S Eliot, W.B. Yeats, Ted Hughes, H.D. Marianne Moore, Dylan Thomas and W.H. Auden.

ENG 431 Modern Drama

In this course students will be familiarized with modern drama. Writers include G. B. Shaw, J. M. Synge, Samuel Beckett, George Osborne and Harold Pinter.

ENG 432 Contemporary Literature in English

The course will include novels, poems and plays by some prominent writers of the 1950s, 60s and 70s from England. The following authors will be read: John Fowles, A.S. Byatt, Harold Pinter, Tom Stoppard, Philip Larkin, Ted Hughes, Sylvia Plath and J. G. Farell.

ENG 433 Comparative Literature

This course includes non-English writers like R K Narayan, V S Naipaul, Arundhuti Roy, Chinua Achebe, Wole Soyinka, Naguib Mahfuz, and Nadine Gordimer.

ENG 434 Feminist Readings of Literature

This course examines representations of women in canonical literary works by men and women in the light of major issues raised by current feminist criticism. By the end of the semester students will be able to interpret texts using feminist terminology and judge them from a variety of feminist theoretical frameworks.

 

CONCENTRATION ELECTIVES FOR LANGUAGE AND ELT

ENG 341 History of English Language Teaching

This course will study the history of teaching English as a foreign language from the late 16^th century to the present era. It will emphasize the developments that have taken place in English language teaching since the late-nineteenth century Reform Movement with emphasis on current trends and new directions.

ENG 342 Theories of Second Language Acquisition

The course defines and gives an overview of the field, pointing out differences between first and second language acquisition, and classifying approaches to SLA (psychological, linguistic, and psycholinguistic). It carefully reviews prominent theories of SLA, including Universal Grammar, Krashen’s Monitor model and the Competition model and Connectionism. It also reviews non-language factors that can influence acquisition, such as personality factors and motivation; and it reviews the role of the lexicon and research that focuses on the way we represent words when learning second languages.

ENG 343 Teaching English as a Second Language

This course studies the process of learning English as a second language. Theories and variables of Second Language Acquisition (SLA) are explored with regard to psychology and language learning.

ENG 344 Materials Development

The objectives of the course are to examine principles of language curriculum and materials development; prepare, select, adapt, language teaching materials for classroom use; and evaluate samples of language teaching materials.

ENG 345 Syllabus Design

The purpose of this course is to introduce students to a variety of approaches to syllabus design employed in foreign language teaching. It will also provide the tools students need to scrutinise and critically analyse teaching programmes used in student's current and future teaching contexts.

ENG 346 Teaching Language through Literature

This course is designed to provide participants with the opportunity to raise and debate issues related to exploring and incorporating literature in English language teaching with a special emphasis on discussing cross-cultural issues. Language teaching here is seen as the ESL context wherein literature is a component.

ENG 441 Teaching Grammar and Composition

The purpose of the course is to study grammatical concepts with concentration on basic sentence structure, principles of punctuation and functional grammar. This course will also examine rhetorical and composition theory, error analysis, methods of error correction and the composing process.

ENG 442 Teaching Comprehension and Reading

This course will emphasize reading, comprehension, and vocabulary expansion. It will explore reasons for teaching reading to students. Students will be encouraged to assess their own comprehension, actively test comprehension using questionnaires, and by improving metacognition. Teaching conceptual and linguistic knowledge is also advantageous.

ENG 443 English for Specific Purposes

This is considered a pragmatic course with regards to the application of proper linguistic treatment in the professional as well as academic sector.

ENG 444 Testing and Assessment

The purpose of this course is to introduce the concepts of testing competence and performance; the aims and objectives of language test; the validity and reliability of tests; techniques of developing and administering different types of tests, developing marking criteria and an understanding of the normative and formative value of testing and assessment.

ENG 445 Teaching Practicum

This is a practical course on classroom teaching. Students will be required to use the theoretical knowledge acquired in their previous courses. The course will examine how theory can be transferred to practice in real life classroom teaching situations. Students will maintain a portfolio which will trace their personal and professional development.

ENG 446 Computer Assisted Language Learning

Both the practical and theoretical aspects of using computer-assisted learning methods will be explored. The course includes word-processing, data base and spread sheet programs. The internet will be used extensively.

ENG 545 ELT Research Project

This course aims to provide students with some practical training in doing ELT research.

ENG 546 Problems and Prospects of ELT in Bangladesh

The aim of this course is to provide an overview of the present condition of ELT in Bangladesh and how to solve problems.

ENG 541 Language Policy and Planning

The aim of this course is to introduce students to some important issues and considerations in language policy and planning.

ENG 542 Creative Writing

The course is designed to enable students to write poetry and short fiction. The students will explore how poetry and short stories can express ideas and emotions . Students need to read some selected models of poetry and short stories.

ENG 545 History of English Language Teaching

The aim of this course is to review the history of English language teaching. It covers the spread of English language teaching in Europe, and gives an overview of English language teaching since 1900 and the teaching of English as a foreign or second language since 1900, including foundations, development, changes and variations that took place in ELT.

ENG 546 History of English Language

The purpose of this course is to familiarize students with the evolution and development of English Language and its current practices.