Introduction to Literary Studies
(Study in English)
1. Course Details
- Course Title: Introduction to Literary Studies (Study in English)
- Course Code: VAN072
- Number of Units: 4
- Level: third-year students
- Prerequisite: Students have background knowledge of literary history, literary theory, and elementary level of English.
- Course Description: This course introduces students to the world of literature and literary studies using the English language. The course provides students withthe English terms and examples in English of literary works, authors, movements and trends around the globe from past to present. Students learn to translate literary texts from English to Vietnamese, and to use English to express their perception and evaluation of literary issues.
2. Course Aims
The course aims to:
- introduceEnglish terms in the field of literature and literary studies through reading a selection of texts in English by researchers from around the globe
- familiarize students with the English originals or translations of famous literary works that they have already known of through the Vietnamese translations
- introduce the skills of reading English literary texts and expressing opinions about those texts in English
- develop the ability of translating texts of literature and literary studies from English to Vietnamese.
2.2 Learning Objectives
After successfully completing this course,students should be able to:
- Remember terms of literature and literary studies in English
- Read texts of literature and literary studies in English without formal guidance
- Translate texts of literature and literary studies from English into Vietnamese
- Express their understanding and opinions about a piece of literature, both orally and writtenly
- Work in group in translating or editing a translation of literary texts.
Learning objectives of the course contribute to the program expected learning outcomeas followed:
| No. | Course learning objectives | Program expected learning outcomes |
| 1 | Remember terms of literature and literary studies in English |
- basic knowledge of Vietnamese folklore, Vietnamese classic and modern literature (ELO3) - basic knowledge of trends and movements of prominent literature works and arts over the world (ELO4) - to memorize, to understand and to present (ELO6)
|
| 2 | Read texts of literature and literary studies in English without formal guidance |
- basic knowledge of Vietnamese folklore, Vietnamese classic and modern literature (ELO3) - basic knowledge of trends and movements of prominent literature works and arts over the world (ELO4) - to memorize, to understand and to present (ELO6) -capable of long-life learning (ELO17)
|
| 3 | Translate texts of literature and literary studies from English into Vietnamese |
- basic knowledge of Vietnamese folklore, Vietnamese classic and modern literature (ELO3) - basic knowledge of trends and movements of prominent literature works and arts over the world (ELO4) - to apply and to analyze (ELO7)
|
| 4 | Express their understanding and opinions about a piece of literature, both orally and writtenly |
- basic knowledge of Vietnamese folklore, Vietnamese classic and modern literature (ELO3) - basic knowledge of trends and movements of prominent literature works and arts over the world (ELO4) - to evaluate and generalize (ELO8) - skills of reviewing and criticizing literature and arts (ELO10) - skills of synthesizing and presenting one’s own ideas (consisting of individual- and team-working skills, problem-solving skills, communicating skills) (ELO13)
|
| 5 | Work in group in translating or editing a translation of literary texts |
- active, confident, responsible, serious, purposeful in working and well-cooperative in working (ELO15)
|
4. Learning activities
| Week | Content | Activities | Learning resources |
| 1 | Entrance test and Introduction |
- Students take a short quiz and an oral test about general knowledge of literature and capacity of English. Teacher gives comments and advice to each student right after the oral test. - Teacher gives introduction about the course. |
|
| 2 | Folklore: definition and characteristics |
Students: - read, summarize and discuss in groups several academic definitions of folklore, - listen to and recite video clip Song of the Sirens, - read and re-tell different variants of three folktales Urashima Taro, Four dragons, Little mermaid, - listen to and fill the blanks of video clip Hush! Little baby. |
- Robert DiYanni, Literature: Reading Fiction, Poetry, Drama, and the Essay, McGraw-Hill, 2007 - Hand-outs provided in class |
| 3 | Folklore: genres |
Students: - read, summarize and discuss in groups several academic definitions of folklore genres: myths, epics, legends, fables, fairy tales, literary fairy tales, proverbs. - translate into Vietnamese definitions of folklore genres. - listen to and fill the blanks of video clip A whole new world. - read and translate some English proverbs into Vietnamese proverbs. - discuss two important issues of folk literature: violence and anti-feminism. |
- Robert DiYanni (2007), Literature: Reading Fiction, Poetry, Drama, and the Essay, McGraw-Hill. - Hand outs provided in class
|
| 4 | Western literary history: European |
Students work in groups to complete the following tasks: - arrange given literary movements and periods into the correct timely order, - put given authors and works into the correct periods and movements, - read and re-tell the shortened versions ofOedipus the king by Sophocles, Romeo and Juliet by Shakespeare and Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte. |
- Andrew Bennett and Nicholas Royle (2004), Introduction to Literature, Criticism and Theory, Pearson Education Limited. - Hand-outs provided in class. |
| 5 | Western literary history: American |
Students: - work in group and list some American writers and works they know - arrange the works and authors in timely order - read and summarize an excerpt from A history of American literature. |
- Richard Gray (2012), A history of American literature, Blackwell Publisher. - Hand-outs provided in class. |
| 6 | Eastern literary history: Chinese, Indian |
Students: - watch, summarize and discuss in groups Indian literary history, Japanese literary history and Chinese literary history from some video clips. - read hand-out about Modern East Asian literature and answer reading-guidance questions. |
Joshua Mostow (2003), The Columbia Companion to Modern East Asian Literature, Columbia University Press. Hand-outs provided in class. |
| 7 | Eastern literary history: Vietnamese |
Students: - translate into English the titles of some Vietnamese literary works - work in group to compare excerpts from the Vietnamese original and English translation of Dumb Luck by Vu TrongPhung and The Tale of Kieuby Nguyen Du |
- Vu TrongPhung (Nguyen Nguyet Cam trans., Peter Zinoman ed.) (2013), Dumb Luck, Southeast Asia: Politics, Meaning, and Memory. - Nguyen Du (Huynh Sanh Thong trans., Alexander Barton ed.), (1987), The Tale of Kieu, Yales University Press. - Hand-outs provided in class |
| 8 | Literary movements: romanticism, classicism, enlightenment, existentialism |
Students - read, summarize and discuss in groups some movements: bildungsroman, classicism, enlightenment, existentialism - listen to and fill the blanks of video clip "The Little Prince" - discuss in groups the question: Why could we say that "The Little Prince" is a representative work in existentialism? |
- Andrew Bennett and Nicholas Royle (2004), Introduction to Literature, Criticism and Theory, Pearson Education Limited. - Antoine de Saint-Exupery (Richard Howard trans.) (2000), The little prince, Harcourt Inc. - Hand-outs provided in class |
| 9 | Literary movements: realism and socialist realism |
Students: - from their knowledge achieved from previous courses of literature (operated in the Vietnamese language), put given literary works and authors in to the correct categories of realism and social realism - discuss in groups and present in front of class how to distinguish realism from social realism |
- Andrew Bennett and Nicholas Royle (2004), Introduction to Literature, Criticism and Theory, Pearson Education Limited - Hand-outs provided in class |
| 10 | Literary genre: poetry |
Students - watch video clip “Poetic devices” and recall ten poetic devices provided in the clip - recallhow the ten poetic devices are defined in the clip - point out the poetic devices in provided poems - apply poetic devices in analyzing provided poems - read an introduction of Haiku and discuss key terms of Haiku - translate some haikus into Vietnamese. |
- Andrew Bennett and Nicholas Royle (2004), Introduction to Literature, Criticism and Theory, Pearson Education Limited - Hand-outs provided in class |
| 11 | Literary genre: short story |
Students - watchvideo clip "Five elements of a story" and discuss in group about each element. - explicate five elements of a story of their choice. |
- Andrew Bennett and Nicholas Royle (2004), Introduction to Literature, Criticism and Theory, Pearson Education Limited - Hand-outs provided in class |
| 12 | Literary genre: novel |
Students - read, summarize and discuss in groups some features of fiction from video clips: what is fiction, the characters in fiction, the point of views. - read and discuss some flash fictions: For sale: baby shoes, never worn by Ernest Miller Hemingway, The dinosaur by Augusto Monterroso. - discuss in groups the question: Why is flash fiction popular today? |
- Andrew Bennett and Nicholas Royle (2004), Introduction to Literature, Criticism and Theory, Pearson Education Limited - Hand-outs provided in class |
| 13 | Literary genre: drama |
Students - read, summarize and discuss in groups some features of drama from video clips: what is drama, elements of drama: characters, plot, setting, symbolism, drama structure: acts, scenes, prologue, epilogue. - listen to and fill the blanks of video clip "Memory" by Cats (musical) - watch the Aladdin Broadway and analyze it in drama structure. |
- Andrew Bennett and Nicholas Royle (2004), Introduction to Literature, Criticism and Theory, Pearson Education Limited - Hand-outs provided in class |
| 14 | Literary genre: non-fiction |
Students: - read an excerpt from the memoir Bare Feet, Iron Will and answer reading-guidance questions - watch video clip “What is creative about creative non-fiction?” and discuss in group about “To which extent a memoir can be creative?” |
James Zumwalt (2010), Bare feet, iron will, Virginia: Fortis Publishing. Hand-outs provided in class |
| 15 | Summary | Students present their own summary of the course and teachers give comments. |
5. Assessment
| Assessment task | Description | Weighting | Leaning objectives |
| Participation | Students are expected to be presented and participated in every activities of each class | 20 % | 1, 2, 3, 5 |
| Weekly homework | After every class, homework will be assigned to students to complete during a week. Students must submit homework online on http://thinguyen.mdl2.com/through their student accounts before the deadline. The weekly homework can be a short translation or a short written explication or evaluation of a literary work. Comments about homework will be given to students in class the following week. | 30 % | 2, 3, 4 |
| Final test | A written test for 90 minutes, containing quiz and translation. | 50% | 1, 3 |
Course grading:
Grade 0: No assessable work received.
Grade 1-2, Fail: Fails to demonstrate most or all of the basic requirements of the course.
Grade 3-4, Fail: Demonstrates a little understanding of terms and concepts, the basic idea of reading materials; capable of translating literary texts into Vietnamese but in a confusing way; hardly capable of using English to communicate about provided issues in English.
Grade 5,Pass: Demonstrate adequate understanding and application of the fundamental concepts; capable of grasping the basic idea and important details of reading materials; capable of translating literary texts into Vietnamese without serious meaning mistakes; capable of communicating basic ideas in English, though not clearly.
Grade 6-7, Credit: Demonstrate substantial understanding and application of the terms and concepts in the variety of contexts; capable of achieving the comprehensive information of reading materials; capable of translating literary texts into Vietnamese correctly; capable of communicating basic ideas in English.
Grade 8-9, Distinction: As for 6-7, with evidence of self-confidence and critical thinking.
Grade 10, Outstanding: As for 8-9, with frequent evidence of critical thinking and originality in translating, explicating and evaluating literary texts.