ENGL228 British Literature to the RestorationThis enhanced course differs from its average unenhanced counterpart in its assignments: very specific prompts encourage “hands-on” learning; a scoring rubric is used for assessment of student work; and assignments are cumulative and recursive.Learning Goals: This course will “engage faculty and students in the analysis and interpretation of texts in their diverse historical, aesthetic, cultural, and theoretical contexts, [and] lead to an understanding and appreciation of the development of literary traditions, cultural values, modes of thought, and uses of language.” The course will also expect students “to read critically, write and speak with clarity and grace,reason intelligently, and argue thoughtfully and persuasively” about pre-1660 British literature.Since the language and culture of pre-1660 British literature is so foreign to students, and since the forms and the aesthetic values of early British writers and readers differ significantly from postmodern forms and aesthetics, students will “be expected to construct, integrate, and critique cultural and historical frameworks for [this period’s] literature and language.” Furthermore, they will “develop their understanding of the history, structure, and artistry of [the] language, literatures, and cultures” of early British literature, as well as enlarging the body of literature that they have read.As a result of completing British Literature to the Restoration, students should be able to conduct simple lexical and historical research in order to better read early British literature. They should be able to read texts in the original Early Modern and Middle English (such as Spenser and Chaucer, respectively); Old English texts such as Beowulf, and texts composed in languages other than English (such as Latin, Old French, or Irish Gaelic), are read in translation. Students should also be familiar with some early literary forms and conventions: for instance, beast fables, dream visions, epic poetry, fabliaux, frame tales, morality and mystery plays, pastorals, sonnets.The students’ understanding of literary theory will be enhanced in ENGL228. The literary theories most widely used by medieval and Renaissance scholars—New Historicism, with its emphasis on reading literary and non-literary texts in conjunction with one another; gender criticism, which interrogates the construction of gender and sexuality in early modern culture, and cultural criticism and Marxism, which examine the social class and power relations behind literary works—may be useful tools in the study of early British literature. Student Assessment: The principal mode for assessment in the English majors is writing assessment. Student essays and essay exams will be evaluated using a grading rubric, given to students at the beginning of the semester, which reflects the expectations for written discourse (thesis-driven research-based argument, composed in Standard Written English). The use of a grading rubric differentiates this enhanced course from its traditional counterpart. The enhanced syllabus provides a summary of the rubric when it states that a well-written essay “will be well-organized, have a clear thesis, . . . and demonstrate the writer’s control over her or his own language and mechanics (word choice, grammar, punctuation, editing)”; in contrast, a traditional syllabus from spring 2000 stated briefly, and with a very different tone, that “Papers should be written in English: illiterate writing will seriously weaken a grade for the ‘content’ of a paper.” British Literature to the Restoration will be a multi-section course, as one method of fulfilling the requirement (for English liberal arts and English education majors) to complete a minimum of one course focusing on literature before 1660; the emphasis and design of the assignments will vary from section to section. In this particular section, some of the writing (as well as an oral presentation) will require students to make critical use of lexical resources such as the Oxford English Dictionary, and of secondary and reprinted primary historical sources. Students will apply such research to actual literary texts as theyanalyze or perform “close readings.” Two essays will require students to draft poems according to earlier conventions, and to critically reflect on those conventions. Another crucial distinction is that the prompts for student writing will be more specific in the enhanced course. For instance, the same traditional syllabus lists topics for student papers, including “Platonic lovein Renaissance lyric poetry” and “limited elements of Sidney’s or Shakespeare’s sonnets.” It was up to the student to determine how to limit the “elements” of several pages of poetry. The enhanced course involves assigning one short poem to each student, and directing the student to apply to the specific poem analytical tools learned in previous assignments.Thus the assignments are designed to be cumulative and recursive: for instance, a student first produces the lexical research on an assigned text; then writes an essay analyzing the text, using the lexical research;then writes a final essay evaluating the same text using a classmate’s research into the culture that produced it. The instructor will be able to adapt the course during the semester, on the basis of student performance on the earlier assignments. The cumulative nature of the assignments is another change from the traditional model, in which each paper typically focuses on a different reading assignment, and in which the student is given little or no guidance regarding theoretical approach or tools of analysis.In addition to student essays and essay examinations, students may be assessed through class and group discussions, oral presentations on assigned topics, periodic quizzes on readings and concepts, and/or on their contributions to a web-based discussion board. Learning Activities/Pedagogy: The course will meet 160 minutes per week, some of which will be spentin traditional lecture activities. Students are obliged to attend class meetings, to read and post to the discussion board, and to prepare for class by reading the assigned literary works. Some additional pedagogical activities may be employed:- Students may be asked to form small “study groups” which meet weekly to discuss the assigned literary texts in