德州农工大学柯柏斯克里斯提学院

The undergraduate English program at Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi promotes the development of students' analytic ability and critical understanding of language and written texts in English as well as their ability to compose texts in various genres through the study of literature, linguistics, and writing. English majors will choose an emphasis in Literary Studies or Writing Studies. The Literary Studies emphasis provides students with the skills to interpret and write about texts, including literary and filmic, within a range of historical and cultural contexts. The Writing Studies emphasis allows students to develop their abilities to use writing in a variety of contexts and for a variety of purposes, and to develop an understanding of how writing operates in the world, through studies in rhetoric, literacy, and writing. Both tracks give students skills as critical thinkers and communicators that will prepare them for a variety of different career paths, including law, business, teaching, and the sciences, as well as for graduate study.

Students can also earn certificates in TESOL and Writing for Non-Profits.

Student Learning Outcomes:

At the end of the program, students will be able to:

• Analyze the characteristics of language in terms of literary or discourse genres, conventions, and linguistic features.
• Apply effective and appropriate literary/rhetorical/linguistic methods and strategies in writing and/or in analyzing texts (spoken, written, and multimodal).
• Demonstrate understanding of literary/rhetorical traditions, as well as the historical and cultural contexts important to those traditions.
• Demonstrate foundational understanding of language systems, language development, and language in use.
• Apply and/or integrate appropriate critical terms and theoretical concepts and perspectives in writing and analyzing texts.
• Demonstrate ability to choose and use appropriate strategies to produce texts in a variety of genres to most effectively achieve specific purposes with specific audiences.
• Demonstrate the ability to locate, select, assess, and analyze information sources, both print and digital, and to integrate and document appropriately those sources in their own work.
• Demonstrate understanding of community and social relations, diverse, multicultural histories; and what it means to live in a global society.

The undergraduate English program offers a major in English, curricula for secondary English certification, minors in Literary Studies and Creative Writing and certificates in Writing for Non-Profits and TESOL. It also participates in the interdisciplinary minors of Technical and Professional Writing and Women and Gender Studies (see descriptions under “Interdisciplinary Minors”). Upper-level courses in writing studies, linguistics, and literature may satisfy requirements for other disciplines and serve as electives for non-majors who wish to improve their analytic, writing, and technical skills and to broaden their experiences in the liberal arts.