Language Degrees Online

Accreditation Information :
Pre Requisite Courses :
Qualifying Exams :

Tution Fees :
Financial Aid / Scholarship Offered :
Courses :

Three courses in one foreign language, at least two in another
Accreditation Information :
Pre Requisite Courses :
Qualifying Exams :

Tution Fees :
Financial Aid / Scholarship Offered :
Courses :

Minors are available in French, German, Italian, and Spanish:
Minimum of five courses in the language. (16-18 credits)
(If students begin above the 101 level in the sequence, they may complete the minor with 16 credits.

As a Freshmen LLIT 199 or ENGL 199 recommended (3)
LCLA 107D* - Introduction to World Myth (3)
LFRN or LSPN 200** (3)
LFRN or LSPN 201** (3)
LFRN or LSPN 202** (3)
Five upper level LFRN or LSPN courses, at least three of which must be at the 300-level, and one of which must be at the 400-level.* (15)
One course in comparative grammar, linguistics, critical theory, LLIT 400 or another foreign language (3)
Cultural and linguistic immersion experience in country where language is spoken.
Completion of Capstone Project in final course for major.

Total: (33)

*ENGL 207C Bible as Literature, or ENG 208C Bible and Modern Literature may substitute for one LCLA Myth in Literature course.

**Alternates (such as transfer credit or foreign study) require prior written departmental approval.

To double major in a second modern language, all courses in the second language (including 100 level) count towards the second 33 credits.

For students majoring in Modern Languages, all courses required for the major are included in the determination of the grade point average in the major.

The Department of Modern Languages and Cultures prepares students to participate in today’s global society. The international market requires diversity, cultural awareness, and linguistic facility. Many students choose a language major or minor to prepare for work in fields including domestic and international business, government, historical and medical research, computer science, teaching, interpreting, and translation.

Major programs are available in French and Spanish. German and Italian are offered only as minors with additional coursework offered in cooperation with the Foreign Language Department of Nazareth College. For those students who have not attained reading proficiency in a foreign language, Literature in Translation courses provide the opportunity to explore non-Anglo-American traditions in cinema, literature, and culture.

Fisher’s English majors choose one of two tracks: the literature major or the writing major. Both paths guide students toward the combination of communication skills and critical awareness that is the hallmark of a liberal arts education. Fisher’s English courses are interactive, writing-intensive, and focused on developing each student’s ability to think critically and act independently. Students may elect to make internships and honors projects a central element of their major.

The literature major, focusing on English and American literary studies, helps students acquire a lifelong love of reading and an appreciation of the importance of narrative in everyday life and human history. Literature majors develop:
the ability to read and write critically
a knowledge of central literary works
an awareness of critical theory and cultural context
a sense of the connection between literature, everyday life, and human history

The writing major is designed to transform students into professional writers. Courses are taught by full-time faculty and by a dedicated staff of published writers with firsthand knowledge of the business of writing. Writing majors develop:
an understanding of rhetoric
an effective writing process
the ability to write for a variety of contexts
the ability to write fiction, poetry, and creative nonfiction
a working knowledge of technical and business writing

ENGL 100 Introductory Survey of Literature in English

This course will introduce students to literature from a range of historical and cultural contexts. Students will study texts from the earliest writings in English to 20th-century works. Possible authors to be studied include the Beowulf poet, Geoffrey Chaucer, William Shakespeare, John Donne, John Milton, Eliza Haywood, Emily Dickinson, Charlotte Brontë, W.B. Yeats, and Margaret Atwood. Students who have received credit for English 110 cannot receive credit for English 100. Six credits.

ENGL 110: Literature in English: Genres and Forms

This course will introduce students to an analysis of cultural and literary texts through the examination of a variety of genres (e.g. the novel, short story, epic) and forms (e.g. the gothic novel, confessional poetry). The course may also include the study of media such as the graphic novel, film, and television. Students who have received credit for English 100 cannot receive credit for English 110. Six credits.

Note: ENGL 100, 110 or equivalent is required for entrance to all other ENGL courses.

ENGL 201 Science Fiction and Fantasy -- Tolkien and the Rings

The course will provide a critical and cultural analysis of J.R.R. Tolkien’s fantasy novel The Lord of the Rings. As an introduction to this text the class will read Tolkien’s essay “On Fairy-Stories,” and the course will also include some discussion of Peter Jackson’s three-part film adaptation of the novel as produced by New Line Cinema, 2001-2003.

ENGL 206 World Masterpieces I: Classical Antiquity

An introduction to masterpieces in western literature, in translation, focused on ancient Greece and Rome, especially the epics of Homer and Virgil, Greek tragedy, and selections from Catullus, Horace and Ovid. Three credits.

ENGL 207 World Masterpieces II: Medieval and Renaissance

An introduction to masterpieces in western literature, in translation, focused on medieval and Renaissance/early modern Europe. It will begin with the New Testament Bible and then explore authors and great works of Christian Europe, including The Song of Roland, The Romance of the Rose, Dante Alighieri, Ludovico Ariosto, and Miguel de Cervantes. Three credits.

ENGL 209 Narrative in Film and Fiction

An introduction to the study of film, this course will focus on formal distinctions and concepts that have evolved in the history of cinema, as well as major cinematic movements and genres. Students will be introduced to the vocabulary of film studies, techniques of analysis, and ways of writing about film. Lectures and discussions will proceed on the basis of critical readings and screenings of cinematic works. Six credits.

CREATIVE WRITING COURSES: Students wishing to enroll in any creative writing course are required to submit a portfolio to the English Department. The portfolio must be submitted electronically to (mgillis@stfx.ca) as an attachment by June 30. For ENGL 231, 322 and 422, the portfolio should consist of 10-15 pages of prose fiction, poetry, drama, or any combination thereof. If in any calendar year a course is to be restricted to a particular genre, the portfolio should consist solely of work in that genre. A portfolio is not required for ENGL 222. Students must clearly indicate the creative writing course for which they wish to be considered and provide a list of ALL English courses previously taken.

222 Creative Non-Fiction/Memoir

This course will help students acquire the techniques and tools necessary to write creative non-fiction. This involves techniques of dialogue, character development, narration, and style similar to those employed by writers of fiction, though the result is non-fiction. Three credits.

231 Introduction to Creative Writing

This course teaches students how to write creatively in two genres–poetry and fiction–in a workshop setting. Students will explore those elements of composition (imagery, dialogue, point of view, characterization, etc.) that make for interesting and challenging writing. Six credits.

322 Intermediate Creative Writing

Students will be expected to choose one genre through which they will continue to explore and develop the basic elements of composition learned in English 231. Students who have received credit for ENGL 331 may not receive credit for ENGL 322. Three credits.

422 Intermediate Creative Writing

Explores the techniques of writing prose narrative, poetry, and drama to help students develop their powers of creative expression. Techniques include regular exercises, set assignments, free submissions, parodies, and imitations. Occasional guest writers. Students who have received credit for ENGL 431 may not receive credit for ENGL 422. Three credits.

Broadens your experiences, expands your view of the world.
Encourages critical reflection on the relation of language and culture, language and thought; fosters and understanding of the interrelation of language and human being.
Develops your intellect; teaches you how to learn
Teaches and encourages respect for other people
Contributes to cultural awareness and literacy, such as knowledge of original texts
Builds practical skills
Improves the knowledge of your own language through comparison and contrast with the foreign language
Exposes you to modes of thought outside your native language
A sense of relevant past, both cultural and linguistic
Balances content and skill
Expands opportunities of meaningful leisure activity (travel, reading, viewing foreign films)
Contributes to achievement of national goals such as economic development and national security
Contributes to the creation of your personality
Enables the transfer of training (such as learning a second language)
Preserves or fosters a country’s image as a cultural nation

ENGL 229 Women in English Literature

A survey of women writers in their historical contexts. The course will involve study and discussion of poems, stories, novels, plays, and other literary forms by or about women. Cross-listed as WMNS 229. Six credits.

ENGL 233 Children’s Literature: 1865 to the Present

Using the landmark publication of Lewis Carroll’s Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland as a starting point, this course provides a critical survey of children’s literature in Britain, America, and Canada. Authors to be studied include Carroll, L.M. Montgomery, E.B. White, Roald Dahl, Maurice Sendak, Judy Blume, Kevin Major, Dennis Lee, and Sheree Fitch. Students who have received credit for English 234 “Children’s Literature: 1865 to the Present” may not enroll in ENGL 233. Three credits.

English 240: Literature of the Middle East

This course will introduce students to the rich literary heritage of various countries in the Middle East. Students will read traditional poetry and folk tales, with the main focus on the novel and the short story of the 20th century. Writers to be studied may include Najib Mahfuz, Elias Khoury, Hanan al-Shaykh, Ghassan Kanafani, Tayeb Salih, Muhammad Shukri, and others. Three credits.

English 242: American Literature—Origins to the Civil War

What is an American literature? What does it mean to be American? In this course we will consider the following topics: the Puritan legacy; the American dream; the status of indigenous peoples; captivity narratives; the role of sympathy; the representation of wounds; nature; individualism; disobedience; solitude; sin; silence; slants of light; sex; slavery; and houses divided. Authors studied will include Rowlandson, Rowson, Douglass, Emerson, Hawthorne, Melville, Dickinson and Whitman. Students who have received credit for ENGL 344 may not enroll in ENGL 242. Three credits.

English 243: American Literature—From the Civil War to the Great Depression

A prominent literary critic claimed recently that America is defined by its commitments to cultural democracy, political rights, community responsibility, social justice, an equality of opportunity, and individual freedom. In this survey, we are going to examine how the literature of America written during this period of national reconciliation grapples with turning these ideals into reality. Students who have received credit for ENGL 344 may not enroll in ENGL 243. Three credits.

ENGL 247 Post-Colonial Literature

An introduction to post-colonial literature. The course may include literature from Africa, the Americas, Australia, the Caribbean, India, and the Pacific. Six credits.

ENGL 250 Survey of 20th-Century Literature in English

A study of poetry and fiction of major American, Canadian, British, and European writers. Six credits.

ENGL 253 Coffeehouse Culture of 18th-century England

A course exploring a variety of works through the lens of the 18th-century coffeehouse. Focusing primarily on the periodical literature of the time—The Tatler, The Spectator, The Plain Dealer and The Female Spectator—and novels and poetry, the course will consider themes like conversation, urban space, taste and culture, consumerism, gender fashioning, and the private subject made public. Three credits.

ENGL 254 Topics in 18th-Century Literature

The focus of this course will vary from year to year with changing emphasis on particular themes, genres, or authors of the long eighteenth century. The topic for 2009-2010 is Epistolary Literature including works by Alexander Pope, Eliza Haywood, Samuel Richardson, and Lady Mary Wortley Montagu. Three credits.

English 263 Canadian Literature I: 18th and 19th Centuries

This course will survey Canadian poetry and prose in the historical contexts of exploration, settlement, and Confederation. Students will examine early Canadian authors’ engagements with the Romantics and Victorians, and will consider the emergence of a national literature. Selected authors may include Frances Brooke, Samuel Hearne, John Richardson, Thomas Chandler Haliburton, Susanna Moodie, James de Mille, Isabella Valancy Crawford, and Sir Charles G. D. Roberts. Students who have received credit for English 265 may not enroll in this course. Three credits.

English 264 Canadian Literature II: The 20th Century and After

This course examines the major genres of Canadian writing during the 20th and 21st centuries, including fiction, poetry, and non-fiction. The course will emphasize key aesthetic developments within the contexts of modernism, feminism, postcolonialism, regionalism, postmodemism, environmentalism, culture and race. Students who have received credit for English 265 may not enroll in this course. Three credits.

ENGL 270 The Romantic Gothic: 19th-Century Poetry and Short Fiction

A study of gothic literature in its historical and philosophical context, this course will explore 19th-century short stories and narrative poems, as well as influential 18th-century literary sources. Authors may include: William Wordsworth, Samuel Taylor Coleridge, John Keats, Lord Byron, and Joanna Baillie. Three credits.

ENGL 271 Gothic Fiction: The 18th- and 19th-Century Gothic Novel

An examination of the gothic novel and the cultural forces that produced it. The course will explore supernatural tales from the classical and medieval periods which acted as forerunners to the genre. Authors may include: Horace Walpole, Ann Radcliffe, Matthew “Monk” Lewis, and Jane Austen; students may also read Frankenstein and Dracula. Three credits.

ENGL 304 The Early Tudor and Elizabethan Renaissance

A study of plays by Thomas Kyd and Christopher Marlowe and the major non-dramatic forms in the context of early modern ideologies and ideas. The class will concentrate on William Shakespeare (excluding drama), Edmund Spenser, the lyric, the Ovidian epyllion and literary theory. Prerequisite: ENGL 100. Three credits.

ENGL 305 The Later Elizabethan Renaissance

A study of plays by Ben Jonson and Cyril Tourneur and of major non-dramatic forms in the late Elizabethan and early Jacobean period in the context of early modern ideologies and literary theory. The class will concentrate on William Shakespeare, Sir Philip Sidney, Edmund Spenser and Francis Bacon. Recommended prerequisite: ENGL 304. Three credits.

ENGL 312 17th-Century Literature

A study of the Metaphysical poets, the Cavalier poets, John Milton’s Paradise Lost, and the prose of Francis Bacon, John Donne, Robert Burton, Sir Thomas Browne, and Samuel Pepys. Several Jacobean plays will also be read. Prerequisite: 12 credits ENGL. Six credits.

ENGL 318 Cultural Theory Through Popular Culture

An introduction to the study of culture as a system of constructing values and identities, primarily through textual production. The course will combine case studies of genre fiction, film, and television with analyses of practicing cultural scholars. Prerequisite: 12 credits ENGL. Three credits.

ENGL 320 Modern Poetry

A survey of the major modern poets, including W.B. Yeats, T.S. Eliot, Gertrude Stein, Ezra Pound, Robert Frost, Wallace Stevens, Marianne Moore. Prerequisite: 12 credits ENGL. Six credits.

English 325: The American Novel 1850-1940

After considering current debates on the genre, this course will track the development of the American novel from the American Renaissance to the end of the Great Depression. Students will read primary texts in combination with recent criticism that reconsiders the novel’s production of the individual; the construction of character; the formation of the social; the illogic of race; and the importance of place. Three credits.

ENGL 329 Studies in Women Writers: Feminisms and Their Literatures

An introduction to feminist theories within historical, cultural, and philosophical contexts, this course explores the relationship between feminist theories and literary texts that exemplify or extend them. Cross-listed as WMNS 329. Prerequisite: 12 credits ENGL. Three credits.

ENGL 330 Studies in Women Writers: Genres, Cultures and Contexts

An exploration of women’s writing in its cultural context. Cross-listed as WMNS 330. Prerequisite: 12 credits ENGL. Three credits.

English 339: Representations of Islam in the Renaissance

This course will explore a representative selection of the literature that has helped to shape contemporary perceptions and misconceptions of the Islamic world. Readings will vary from year to year and may include such canonical authors as Thomas More, Edmund Spenser, Christopher Marlowe, and Shakespeare, along with lesser known writers such as Church Reformers, pamphleteers, travellers, and translators. Prerequisite: 12 credits ENGL. Three credits.

ENGL 340 Shakespeare

An introduction to the work of William Shakespeare: poems, comedies, histories, problem plays, tragedies, Roman plays, and late romances in their social, historical, and literary context. Prerequisite: ENGL 100. Students who have received credit for English 341: Elizabethan Shakespeare may not enroll in this course. Six credits.

ENGL 343 19th-Century American Poetry

This course will examine the poetry of Anne Bradstreet, Edgar Allan Poe, Walt Whitman, and Emily Dickinson. Prerequisite: 12 credits ENGL. Three credits.

ENGL 347 African-Canadian Literature

A study of African-Canadian prose, poetry, and drama in the context of contemporary literary-critical debates about canons, national literatures, voice, and cross-cultural influences. Attention will be given to African-Nova Scotian contributions. Prerequisite: 12 credits in English. Three credits.

English 348: First Nations Literature in Canada

A study of writing by Aboriginal authors in Canada, this course will highlight this literature’s origins in oral traditions, the political contexts framing the writing, and the textual innovations carried out by selected authors. Writers may include Tomson Highway, Armand Garnet Ruffo, Marilyn Dumont, Thomas King, Eden Robinson, Lee Maracle, Beth Brant, Louise Halfe, Annharte, Rita Joe, and Kateri Akiwenzie-Damm. Prerequisite: 12 credits ENGL. Three credits.

ENGL 349: History of Literary Theory and Criticism

A study of central theoretical statements about literature and its analysis from the classical period to the 20th century. The first two thirds of the course includes the theory and criticism of Plato, Aristotle, Longinus, Sir Philip Sidney, Samuel Johnson, Samuel Taylor Coleridge, William Wordsworth, John Keats, Friedrich Nietzsche, Matthew Arnold, T.S. Eliot, and Karl Marx, while the final third of the course focuses on movements in the twentieth century such as new criticism, formalism, feminism, myth criticism, structuralism and post-structuralism. Prerequisite: ENGL 100. Students who have received credit for English 345: Literary Theory and Criticism: Plato to Coleridge and/or English 346: Literary Theory and Criticism: Transcendentalism to Modernism may not enroll in this course. Six credits.

ENGL 350 Modern British Fiction

Examines major British novelists of the modern and post-modern periods with emphasis on Joseph Conrad, E.M. Forster, Virginia Woolf, and Samuel Beckett. Prerequisite: 12 credits in English. Six credits.

ENGL 355 Restoration and 18th-Century Drama and Prose

A study of several major plays and selected prose works from 1660 to the mid 18th century. Prerequisite: 12 credits in English. Three credits.

ENGL 356 18th-Century Novel and Poetry

A study of selected novels and poetry from the major writers of the “long” 18th century. Prerequisite: 12 credits in English. Three credits.

English 365: Canadian Prose Genres

Highlighting a specific prose genre like the novel, the short story, autobiography, or metafiction, this course will examine the development of this literary form in a Canadian context. Studied works may include fiction and non-fiction, and the selected genre will vary from year to year. Attention will be concentrated on Canadian authors writing within the last fifty years. Students who have received credit for English 367 may not enroll in this course. Prerequisite: 12 credits ENGL. Three credits.

English 366: Special Topics in Canadian Literature I

The focus of this course will vary from year to year. Sample topics might include: the study of a single author; a particular genre; a specific theme; a critical and/or cultural issue; literature from a particular locale. The course topic will be announced in advance. Prerequisite: 12 credits ENGL. Three credits.

ENGL 367 The Canadian Novel

Students will read novels and short stories in English to develop a sense of thematic patterns, style, and changing narrative strategies in Canadian prose fiction, especially in works since 1930. Students who have received credit for English 365 may not enroll in this course. Prerequisite: 12 credits in English. Six credits.

ENGL 368 Canadian Poetry

A study of Canadian verse in English with selected examples of French verse in translation, since colonial days, with emphasis on the period since 1920. Prerequisite: 12 credits in English. Six credits.

ENGL 370 English Romantic Literature

A detailed survey of the literature of the Major Romantic poets, this course emphasizes close readings of poetry and prose and the historical and philosophical contexts of the Romantic Movement. Prerequisite: 12 credits in English. Six credits.

ENGL 371 Victorian Literature, 1832-1867

A study of early to mid-Victorian literature encompassing the poetry of Emily Brontë, Alfred Lord Tennyson, Elizabeth Barrett Browning, Robert Browning, and Matthew Arnold; the prose of Thomas Carlyle; and a novel by Charles Dickens or Charlotte Brontë. Students who have received credit for English 375: Victorian Literature may not enroll in this course. Prerequisite: 12 credits in English. Three credits.

ENGL 372 Victorian Literature, 1867-1901

A study of middle- to late-Victorian literature encompassing the prose of John Ruskin and Walter Pater; the poetry of Christina Rossetti, Dante Gabriel Rossetti, Algernon Swinburne, and Oscar Wilde; and a novel by George Eliot or Thomas Hardy. Students who have received credit for English 375: Victorian Literature may not enroll in this course. Prerequisite: 12 credits in English. Three credits.

ENGL 376 Modern American Fiction

Examines prose writings in the American tradition since 1900 and the major literary and cultural movements in which selected texts participate. Emphasis will be placed on historical development and the shifting definition of the American canon. Prerequisite: 12 credits in English. Six credits.

ENGL 377 19th-Century Fiction

A study of 19th-century novels beginning with Jane Austen and working through the Victorian Age by exploring the fiction of such writers as Charlotte Brontë, Emily Brontë, Charles Dickens, and George Eliot, and concluding with authors such as Thomas Hardy and Bram Stoker. Prerequisite: 12 credits ENGL. Six credits.

English 378 Themes in Contemporary American Prose

The course will examine American prose from the 20th and 21st centuries, focused around a particular theme or the presentation of a particular aspect of American culture. The focus will vary from year to year, but may include gender, race, the American Dream, war, or the immigrant experience. Prerequisite: 12 credits ENGL. Three credits.

English 379 Movements in Contemporary American Prose

This course will examine 20th and 21st century American prose, focused around a particular literary school or movement. The focus will vary from year to year. The course may be organized around a school of representation such as modernism or metafiction, around literature produced by a particular region such as southern American literature or Western American literature, or may be focused on an ethnic tradition such as Hispanic, Asian, African American or Native literatures. Prerequisite: 12 credits ENGL. Three credits.

English 388 Heroic Literature of the Middle Ages

A study of medieval texts which reflect the heroic, aristocratic, and military literature of the Middle Ages, which may include Beowulf (in translation), Thomas Malory’s Morte Darthur, various romances, including Arthurian texts like Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, and selections from medieval historical chronicles (medieval texts will be studied in the original). Students who have received credit for ENGL 392 or CELT 392 may not enroll in this course. Prerequisite: 12 credits ENGL. Three credits.

English 389: Chaucer’s Contemporaries

This course examines the authors and works associated with the court of Richard II and with the 14th century, a moment of literary and artistic achievement prompted in part by increasing contact with Europe, particularly Italy. These authors sought to understand many of the great events of their times, including the Black Death and the Peasant’s Revolt of 1381, and saw ancient class divisions start to break down even as the political system became ever more centralized. The course readings may include Geoffrey Chaucer, the Pearl-poet, Piers Plowman, John Gower, Thomas Usk, and a selection of ballads. English 390 (Chaucer) is recommended but not essential; some Chaucer will be studied in conjunction with related works by other authors. Students who have received credit for ENGL 392 or CELT 392 may not enroll in this course. Three credits.

ENGL 390 Chaucer

This course explores the major poetry and prose of this seminal figure in English literature. Prerequisite: ENGL 100. Six credits.

ENGL 391 Selected Topics: Genre, Narrative and the Superhero

A study of the superhero through an analysis of several graphic novels. Subjects to be studies include the conflict between genre, form, and narrative structure; the impact of fan culture on the genre; the extreme body; and attempts to make the superhero “socially relevant.” Prerequisite: 12 credits ENGL. Three credits.

ENGL 397 Selected Topics: Photography and the Experience of Modernity

This course will examine the role of photography in twentieth-century reconsiderations of experience, aesthetics, and memory. One particular concern will be the encounter between narrative and photography, and the critical, political, and ethical possibilities inherent in this encounter. Class discussions will consider various theorists – including Walter Benjamin, Roland Barthes, and Michael Fried. The second part of the course will address contemporary photography, as well as cinema and fiction engaged with the photographic medium. Prerequisite: 12 credits ENGL. Three credits.

English 398 Selected Topics: Utopian and Dystopian Literary Forms

This course examines changes in the historical development of utopian and dystopian form in the twentieth-century in relation to the progress of literary history in general. Though fundamentally important for our understanding of literary representations of the present, the future and the idea of progress, we hardly ever allow for the idea that utopian and dystopian ideas and forms may change radically over a period of time. Students will read science-fiction, ecofiction, realism, metafiction, avant-pop, etc. Prerequisite: 12 credits ENGL. Three credits.

NOTES: A student must have at least 18 credits of English for admission to a 400-level course. The senior seminars are offered exclusively to senior advanced major and honours students on a rotating basis over a period of years.

ENGL 400 Honours Thesis (formerly English 498)

Honour students write a thesis under the supervision of a faculty thesis director. Students must meet the thesis director in March of the junior year to prepare a topic. Honours students must register for the thesis as a six-credit course in the senior year. The thesis must be submitted no later than March 31 of the senior year. See chapter 4 of the Academic Calendar Six credits.

ENGL 445 Seminar on Contemporary Critical Theory

A survey of the background to contemporary theory, focusing in part on earlier critics, and examining the origins of the canon. An exploration of current theories, including semiotics, structuralism, deconstruction, new historicism, modern narratology, feminist theory, and Marxist theory. Required for all honours students in addition to the senior seminar. Six credits.

The St. F.X. English Department is proud of the institution’s commitment to student development, and in keeping with this tradition, makes teaching excellence its first priority. Members of the English Department have won the University’s “Outstanding Teacher Award” in 1996, 1999, 2000, 2002, and 2005. Two other department members have won teaching awards while working at other universities. All members of the St. F.X. English Department teach at all levels.

Every effort is made to see that students receive maximum individual attention: faculty is expected to allocate nine hours of office time per week for consultation with students. Students are encouraged to meet with their professors to discuss assignments and exams, and are constantly involved in literary activities that take place outside the classroom. These include participation in conferences, discussions with visiting writers and scholars, as well as literary publications and readings. Department members are actively involved in their students’ academic programs and try to ensure that students with special needs are given extra attention.

Modern theories on education tend to blur the distinctions among specific disciplines, but the St. F.X. English faculty views the study of literature as central to a liberal arts education. Much emphasis is placed on the acquisition of critical skills and the need to express ideas clearly in speech and in writing. Written assignments comprise the basis for the majority of the grade assessed in each course, and a component of each lower-level course is designed to address problems in rhetoric and composition. Ongoing support in writing skills across the curriculum is provided by the Writing Centre.

Statistically, students at St. F.X. take a greater number of English courses than do students at other Maritime institutions. English 100: Introductory Survey of Literature in English; English 250: Survey of 20th-Century Literature in English; and English 340: Shakespeare are all very popular.

Most English 100 courses have an enrollment of 40 students per section.