Catalog Course Search Details

 Department:    ENGL

 Course #:    239

 Credits:    5

 Variable:     No

 IUs:    5

 CIP:    230101

 EPC:    n/a

 REV:    2018

 Course Description  

This course focuses on the reading, analyzing, and writing critical responses to literary works by U.S. Latinos, with an emphasis on writers of Mexican descent. Particular attention will be paid to the roles that history and culture play in the formation of works of fiction, poetry, non-fiction and drama. Knowledge of Spanish is not required.

 Prerequisite  

Prerequisite: Completed ENGL& 101 with a grade of 2.0 or higher.

Contact Hours (based on 11 week quarter)

Lecture: 55

Lab: 0

Other: 0

Systems: 0

Clinical: 0

Intent: Distribution Requirement(s) Status:  

Academic Humanities  

Equivalencies At Other Institutions

Learning Outcomes

After completing this course, the student will be able to:

1. Recognize and understand the canon of Latino literatures.
2. Identify the relationships between social/historical contexts and literary works.
3. Read critically to understand the themes of Latino literature and how they are treated by different authors.
4. Demonstrate a range of critical thinking skills in reading, discussing, and writing about literature.
5. Demonstrate the ability to apply diverse analytical frameworks to understand and interpret Latino literature.
6. Demonstrate the ability to identify and describe how diverse perspectives about race, class, gender, sexual orientation, disabilities, and/or culture are expressed through literature.

General Education Learning Values & Outcomes

Revised August 2008 and affects outlines for 2008 year 1 and later.

0. Application and Integration

Definition: Applying information from one or more disciplines and/or field experiences in new contexts (Outcome 0.1); developing integrated approaches or responses to personal, academic, professional, and social issues (Outcomes 0.2-0.5).

Outcomes: Students will be able to . . .
0.3 Identify and evaluate the relationships among different perspectives within a field of study and among different fields of study.

2. Critical Thinking

Definition: The ability to think critically about the nature of knowledge within a discipline and about the ways in which that knowledge is constructed and validated and to be sensitive to the ways these processes often vary among disciplines.

Outcomes: Students will be able to . . .
2.1 Identify and express concepts, terms, and facts related to a specific discipline.
2.2 Analyze issues and develop questions within a discipline.
2.3 Identify, interpret, and evaluate pertinent data and previous experience to reach conclusions.

3. Communication

Definition: Understanding and producing effective written, spoken, visual, and non-verbal communication.

Outcomes: Students will be able to . . .
3.1 Recognize, read, and comprehend academic and/or professional writing.
3.4 Produce academic and/or professional writing and integrate it into written and spoken projects.

4. Community & Cultural Diversity

Definition: Recognizing the value of human communities and cultures from multiple perspectives through a critical understanding of their similarities and differences.

Outcomes: Students will be able to . . .
4.1 Identify and express concepts, terms, and issues associated with the diverse perspectives of race, social class, gender, sexual orientation, disabilities, and culture.
4.2 Understand, value and respect human differences and commonalities as they relate to issues of race, social class, gender, sexual orientation, disabilities and culture.
4.3 Understand the historically and socially constructed nature of—and the meanings attributed to—human differences.

Course Contents

1. This class is designed to prepare students for upper-division literature courses. Class discussion and exercises will help students to analyze texts from various genres and to develop well-supported arguments about works of literature in their cultural and historical contexts. Students will practice close reading and other techniques of literary analysis.
2. Students may be exposed to a variety of critical approaches to literature, with a particular emphasis to be determined by the instructor.
3. Includes any works written by U.S. authors from Spanish-speaking cultures, with an emphasis on writers of Mexican descent.
4. Novels, poems, short fiction, memoir, creative non-fiction and drama are all available for study. A course should focus on more than one.