Students majoring in English will acquire an appreciation of various critical approaches and methodologies in studying literature and literary theory.
Objective
Reading Literature Critically
Each upper-division literature class incorporates discussion of critical approaches and methodologies, and students will be able to use various approaches and methodologies presented in analyzing literary texts.
Indicator
Writing Assessment
Reading and writing are part and parcel of each other. Essays written to analyze and/or apply literary texts suggest the depth and quality of the students' reading, as well as their understanding of the assignment. Thus, we will collect writing samples of English majors from various 400-level (senior-level) classes and examine them to ascertain the effectiveness of reading that they evince. Our goal is to read 25 percent of the essays, chosen at random, written by English majors in 400-level literature courses. We anticipate an enrollment of some 105 students in any given long semester and so should expect to read 26 to 30 essays.
Criterion
Greater Than 5 On An Eight-Point Scale
The chosen essays will be assessed by a primary trait scoring done by Department of English faculty. The traits to be assessed will include plot summary v. analysis and effective use of secondary sources.
Finding
Evaluation Of 400-level Essay Writing
157 students were enrolled in eleven 400-level courses. 2-3 students per course were randomly selected, and unmarked final papers were collected from these students. The goal was to collect papers from 25% of the students; however, only 15 essays were turned in. This constitutes a sample of 9.6%. It is to be noted, however, that some of these essays were 20 pages long, thus providing a sizable writing sample. The essays were read by three senior professors of English. The same scoring system (1-4) as for freshman and sophomore courses was used. Each essay was read by two people. If the assigned score was the same or had only one number's difference, the scores were added. In the case of discrepancies, the essay was read by a third reader. The two scores, added up, yielded results ranging between 3 and 6 (on a scale of 1-8). The distribution of scores for the 15 essays was the following:
3 - 2 4 - 3 5 - 7 6 - 3
Anything above 5 meant that the readers, collectively, agreed that the student's writing ability is appropriate for someone receiving a BA in English. Only 67% (N=10) of the essays thus passed. 33% (N=5) stayed below this level. Clearly, our students need more guidance in writing analytic essays on topics of literature. The major specific weakness identified was making the literary analysis too superficial for what would be expected of an upper-level English major.
Finding
Evaluation Of 200-level Essay Writing
76 200-level essays were read by two professors. Scores were given ranging from 1-8. 45 of the 76 essays (i.e. 59%) were deemed to be below the acceptable level. Only 31 essays (41%) were deemed to be acceptable sophomore-level writing. This is likely a contributing factor to the poor level of writing in the 400-level. If students do not learn to write analytically about literature early on (in ENG 265 and 266), they will not be able to perform adequately at higher levels. Specific weaknesses that emerged were superficial literary analysis and failure to document appropriately the sources used.
Action
Collecting Essays
In order to remedy the lack of analytic writing skills at 400-level, a change in the sophomore level (ENG 266) will be implemented. ENG 266 will be (re)modified to be a solid and sophisticated sophomore-level course, where students will learn to write at college level about literature. This change will prepare students to be more advanced writers in the upper-level English courses.
Objective
Preparing For Graduate Study In English Or Related Fields
Students will gain writing skills that allow them to enter and function successfully in graduate programs, not only at SHSU but also at higher tier institutions.
Indicator
Entry To Graduate Programs
Students are able to produce essays that will qualify as writing samples to MA-programs nationwide.
Criterion
10% Entry To Graduate Programs
10 percent of students graduating with a BA will submit writing samples, obtain GRE scores, and achieve high enough GPAs in order to enter graduate programs nationwide or at least locally.
Finding
Verified Entry To Graduate Programs
Currently, we do not have a means to measure accurately how many of our graduating seniors enter a graduate program. Based on research on students whose GPA was higher than 3.5 and on email interviews with them, roughly 80 percent of them (N=8-10) are entering graduate programs. About half of them are entering the SHSU graduate program in English.
Finding
From English Undergraduate To English Graduate Student
Annually, several (roughly 4-6) of our own undergraduate English majors choose to continue in the our graduate program. These students have submitted good enough writing samples to be accepted into our graduate program. Most students applying to our own MA program have good writing samples. The reason why they do not qualify to be graduate assistants is usually their fairly low GRE scores. I.e., writing per se is usually not a problem for those interested in graduate study in English.
Indicator
Assessment Of Entry To Graduate Programs
In exit polls (to be developed), 10 percent of students graduating with a BA degree will indicate that they have been accepted to a graduate program.
Action
Follow-up Procedures
An alumnus/alumna database will be kept of students receiving their BA degrees in English in order to monitor their success. All graduating English students will be asked to fill out a form informing the department of their future plans. Students with high GPAs will be actively recruited to our own graduate program.
Goal
Writing In The Profession
Students majoring in English will be able to employ a variety of writing styles so that they may succeed in professional situations and/or as teachers.
Objective
Writing About Literature
Students will demonstrate the ability to interpret texts by communicating their understanding of those texts in analytic essays.
Indicator
Competent Analytic Writing
Two experienced English professors agree that 70% of the students write at college level. College-level writing is defined as fluent, coherent, nearly error-free writing. For the purpose of evaluation, a rubric (see below) was developed.
Criterion
Quantified Success In Analytic Writing
70 percent of the sample of collected 200- and 400-level essays satisfies the requirements of mature academic writing as assessed holistically by two scoring professors. Students write fluent, coherent, and nearly error-free analytical essays which show sophistication in literary analysis that goes beyond mere superficial plot summaries. The essays have a point and 70 percent of them will be scored as acceptable BA-level writing.
Finding
Scoring Results
In the scoring sessions in early May 2010, it was determined that roughly half of our 200- and 400-level writers at the end of their courses are not writing at such academic level that the scoring professors would deem as adequate.
Finding
Evaluation Of 400-level Essays
157 students were enrolled in 11 400-level English courses. 2-3 students per course were randomly selected, and unmarked final papers were collected from these students. The goal was to collect papers from 25% of the students; however, only 15 essays were turned in. This constitutes a sample of 9.6%. It is to be noted, however, that some of these essays were 20 pages long, thus providing a sizable writing sample. The essays were read by three senior professors of English. The same scoring system (1-4) as for freshman and sophomore courses was used. Each essay was read by two people. If the score was the same or had only one number's difference, the scores were added. In case of discrepancies, the essay was read by a third reader. The two scores were added up, yielding results ranging between 3 and 6 (on a scale of 1-8). The distribution of scores for the 15 essays was the following:
3 - 2 4 - 3 5 - 7 6 - 3
Anything above 5 meant that the readers, collectively, agreed that the student's writing ability is appropriate for someone receiving a BA in English. Only 67% (N=10) of the essays thus passed. 33% (N=5) stayed below this level. Clearly, our students need more guidance in writing analytic essays on topics of literature. As an action to remedy this, English will restore ENG 266 into its former content, a true sophomore-level literature course, where students will learn to write about literature to be better prepared for upper-level writing tasks.
Action
Evaluation Of The Level Of Writing About Literature
The Undergraduate Studies Committee is charged with collecting student essays for evaluating them to ensure that 80 percent of the students are writing at appropriate level to receive a BA degree in English.
Objective
Preparing For Graduate Study In English Or Related Fields
Students will gain writing skills that allow them to enter and function successfully in graduate programs, not only at SHSU but also at higher tier institutions.
Indicator
Entry To Graduate Programs
Students are able to produce essays that will qualify as writing samples to MA-programs nationwide.
Criterion
10% Entry To Graduate Programs
10 percent of students graduating with a BA will submit writing samples, obtain GRE scores, and achieve high enough GPAs in order to enter graduate programs nationwide or at least locally.
Finding
Verified Entry To Graduate Programs
Currently, we do not have a means to measure accurately how many of our graduating seniors enter a graduate program. Based on research on students whose GPA was higher than 3.5 and on email interviews with them, roughly 80 percent of them (N=8-10) are entering graduate programs. About half of them are entering the SHSU graduate program in English.
Finding
From English Undergraduate To English Graduate Student
Annually, several (roughly 4-6) of our own undergraduate English majors choose to continue in the our graduate program. These students have submitted good enough writing samples to be accepted into our graduate program. Most students applying to our own MA program have good writing samples. The reason why they do not qualify to be graduate assistants is usually their fairly low GRE scores. I.e., writing per se is usually not a problem for those interested in graduate study in English.
Indicator
Assessment Of Entry To Graduate Programs
In exit polls (to be developed), 10 percent of students graduating with a BA degree will indicate that they have been accepted to a graduate program.
Action
Follow-up Procedures
An alumnus/alumna database will be kept of students receiving their BA degrees in English in order to monitor their success. All graduating English students will be asked to fill out a form informing the department of their future plans. Students with high GPAs will be actively recruited to our own graduate program.
Goal
Secondary English Education Certification
English majors and minors seeking certification as Secondary English teachers will receive a grounding in literature, in writing, and in the pedagogy of Secondary English.
Objective
Secondary English Certification Validation
Students seeking teacher certification will be able to pass the English content area portion of the TExES exam (a certification test administered by the Texas Education Agency).
Indicator
English Content Area Texas Exam Of Essential Skills (TExES) Preparation
Secondary English Education students will be prepared to pass the TExES English content area exam in their final semester or shortly after graduating. The State Board for Educator Certification (SBEC) developed standards for Texas educators that delineate what the beginning educator should know and be able to do. These standards, which are based on the state-required curriculum for students, the Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills (TEKS), form the basis for the Texas Examinations of Educator Standards (TExES). As required by the Texas Education Code 21.048, successful performance on educator certification examinations is required for the issuance of a Texas educator certificate. The TExES test is a criterion-referenced examination designed to measure the knowledge and skills required in English language and literature teaching. A score of 240 is the minimum level of competency required over all of the domains. A student may fail a domain but pass the test. The following are the areas tested: Domain I: Integrated Language Arts, Diverse Learners, and the Study of English Domain II: Literature, Reading Processes, and Skills for Reading Literary and Nonliterary Texts Domain III: Written Communication Domain IV: Oral Communication and Media Literacy
Criterion
TExES Scores
At least 75 percent of students taking the TExES English content area exam will pass. (Note: scoring of the TExES results in a "pass" or "not passed" designation.) In order to ensure that our students are as prepared as possible, we require them to participate in a workshop on preparing to take the TExES before clearing them to register. This workshop is offered by Dr. Gene Young, and we believe that his efforts have contributed significantly to our pass rate. (See attached handouts, prepared by Dr. Young, which he presents during the workshop.)
Finding
TExES Achievements
Over 75 percent of the students have passed the test. Weaknesses identified by perusal of the tests results included the following: superficial understanding of literature; inadequate preparation in grammar; inability to develop a coherent argument.
Action
Continued Regular Preparation
Dr. Young will continue to offer the obligatory workshops. Strategies to address the weaknesses include the following: areas where the students performed weakly will be identified, and special attention will be paid on those areas during the obligatory workshops for future students. Students will be exposed to sample analyses of literature, which show how to understand beyond the surface text. Practice on grammar will be included; however, the importance of the descriptive approach to language will be emphasized in order to prevent the future teachers from developing prescriptive attitudes to language. Students will be exposed to samples of well-developed argumentative writing.
Goal
English Language For Teachers
Knowledge and skills associated with English language structure.
Objective
English Language Structure
Students will demonstrate knowledge and skill associated with the structure of the English language. They will master the basics of English syntax and morphology: grammatical categories, constituent structure, different sentence types and sentence functions, and word-building strategies.
Indicator
Knowledge Of English Sentence Structure
In a test, given a sentence (simple, compound, or complex), students will be able to analyze it in terms of its parts: clauses, phrases, and form and function words. They are able to identify all grammatical categories and heads of phrases and name the phrases based on their heads. They will be able to categorize sentences based on the sentence type (form) and its function (speech act). They are also able to analyze words in terms of their components: free and bound morphemes, bases and affixes (prefixes, infixes, suffixes), and inflectional and derivational morphemes. They will be able to identify and apply the different word-forming strategies. Achieving the learning objective is measured by the test results in the objective final in English Grammar/English language courses. 70% of the students master 70% or more of the material in the final.
Criterion
Pedagogical Grammar Skills
Students are able to identify sentence components (functions such as subjects, predicating verbs, direct and indirect objects, adjuncts, complements, as well as forms such NPs PPs, VPs, APs, ADJs, clauses). They can label different sentence types and indicate context-dependent understanding of their functions. They can analyze words into their morpheme components and identify the different kinds of morphemes of which words are built. Only 30% of the students miss more than 70% of the material.
Finding
Pedagogical Grammar Skills
Weaknesses: students lack analytic skills, a finding which has direct correlation to our low admission standards. Many aspire to be English teachers, based on the fact that they like to read books. However, being an English teacher also entails being able to analyze the language. A number of students fail grammar and linguistics courses because they do not have the intellectual capacity to understand abstract concepts. Roughly 40% have a hard time understanding the difference between an adverb and an adverbial, adjective and adjectival, noun and nominal. They have trouble identifying subjects, direct objects, adverbials, subject complements, and object complements. Test results show that they fail to understand sentence transformations and identify participles and gerunds. Approximately 20% of students fail the grammar/linguistics class. Fewer than 70% of the students master more than 70% of the material taught.
Action
Mandatory English Course For SED Students
For all students specializing in secondary education ENG 373 ("English Grammar") must continue to function as a gate-keeper for future English teachers.This is a requirement mandated by the State of Texas, and the Department of English continues to be happy to enforce it. What to do with students who do not have the intellectual capacity for analytic thinking which this mandatory class requires? We will recruit the services of the Writing Center to help the students who struggle with grammar: English will provide the Writing Center with tutors (our graduate assistants), who specialize in grammar and linguistics and will help students by working through structured grammar exercises with them. We will train these specialized tutors to deal with this large student population, who should not enter the classroom without the prerequisite knowledge of being able to analyze the language on which they will be experts.