English
Competencies taught by the English Department incorporate two kinds of instruction, the second following naturally from the first: (1) teaching students skills in reading and creating texts, and (2) preparing them for jobs in careers where reading and writing are central.
We teach such skills as:
- Critical thinking
- Ability to participate actively in discussion groups
- Research methods
- Familiarity with and ability to critique our literary and linguistic heritage, including English, American, and literatures and the structure of the English language itself
- Analysis of many kinds of complex texts (literary, cultural, and “virtual”)
- Cross-cultural and cross-disciplinary understanding
- Writing clearly and effectively
These skills are valuable not only in careers that require writing-publishing, journalism, advertising-but also in the professions and in fields that require understanding of our own and other cultures-such as business, government, and cultural institutions. In an increasingly unified global culture, the ability to interpret and understand texts becomes central.