Mar 28, 2024  
2020-2021 Shepherd University Catalog 
    
2020-2021 Shepherd University Catalog [ARCHIVED CATALOG]

English and Modern Languages


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English

The Department of English seeks to help prepare students to live in a complex, technological, and diverse world by introducing them to varying perspectives offered by a thorough study of literature and language. Through these perspectives, sociological and personal barriers may be broken down, and the possibilities as well as the paradoxes of human existence may be better understood.

The primary objectives of the English curriculum include the following:

  1. To encourage students to think critically and to communicate their thoughts effectively by helping them develop the skills necessary to understand and utilize the English language;
  2. To contribute to the liberal arts education of all students by exposing them to the diversity and richness of the world’s best literature;
  3. To prepare English education majors to become reflective problem solvers, capable of teaching English on the middle or secondary levels, in a country as ethnically diverse as ours;
  4. To provide students, particularly English majors, with a broad background in languages and literature which will enable them to pursue graduate study;
  5. To give English and English education majors a knowledge of the basic tools of effective written communication, technology, and an understanding of literature that will enable them to pursue any vocation and function in a diverse and global work world.

Modern Languages

By exposing students to a study of the language and literature of other countries, the modern language component of the University seeks to help prepare students for life in a multinational, multicultural global society. The primary objectives of the modern language program include the following:

  1. To provide a vital and useful part of a student’s liberal arts education;
  2. To help students gain an international perspective by introducing them to the language, literature, and culture of other countries;
  3. To give students an adequate background in French, German, or Spanish sufficient to pursue graduate study, or to pursue a professional career in which a knowledge of one or more modern languages is necessary;
  4. To impress upon students the value associated with a knowledge of modern languages in such areas as written and oral skills, literature, and culture.

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