Undergraduate Courses
Course Description
LEVEL 100
The courses available at Level 100 are compulsory for all students offering English
ENGL 111 Foundation English 1 (Listening and Speaking Skills) (3 Credits)
This course introduces students to the fundamentals of the phonetics/phonology of English, with emphasis on the development of listening and speaking skills. It also introduces them to the techniques of oral comprehension as well as the presentation of thought, ideas, and arguments. The areas to be covered include the English sound system and the distinction between the orthographic and phonetic alphabets.
ENGL 112 Foundation English 2 (Writing Skills) (3 Credits)
This course introduces students to the fundamentals and varieties of writing. There will be instruction on the structuring of English sentences, paragraph writing, cohesion, essay writing and discourse. Teaching will be based on practice drills and exercises to reinforce what has been learnt in reading and writing.
ENGL 113 Foundation English 3 (Reading Skills) (3 Credits)
This course introduces students to the techniques of reading and the different ways of reading. Students are also introduced to the varieties of drama, poetry, and prose and how each genre should be read. Oral delivery of these varieties is given priority.
ENGL 114 Foundation English 4 (Writing and Imaginative Literature) (3 Credits)
This is a foundation course in literature that is meant to reinforce and to build on the knowledge and skills acquired in ENGL 113. It consists of practice in reading and writing about imaginative literature with a view to broadening the extent and variety of students’ thinking and writing through being introduced to various literary genres.
LEVEL 200
The courses available at Level 200 are compulsory for all students offering English.
ENGL 211 Introduction to the English Language I (3 Credits)
This is a two-part one-semester course which introduces students to the general principles of phonetic and phonological description of English, the mechanics of speech production, and the relationship between orthography and orthoepy, leading to a simple analysis of the sound system of English. It also examines the English language as a grammatical system in which relationships at definite points in the paradigm of syntactic structures are identified using the traditional grammatical model of description. Grammatical categories are also explained.
ENGL 212 Introduction to the English Language II (3 Credits)
This course introduces students to linguistic analysis with special reference to lexis and semantics. Word formation processes and their implications for meaning in English are examined, as well as the properties of meaning in the English language and the conditions that aid the interpretation of what we say or do not say.
ENGL 213 Survey of English Literature I (3 Credits)
This course, the first part of a basic introduction to English Literature, traces through a selection of representative texts the development of English letters from the Anglo-Saxon beginnings through Shakespeare and his contemporaries in the Elizabethan age to Milton and the Restoration in the seventeenth century.
ENGL 214 Survey of English Literature II (3 Credits)
This course, the second part of the basic introduction to English Literature, follows through a selection of representative texts the development of English Literature from the Augustans in the early eighteenth century to the Age of Sensibility later in that century. It also introduces the student to the Romantic Movement in the early nineteenth century and the Victorians later in that century, and concludes with a selection of twentieth century writing.
LEVEL 300 – Core Courses
To be taken by all Level 300 students offering English as a Major. English minors are also required to take the core courses]
ENGL 341 Grammar (2 Credits)
This course involves a more detailed analysis of the grammatical structure of the English language using a chosen theory of linguistic description. The aim is to show how the language can be taken apart and reassembled to produce different kinds of sentences by looking at the basic constituents of a sentence from the word to the clause.
ENGL 342 Semantics (2 Credits)
This course provides a core detailed discussion of meaning in language and the way meaning is expressed through words and sentences. It deals specifically with word meaning and sentence interpretation. It offers a comprehensive discussion of issues such as semantic relations, sense relations, semantic roles, semantic change and structural ambiguity and interpretation.
ENGL 343 Practice in Criticism (2 Credits)
This is a practical course in literary criticism. The aim of the course is to develop students’ responsiveness to literature and give them the technical language and analytical procedure for describing how literary texts achieve their effects.
ENGL 344 Introduction to African Literature (2 Credits)
This is essentially a survey course meant to offer a formal introduction to African Literature in its broadest historical and cultural contexts. Our aim is for each student to gain a close, personal familiarity with selected representative texts of major forms/genres and of the major writers of various periods. The texts will be placed in the general socio-political and cultural contexts of their production.
ENGL 356 Shakespeare and His Age (2 Credits)
This course aims at introducing students to the achievement of Shakespeare as a poet and dramatist. A representative sample of this achievement will be read. The main focus will be on understanding each individual work. Attention will however also be paid to the wider cultural, literary and stylistic context of his work and how Shakespeare transformed the legacy that he worked with.
ENGL 369 Phonetics and Phonology (2 Credits)
The importance of phonetics and phonology as reference points in pronunciation is emphasized in this course. A theoretical approach followed by practice will be adopted in discussing single sound segments and the phonological processes involved during connected speech. Theories of syllabification, the phoneme and the taxonomic principles of phonemic analysis as well as the characteristics and uses of suprasegmental features will also be examined.
LEVEL 300 – Elective Courses for the Language Option
ENGL 345 English as a Second Language (3 Credits)
This course will examine the expectations of different Englishes –English as a first, second and foreign language. It will explore learning processes and the expected product in second language situations. It will also examine processes of hybridization consequent on contact situations with indigenous languages and discuss how far the English language is affected by its relationship with other languages with which it is contiguous.
ENGL 346 Varieties and Functions of Language (3 Credits)
This course will examine the various ways in which language varieties are classified. Emphasis will be placed on the linguistic features associated with each variety. In addition, the course will study the functions language can perform and show how these functions determine the linguistic choices made.
ENGL 347 Discourse Analysis (3 Credits)
This course will introduce students to the analysis of English in use. The focus will be on the application of the knowledge of the grammar and lexical systems of English to texts for an understanding of how sentences are combined in discourse to produce meaning. It will also direct attention to the analysis of how sentences are used in the performance of different communicative acts.
ENGL 348 The English Language in Communication (3 Credits)
This course will study the nature of the English language as a tool for communication. It will involve a closer look at definitions of language—verbal and non-verbal—and the wider implications of communication theories. The course will also study the English language and the immediate environment, topics, participants and coding systems, turn taking and cues in interaction in which English is used as a second language in Ghana.
ENGL 349 Special Topic (3 Credits)
A special course, to be offered under various sub-titles aimed at exploring new areas/subjects of specialized interest not otherwise already provided for in the syllabus.
ENGL 351 The Evolution of English Poetry (3 Credits)
This course offers the student the opportunity to study English Poetry from the 16th century to the middle of the 20th century, and to investigate the lines of continuity which unify the diverse developments that have occurred in English poetry in the different periods.
ENGL 352 Introduction to Oral Literature (3 Credits)
This course introduces students to the creative and other resources that provide foundation texts for Africa’s cultural heritage. It will also study the way in which literary traditions serve as a major creative resource for some traditions of written literature.
ENGL 353 History, Theory and Practice of Literary Criticism (3 Credits)
The course provides an overview of how literature has been justified, defended, and criticized down the centuries from classical antiquity to the modern schools of literary theory. The aim of the course is to introduce students to the variety of thought on literature itself and ultimately provide a basis from which they may discuss and write about literature.
ENGL 354 Criticism and the Arts (3 Credits)
This is an upper level undergraduate seminar that explores the development from literary theory to cultural theory and its role in the criticism of the arts especially in Ghana and Africa. The focus ultimately is on application of the skills of discursive analysis and interpretation to other material in the realm of the arts apart from the textual.
ENGL 355 The Early Novel (3 Credits)
The course will study the early phases of development of the novel in English. It will begin with a general survey of antecedents to the novel form and focus next on those 18th Century writings which ensured the coming of age of the novel form as a distinct genre.
ENGL 358 Modern Drama (3 Credits)
This course will study classic drama from the modern era. The reading will cover a representative sampling of British, European, American and African dramatic traditions. It will also cover the cultural and historical context of the work and the particular author’s contribution to the transformation of the genre in the modern era.
ENGL 361 Children’s Literature (3 Credits)
This course introduces students to the genre of children’s literature. It explores the reasons why children enjoy certain kinds of literary imagination. It also examines certain classic texts of the genre in order to determine its history and to explore the literary qualities that distinguish this body of writing.
ENGL 363 Introduction to Creative Writing (3 Credits)
This is an elective open to students with some talent for creative writing. The basic objective of the course is to introduce students to creative writing in any of the main genres: drama, poetry and fiction. Each student will be expected to engage in critical discussions of their own writing as well as on writing of other members of the class. The focus will be on developing a grasp of the rudiments and the general mechanics of the writer’s craft while at the same time allowing for a fuller realization of the individuals’ creative impulse and talent.
ENGL 364 Creative Writing (3 Credits)
This is an elective open to students who have taken ENGL363 and have demonstrated ability for creative writing. The basic objective of the course is to sharpen the students’ creative skills in the main genres—poetry, drama, and fiction. As in ENGL363, each student will be expected to engage in critical discussions of their own writing as well as of writing of other members of the class.
ENGL 365 Literature and Gender (3 Credits)
The course aims at introducing students to a gender analysis of the institution of literature. It will offer an overview of such approaches to the institution of literature and through a selection of texts help students to arrive at a sense of how literature may be judged to have served the respective interests of men and women in different places and times.
ENGL 367 Advanced Expository Writing (3 Credits)
This course aims at equipping students with the skills they need to meet the demands of expository discourse. It is a practical course that explores various aspects of exposition and provides students with techniques of expository writing.
ENGL 368 The Development of English Prose Style (3 Credits)
This course examines the inherent features of prose. It is essentially a survey course that looks at the major periods of prose from Old English times to recent times. Attention will especially be paid to the 16th, 17th and 18th centuries.
ENGL 372 Advanced Practice in Oral Communication (3 Credits)
This course is meant for students with career objectives that require a very high level of competence in Oral English Communication. The course will be devoted to a thorough grounding in general phonetics and the phonological system of English, followed by a series of specially designed practice drills, leading to competence development exercises in a variety of performance situations.
ENGL 373 Literature of the African Diaspora (3 Credits)
This is an introductory survey course which will study representative forms of oral literature of the African Diaspora, early written texts, and selected contemporary authors, covering the Caribbean, the Americas, and Europe.
ENGL 374 Modern Poetry (3 Credits)
The course will consist of a historical and a theoretical survey of modern poetry. It will expose students to the modern trends in poetry in English. Various literary movements of the early 20th century will be discussed. A selection of poems from the modern era will be studied.
ENGL 375 Literature, Film and Society (3 Credits)
This is a course with a focus on theoretical, technical, aesthetic, psychological, and sociological dimensions of the interface between literature and film as modes of representation and narration. Selected texts and films will be considered in regard to:
• Narrative form, structure, and social impact
• Image making and manipulation of metaphor and symbol
• Social relevance and imagined realities
• Myth-making in literature and in film
• Language and re/representations of meaning in literature and film
• Frameworks for analysis and interpretation of literature and film, etc.
ENGL 376 Literature as Performance (3 Credits)
The course will consider various theoretical issues about the many ways in which “literature as performance” may be seen as a four-way encounter between text, context, artist, and audience, each one helping to enhance aesthetic experience and “present enjoyment of the intrinsic qualities of the act of expression itself” (Bauman). The course provides an appropriate intellectual framework for critical analysis and appreciation of a wide range of traditional and contemporary art forms. Along with theoretical considerations, there will also be opportunity to observe recorded and/or live performance events. Students may be required to offer individual or group performance mini-projects as part of the requirements.
ENGL 377 Critical Issues in African Literature (3 Credits)
This course involves a close examination of the different debates on how to approach African literature. Issues such as the authority of the critic of African Literature and the different theoretical approaches will be discussed in relation to specific chosen works.
ENGL 378 Early English Texts (3 Credits)
This course has two main objectives: to demonstrate language change, i.e. how English has changed from Old English through Early Middle English and Middle English to the language of Chaucer, and to introduce students to early English literature in its original form.
ENGL 379 Seminal Works in African Thought (3 Credits)
This is a specialist seminar focusing on some of the African continent’s major thinkers. The aim is not only to study the seminal thoughts forming the wider context of the business of ‘making literature’ in Africa but also to discuss the intellectual and cultural agenda posed by such thought.
ENGL 382 Landmarks of African-American literature (3 Credits)
This is a follow-up to ENGL379, aimed at providing an in-depth study of major movements/ periods [such as the Harlem Renaissance] and a small set of seminal or canonical works by major writers in African literary history.
ENGL 384 Drama (3 Credits)
This course will seek to examine the peculiar features of the genre. It will explore such questions as: What is drama? What is its relation to life? What does the theatre experience involve? What is the cultural value of drama? Texts from the great ages of drama and representing the main genres of dram will be elected to explore the foregoing questions.
LEVEL 400 -Core Courses
Language Courses:
ENGL 441 English in Ghana (3 Credits)
The course examines the basic concepts of language contact with special reference to English in Ghana. It also discusses what constitutes a variety of language, as well as the phonological, structural, lexical and pragmatic peculiarities of Ghanaian English. The history of English in Ghana will also be explored.
ENGL 442 Contemporary English Usage (3 Credits)
This is essentially a practical course intended to deal with problem areas of English usage in Ghana. The question of acceptable usage within the Ghanaian linguistic milieu will be discussed. The course intends to strengthen students’ confidence in English usage. It will make them aware of possible options for usage and the consequences of alternative choices. The course will teach language skills necessary for performing adequately in a modern society and create awareness of the debate concerning the ‘Indigenized Varieties’ or ‘New Englishes.’
ENGL 443 Ghanaian Literature (3 Credits)
This is an upper level course intended to introduce students to the evolution of creative writing by Ghanaian authors in the specific context of the emergence of the modern nation state in Africa. Issues such as nationalism and literature, national culture and the literary imagination,concepts of national literature, the search for new forms of artistic expression and the Pan African tradition in Ghanaian literature will inform readings and discussions.
ENGL 444 The Romantic Movement in English Literature (3 Credits)
The course seeks to study the rise and development of Romanticism in English Literature. It will consist of a historical survey of Romantic prose and poetry and will involve reading selected works of the major novelists and poets of the Romantic era.
ENGL 474 Advanced Practice in Criticism (3 Credits)
This course builds on the foundations laid in ENGL343. Through small group discussions of selected texts, it aims to help students become more aware of the assumptions and frameworks underpinning their reading of particular examples of literature even as they formulate their response to texts.
ENGL 475 Modern Literary Theory (3 Credits)
The course explores the main movements in literary studies that have emerged and gained currency since the rise of English as a discipline of study. The course aims to familiarize students with the key debates and ideas from these movements.
Level 400 Elective Courses for the Language Option
ENGL 445 Introduction to Stylistics (3 Credits)
The course is essentially an applied course that is meant to sharpen students’ awareness of what constitutes a text. Various theories as to what we mean by style and stylistics will be examined. Other topics will include foregrounding, deviation and parallelism.
ENGL 446 Pragmatics (3 Credits)
This course will examine the different ways in which context can influence the way we interpret sentences. It will generally deal with the relationship between system sentences and utterance. It will also address the speech act theory of meaning and basic elements of logic and how they affect meaning. In addition, it will examine the relationship between semantics, semiotics, and pragmatics, and bring out the syntactic and analytic structures which influence the meaning that is accepted by the users of natural languages.
ENGL 447 History of the English Language (3 Credits)
This course will survey the historical development of the English Language from Anglo-Saxon times to present day. It will study the concept of language change - the why and the how as well as the internal history of the English Language.
ENGL 448 Business Writing (3 Credits)
The course covers the following subjects: editing, speech writing, resume/CV writing, report writing, minutes, conference reporting, and research/project proposals. Beyond a general introduction which the course will offer to all students, there will be course offerings tailored to the specific needs of individual students.
ENGL 449 The Language of Religion (3 Credits)
This course will study the recurring structures in religious tracts, sermons and other such religious texts. It will also consider meaning mechanisms and the effects they are expected to produce. It will include a study of logic on the one hand, and rhetoric and persuasive language on the other. A discussion of the nature of the mind and how it affects our decisions and actions will also be explored.
ENGL 451 Poetry (3 Credits)
The course will teach poetry as a genre. It will deepen students’ knowledge and appreciation of poetry. Insights provided by such deep knowledge should lead students on to a more confident aesthetic and analytical engagement with poetry in its various manifestations as defined by context, time, place, and function. Texts for the course will be drawn from a wide range of traditions.
ENGL 452 The New Literatures in English (3 Credits)
The course focuses on the literary phenomenon of the emergence of powerful literary voices from those widely dispersed regions of the world, almost all of which were once part of the British Empire, but all of which now claim articulations of self-determination and individual identity through the ambivalent legacy of the English Language.
ENGL 453 Introduction to Film and TV (3 Credits)
This course introduces students to what is sometimes considered as the newest art form in world cultural history, and now probably the most pervasive form of artistic representation. Beginning with a brief history of the invention of and early developments in cinematography, the course will move into a focus on basic theories and techniques of representation in film, film as narrative art, the aesthetics of film and the psychology and social impact of film and television. A selection of films/productions will be viewed for discussion and analysis.
ENGL 454 Special Author (3 Credits)
This course is a specialist seminar on individual authors of exceptional significance in world literary history. The seminar will be devoted to an in-depth examination of representative texts from what must, in each case, be a substantial corpus of major literary works.
ENGL 455 The Short Story (3 Credits)
The course will study English, European, Pan-American and African masters of the form. The aim of the course will be to give students an understanding of the practice of each of the selected writers and their unique contributions to the development of the short story genre.
ENGL 457 Nineteenth Century Fiction (3 Credits)
The course provides an overview of the practice of the novel, especially in its dominant phase— Jane Austen, George Eliot, Charles Dickens, Thomas Hardy. The course explores the development of the ‘great tradition’ of English novel writing up to the late Victorian/early modern period.
ENGL 458 Life Story (3 Credits)
The course will begin with an examination of some of the most original and influential examples of memoir and life story writing such as Caesar’s Gallic Wars (De Bello Gallico), Confessions of St. Augustine, and Boswell’s Life of Samuel Johnson LL.D. The aim will be to discover the modes employed traditionally by this kind of writing, namely: (a) the chronicle; (b) the confession; (c) the secular model; (d) exemplary lives of the saints. Using examples from different times and places, the course will then explore how the tradition has transcended and evolved beyond these generic boundaries.
ENGL 459 Renaissance Drama (3 Credits)
This course will focus on dramatic attainment of this period of English literary history. The major dramatists of the period will be studied with a view to determining how each of them reflects and /or deviates from the characteristics of the period.
ENGL 462 Twentieth Century Fiction (3 Credits)
This course continues the exploration of the development of the novel in English with a study of a selection of novels from the early modern period—Henry James, Virginia Woolf, James Joyce, D. H. Lawrence and Joseph Conrad. The debates surrounding these writers’ individual contributions to the development of the novel will explored. The theoretical dimension of the course rests in an exploration of some key approaches to the study of the novel.
ENGL 463 Satire and the Enlightenment (3 Credits)
This course will be an exploration of the relationship between Literature, Politics and Society during the Enlightenment in Europe, and how these are manifested in the texts to be studied.
ENGL 464 Caribbean Literature (3 Credits)
This course is devoted to representative authors/works that are fully grounded in the peculiarities of the Caribbean, defined by its historical-geographical reality of fragmentation as well as by its socio-cultural reality of multiple cultural heritages.
ENGL 465 Studies in Popular Literature (3 Credits)
The course will consider the alleged disparity between the so-called ‘highbrow’ and ‘popular’ genre and themes in contemporary literature. It will consider the Ghanaian forms: the concert party, highlife texts and the new novel with its romantic moralistic slant. It will also look at ‘popular’ international literature such as song texts, soap operas, the romantic novel, the ‘who-done-it’ novel, the ‘superman’ action novel, etc.
ENGL 466 Masterpieces of World Literature (3 Credits)
This is an upper level course which introduces students to a small set of selected texts from various cultures and historical periods, each of which has become a foundation text in world literary heritage. The qualities that make such texts stand the test of time and place will be at the centre of critical attention.
ENGL 467 English Literature from Milton to Blake (3 Credits)
This course is intended to acquaint students with the variety and development of English literature from the age of John Milton to the age of William Blake. The reading on this course will be used to show how each of the writers under study could be said to reflect and, sometimes, deviate from the qualities that characterize the particular era in which they were writing.
ENGL 468 Masterpieces of American Literature (3 Credits)
This course introduces the students to literary works that stand out prominently from the American literary landscape. The course, therefore, deals with works of a kind and magnitude that have rendered them conspicuous, and which in various ways have provided a sense of direction to the course of American literary development.
ENGL 471 Studies in African Drama (3 Credits)
The course traces the development of African Drama from the traditional to the modern. It explores the relationship between traditional African dramatic forms and western forms and how playwrights have attempted to manage the two traditions and to theorize their practice.
ENGL 472 Masterpieces of African Literature (3 Credits)
This course will deepen knowledge of Africa’s major / landmark contributions to world literary heritage. It will pay critical attention to selected texts from various African countries, cultures, languages and historical periods.
ENGL 473 Studies in African Poetry (3 Credits)
This is an exploratory course on the oral and written forms of African poetry. It includes the study of the developments in African poetry in the European languages from the early writers through the periods of negritude to the present.
ENGL 476 Literature in Translation (3 Credits)
The course will:
• look at both prose and poetry that have been translated into the English language.
• consider the peculiar difficulty involved in translating an English text into a Ghanaian language
• look at the peculiar differences that exist between translating a prose text and a poem.
The course will further look at the processes involved in this transference of one linguistic system onto another.
ENGL 478 English Literature from Wordsworth to Hardy (3 Credits)
The course surveys writing from Wordsworth to Hardy. Though the main emphasis will be on an understanding of each individual writer, the reading on the course will be used to bring out the unity, change and development in this period of English literary history.
YEAR-LONG COURSES
ENGL 440 Long Essay (6 Credits)
ENGL 450 Advanced Creative Writing (6 Credits)
This course is a follow-up to ENGL 364 to be reserved for a handful of students who would have demonstrated a strong potential for developing their individual creative writing projects into publishable manuscripts. It is a two-semester conference course in which the student is helped to finalize his/her work for submission to a publisher. No student can sign up for the course without written approval from the course instructor or Head of Department.