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Course Description
Eng.
111-2 English Usage
2 Terms; 6 Credits
This course is designed to improve students!& language skills and upgrade their overall language proficiency in the four basic language areas, i.e. reading, listening, speaking and writing. It covers a wide range of language activities/ tasks in an integrated format, including: (1) reading and listening comprehension lessons based on authentic material covering stories of human interest, argumentative and expository essays, interviews or forums on current and socially relevant issues; (2) varied _expression in vocabulary improvement, with emphasis on idiomatic expressions, phrasal verbs and other nuances; (3) grammar revision and extension covering sentence analysis, close structural transformation, subordination, modification and correction of errors; (4) oral-aural practice through enjoyable and stimulating exercises to be done individually, in pairs or in groups.
Eng.
111A-2A Oral English (Small Group Tutorial)
2 Terms; 2 Credits
This course aims to develop students!& ability to converse/express opinions on a variety of topics, by working collaboratively with their peers or groupmates, through organized group discussions. Under the supervision of the lecturer in charge, small groups of students have an ex tempore discussion (one hour per week) centering on social, ethical, cultural and current topics. After the completion of this course, students are expected to have acquired communicative ability and confidence in responding to and participating in any discussion in an English speaking environment.
Eng.
121-2 Introduction to English Literature
2 Terms; 6 Credits
This course introduces students to representative works in fiction, poetry and drama in preparation for their fuller appreciation and more specialized study in later years. The syllabus includes literary work of native English writers as well as a sampling of Asian English writers: works which acquaint students with themes of cultural nuances/identity in native and alien settings. Classes will take the form of reading, discussion, short quizzes and written work aimed at training students to understand, analyze and appreciate what they read and interpret them with a critical mind.
Eng.
141-2 Elementary Translation
2 Terms; 4 Credits
This course provides the basis for the translation programme offered by the English Department. It covers 3 main parts: (1) the definition and principles of translation from English to Chinese, and vice versa; (2) the steps in translation; and (3) the techniques of translation and their application. The course emphasizes both theory and practice, and classes will be conducted by lecturing and discussion.
Eng.
153 Introduction to Cultural Studies
1 Term; 3 Credits
The term 'culture' has been used so leisurely and loosely that its original meaning has often become insignificant and even negligible. In effect, it can be taken as 'an empty conceptual category' (John Storey, 2001), to be filled in with a wide variety of often conflicting elements. Thus, both the term and the related concept of 'culture' could lead to confusion. This course guides students to analyse the confusing phenomena created in the very process of the 'studies of culture' and/or 'cultural studies'. The issues under examination will include confusion & uncertainty, boundary & limits, life & death, pop vs. classic, highbrow vs. lowbrow. Textual analysis will employ samples from modern literature and cinema. Students are expected to familiarise themselves with the method of critical thinking in contemporary cultural studies.
Eng.
154 Feminist Readings and Women's Writing
1 Term; 3 Credits
Helene Cixous asserts that 'woman must put herself into the text'. She must be referring to the great variety of media texts in contemporary society that feature the multi-facet life of women today. How do the females' readings of their portrayal differ from those of the other sex? The course will apply for in-depth analysis Cixous' proposed binaries together with others like: masculine/feminine, presence/absence, rational/irrational, moral/immoral, light/dark, life/death, good/evil, etc. The media texts employed include contemporary literature, films and advertisements. It is expected that students can apprehend the genuine readings and feelings of contemporary women in issues related to sexuality, body image, rape, pornography, marriage, motherhood, sex roles, and human rights.
Eng.
204 Technoscience Culture
1 Term; 3 Credits
In the face of the fast developments in technoscience in the modern world, it is important to introduce to students the ways technosciences and mass media bear on our sense of identity and subjectivity. The aim of this course is to initate students to the relevance of literature as cultural text to such a phenomenon, and to help them discover the way literary arts and visual imaginary respond to the different ramifications of contemporary technosciences which has unprecedentedly transformed their everyday life experiences. Through a body of fiction, films, T.V. shows, computer mediated communication devices, cybercultural forms, etc. which deal directly with new communication technologies, this class will highlight the radical effects on the post-modernist self and on virtuality of all kinds.
Eng.
211-2 English Writing
2 Terms; 6 Credits
This course focuses on academic writing in English and provides some experience in practical writing, academic writing, and writing resumes and employment application letters. Through participation in classroom activities and the completion of writing tasks and assignments, students are provided with an opportunity to enhance skills in listening, discussing, note-taking, summarising, researching, analysing questions and assignments, reading for specific information, synthesising a precise and relevant response for a given purpose, presenting thoughts and ideas in a logical sequence, providing citations and preparing bibliographies, and recognising/correcting grammar and syntax errors.
Eng.
220 English Drama
1 Term; 3 Credits
This course is designed to introduce students to dramatic forms and styles in the Western literary tradition. It will look at different approaches to dramatic criticism and briefly introduce matters of staging. Students will be expected to take part in a dramatic presentation.
Eng.
230 English Poetry
1 Term; 3 Credits
This course treats poetry as a form of communication between poet and reader and aims to introduce participants to the language and methods of practical criticism and the art of publicly reading a poem. Our focus will be on acquiring the necessary skills to understand and comment upon an unseen and unattributed poem without the use of secondary sources.
Eng.
241-2 Intermediate Translation
2 Terms; 6 Credits
With the knowledge acquired of the Elementary Translation theories in the first year, students will now be given practice of technical translation in both English and Chinese which shows a variety of specific fields, with the subject matter focusing on law in the first semester, and medicines, finance and business, science and technology, PRC document and official correspondence in the second semester, with due regard being had to the language styles, lexical terms and writing patterns pertaining to the particular field. To support the practical work, papers by veteran translators or scholars on translation skills relating to a specific field will also be given to students as enlightenments, and the translation theories therein will be explained and applied whenever appropriate, but with emphasis more on the practical side. Students are required to complete a project work on judgment translation in the 1st semester and one on the translation of association of memorandum on the 2nd semester.
Eng.
261-2 Introduction to Linguistics
2 Terms; 6 Credits
This course introduces the fundamental concepts of linguistics and provides in-depth examination and description on the major areas of linguistics, including Phonetics, Phonology, Morphology, Syntax, Pragmatics, Historical Linguistics and Linguistics Typology. It is also the aim of this course to introduce students to the techniques of linguistics analysis so as to equip them with the knowledge and skills for future linguistics research and studies.
Eng.
303 Renaissance Literature
1 Term; 3 Credits
This course is designed to introduce students to Renaissance literature and its characteristics. It will examine a variety of literary texts from the Renaissance, looking at the formal features of the texts as well as the social, historical and political contexts in which they appeared.
Eng.
304 Neoclassical Literature
1 Term; 3 Credits
This course is designed to introduce students to Neoclassical literature and its characteristics. It will examine a variety of literary texts from the Neoclassical period, looking at the formal features of the texts as well as the social, historical and political contexts in which they appeared.
Eng.
305 Literature Culture and Ecological Ethics
1 Term; 3 Credits
The course introduces students to the relatedness between literature and environmental or ecological ethics within the context of intercultural studies. Students are expected to first have a grasp of modern ecology (how it is different from biology and its importance in the 21st century), and move on to focus on how it can be discussed in the field of intercultural studies. Texts on cultural geography, environment and social theory, ecotheology, mythology, ecofeminism and ecotourism will be used, and they are to be placed alongside some Western literary works (novels and short stories) and motion pictures (including animation) for illustration. Classical Chinese texts and English translation such as Daoism and Buddhism as well as literature such as Tang poetry will be brought forth for discussion.
Eng.
310 Effective Communication
1 Term; 3 Credits
This course is designed to be an action research. Students in groups of five to seven in their meetings will spot issues that deserve some research. Each group of students will start the action by identifying the needs that are required for them to do the action. After doing the action they will orally present and report what they have found. In the group report individual students will have to specify what they have done as individuals.
Eng.
323 Romantic Literature
1 Term; 3 Credits
This course offers a directed sampling of English literature from the Romantic period within its historical, social, and intellectual contexts. It focuses on poems by Blake, Wordsworth, Coleridge, Byron, Shelley, and Keats, but acknowledges the growing importance of an alternative (often female) canon, and introduces controversies over the portrayal of the Orient and Orientals. In addition participants will read the gothic novel Frankenstein by Mary Shelley.
Eng.
324 Victorian Literature
1 Term; 3 Credits
This course offers a directed sampling of English literature from the Victorian period so that participants are introduced to some of the key issues of the time including: urbanisation, industrialisation, poverty, the 'woman question', imperialism, religion and science, the paradox of Victorian despair and self-confidence, and Aestheticism. The course will feature poems by well known and not so well known poets such as Hood, Tennyson, Clough, Arnold, Hopkins, Elizabeth Browning, Newbolt, Kipling, and Doyle, a selection of Kipling's short stories, and a choice of two novels: Elizabeth Gaskell's Mary Barton or Oscar Wilde's A Picture of Dorian Gray.
Eng.
331-2 English Fiction
2 Terms; 6 Credits
This course aims to develop students' literary sensitivities and critical abilities by having them read, discuss and write essays on a number of accessible twentieth century novels. Class format tends towards a tutorial or seminar approach with participants discussing topics and answering questions set by the lecturer on the previous week's assigned reading. Everyone is expected to play a full role in discussion, which will be assessed and will count towards the final grade of the relevant semester.
Eng. 335 Sociolinguistics
1 Term; 3 Credits
This course is designed to introduce students to some major issues in Sociolinguistics so as to examine the relationship between language and society. Issues to be introduced and discussed in the course include: language variations -- regional, social and situational, language change - historical and social perspectives, language, culture and thought, language and gender, social function of language and language in contact.
Eng.
336 Psycholinguistics
1 Term; 3 Credits
This course is designed to introduce students to the major psycholinguistic topics in the comprehension and production of language and the relationship between language and the brain. The history and scope of psycholinguistics as well as the mental processes involved in the perception, comprehension and production of language and speech will be introduced and discussed in the course. In addition, the nature of first and second language acquisition will be discussed.
Eng.
341-2 Advanced Translation
2 Terms; 6 Credits
This course focuses on the translation of literature and translation for the media. The former covers the genre of poetry, novel, drama, and prose; the latter emphasizes news translation, bilingual advertising, and film subtitling. The topics of seminars will include the characteristics of translation of a genre in connection with the relevant theories, criticizing and analysing translated versions which are worthy of discussion, and students' practice and presentation on translation, followed by lecturer's feedback, comment, and demonstration. Translating literature prepares students for job openings in translating arts and cultural subjects; translating for the media trains students for the wider job market of the mass media.
Eng.
383 Persuasive Writing
1 Term; 3 Credits
This course aims to reinforce essay writing and speaking skills learned in earlier English courses, to introduce new writing skills needed to make convincing proposals and position papers in academic disciplines, in the marketplace and in exit tests like the IELTS used in Hong Kong requiring demonstration of written argumentative skills.
Eng.
401-2 Study in Shakespeare
2 Terms; 6 Credits
This course is designed to cultivate a clear understanding and critical appreciation of Shakespearean plays, especially his profound insight into human psychology, his witticism in language, and his dramaturgy. Shakespearean tragedies, comedies, sonnets will be explored. Students will become acquainted with contemporary approaches to interpreting and performing Shakespearean plays. A total of 4 plays will be read, 2 in each semester. Students write critical and original papers to expand perspectives and enrich experiences in Shakespearian scholarship.
Eng.
404 Travel and Culture
1 Term; 3 Credits
Travel has recently become a complex phenomenon of unprecedented proportions. This course aims at providing a theoretical and historical framework to analyze and reflect upon the relationships between travel and culture through an interdisciplinary approach. Topics discussed include: globalization, gender, consumption, theme parks, ecology, heritage and authenticity, etc. Travel writing will also be emphasized.
Eng.
421-2 Interpretation
2 Terms; 6 Credits
The course is designed to introduce students to the concepts and features of interpretation, as well as the skills and techniques for interpretation between Chinese (Cantonese & Mandarin) and English. Students are required to perform interpretation in the language laboratory. Emphasis is put on consecutive interpretation and sight translation which are the common interpretation modes used by local interpreting professionals. Tape recordings prepared from local radio & TV broadcasting will mainly form the teaching materials for laboratory drills, whereas newspaper will form the basis of sight interpretation. The emphasis is to expose the students to verbal news about the current affairs, enabling them to accustom themselves to different English speaking people with different accents. Listening comprehension is stressed for interpretation from English to Chinese, and also gleaning of matched-pair glossary for Chinese to English interpretation. Students will also be enlightened by the reading of papers by veteran interpreters or scholars on interpretation. The course also acquaints students with the interpretation opportunities available to them in the marketplace. Students are required to submit a study report on the acquisition of interpretation skills at the end of the 1st and 2nd semester respectively.
Eng.
430 Literary Criticism
1 Term; 3 Credits
This fourth year course has a bifocal approach: a survey of theoretical criticism of the seminal thinkers and influences in the Western literary tradition; an application of the four-part Abrams classification system to examine and assess specific works. The first semester of the course concentrates on tracing the historical development of Western theory; the second on the application of theoretical principles to the practical criticism of specific time-honoured works. The course fosters the development within each student of a spirit of judicious criticism, that elusive median between subjective or impressionistic criticism on the one hand, and objective or analytical criticism on the other.
Eng.
450 American Literature
1 Term; 3 Credits
This survey course treats chronologically representative selections from the American literary tradition divided into five segments: the Colonial Era, the Reason and Revolution Era, the Romantic Era, the Age of Realism, and the Modern Era (to 1965). Scientific and social, as well as Continental political and historical influences affecting the evolution and development of the tradition, are also examined.
Eng. 460 Contemporary Literature
1 Term; 3 Credits
This course is designed to initiate students to the vast field of contemporary literature after the 1950's. Important works originally written in English (with a few translated into English from European Languages) are introduced and arranged roughly in chronological order and also in terms of literary citical concepts such as intertextuality (i.e. parody), from late modernism to the post-modernism proper, ethnic studies and (post) colonialism, magic realism, feminisms (including postfeminisms and cyberfeminism), the so-called cyberculture and posthumanism, and finally ecological ethics in the 21st century. It is assumed that literary works are cultural texts in general, hence they are best approached using cultural theories. Students are exposed to concepts and issues within the field such as discourse, representation, globalism (or glocalism), psychoanalysis, poststructuralism, deconstruction, hybriditycultural identity (which includes class, gender, race and the machine), and finally technoscience culture as well as deep ecology. Besides literary texts, students will do some readings on theories and criticisms, since it would be necessary for them to be equipped with specific understanding of key words and critical terms. Some of the texts are in film media, and students are encouraged to view them critically outside class time.
Eng.
470 Comparative Literature
1 Term; 3 Credits
As an introduction to the discipline, the aim of the study of comparative literature is to acquaint students with some of the general areas/approaches/problems revealed by theoretical and practical scholarship in the branches of comparative study. Influence studies, genre, cross-cultural and linguistic barriers are components of this course. Chinese and English works are the textual basis of student concentration.
Fren.
101-2 French I
2 Terms; 4 Credits
This basic course aims to develop the ability to communicate in basic French in a culturally appropriate manner using all the language skills with an emphasis on speaking knowledge of the language.
Note: For the descriptions of courses not listed under the Department of English Language and Literature, please refer to their respective Departments for details.
Please note that the study scheme is subject to change without prior notice.