Although our province is, strictly speaking, the English language, we also teach literature in translation as it affects English-speaking cultures. So, although our courses and specializations may vary widely, they all converge in creating, interpreting, and analyzing texts in English. This is our common ground. Texts have audiences. Texts use the formal properties of language.
Texts exist within contexts.
We know, however, that in any act of writing, interpretation, or analysis these attributes of texts interact simultaneously in complex ways. This complex process of interaction is the foundation of all our courses. For example, in a writing course, whether freshman composition or a creative writing workshop, we help students discover and author their ideas and feelings. We encourage them to communicate their meaning through diction and metaphor, syntax and rhythm, organizational strategies and narrative pacing, all through a tone appropriate to their purpose and audience and through the different conventions of, for example, the short story and the report. In a literature course, whether a sophomore survey or a course for undergraduate majors, we help students understand authors' ideas and those of their culture.