English Program

As a discipline, English includes the study of literature and the practice of writing, in order to help students discover their own ideas and articulate them as completely and cogently as possible. The English program provides students with a strong foundation in literature, literary theory, and writing. To ensure that students gain a comprehensive understanding of English literature, the program begins with the British tradition and extends to the broader realms of Canadian, American, and other literatures in English. This approach covers foundational genres, periods, movements, and authors as well as contemporary expressions of literature. The program aims for coverage of English literary history not merely for completeness but also to teach students to think, read and listen critically, and to use language with clarity, judgment, and imagination.

Since English is one of the programs in the Humanities Department, all English students also take a series of humanities courses, which include academic writing, the Christian intellectual tradition, cognate credits in history, philosophy, and religion, and a humanities capstone course.

Profile of the Graduating Student

The graduating student will develop:

• Understanding: Graduates will be able to articulate their rich understanding of the human story, as expressed in literatures from diverse Western, Indigenous Canadian, and other world cultures.
• Research: Graduates will be able to apply advanced research skills employed in the study of literature to solve problems and advance knowledge.
• Analysis: Graduates will be able to apply the skill of critical thinking, using the methods, approaches, and theories appropriate to the discipline of English to analyze diverse and complex forms of information.
• Communication: Graduates will be able to communicate clearly, concisely, and compellingly to impart knowledge and express themselves.
• Character: Graduates will exemplify maturity of character which represents the best of the Christian intellectual tradition and a liberal arts education, and which expresses itself in wisdom, integrity, service to neighbour and society, and responsibility towards the world in which they live.

Career and Education Paths

The graduating student will:

• be prepared to enter a wide range of vocations that require writing competence, analytical thought, and a broad base of literary knowledge;
• be prepared to enter Education and other after-degree programs;
• be prepared to enter graduate programs after the four-year degree.

Bachelor of Arts: English Concentration (3 Year)

Bachelor of Arts: English Major (4 Year)