EN0ID-Identities

Module Provider: English Literature
Number of credits: 40 [20 ECTS credits]
Level:F
Terms in which taught: Autumn / Spring term module
Pre-requisites:
Non-modular pre-requisites:
Co-requisites:
Modules excluded:
Current from: 2022/3

Module Convenor: Dr Michael Lyons
Email: m.lyons@reading.ac.uk

Type of module:

Summary module description:

This module will give students the opportunity to explore the theme of identity across a wide range of texts and other cultural features (such as sculpture and film). The module has four principal themes: national/racial identity, gender identity, changing identities and self-identity. Students will be invited to explore their own choices of texts towards the end of the module. Building on, and responding to, their new understanding of identity in texts and society, students will use their chosen texts to consider the ways in which texts and culture have shaped their own identities.

Aims:

To expose students to a wide range of texts, and teaching from colleagues across the School of Literature and Languages, in order to prepare them for the ways of thinking and learning that will be expected of them during an undergraduate degree. Supporting students as they interrogate ideas of identity, both in themselves and in society.

Assessable learning outcomes:

• Able to carry out research at undergraduate level, including discovering complex information and evidence and responding imaginatively to research tasks.


• Able to present information within wider contexts.


• Able to analyse material and articulate their ideas, in writing and orally.


• Able to plan their written and oral output effectively.


• Able to manage their study time productively.


• Confident in the useof the university’s VLE and other learning technologies.


• Familiar with groupwork and independent study techniques at university.

Additional outcomes:

• Achieving a good understanding of identity as it is examined at undergraduate level.


• The ability to plan an assignment and reference it correctly.


• Working effectively in groups for study.


• Demonstrating knowledge of the relationships between different genres and different media.


• Planning forward for a BA programme at Part 1.


• Grasping the learning that takes place from a wide variety of sources, with the aid of various learning events, including lectures, seminars and workshops.

Outline content:

The module will work on four themes of identity (national/racial, gender, changing and self) and will use a wide variety of texts. The module is divided into four half-term blocks, with a teaching team of at least four academics per block, who will explore, across the two terms, sources such as novels, novellas, biography, poetry, drama, political rhetoric, journalistic pieces, films, artworks, theory and government documents.

Global context:

This module comprises texts from across the globe, some in translation, and explicitly includes national and racial identity as one of its four main themes.

This module is especially suitable for students who have been studying outside the UK and need to become familiar with the methods of teaching and learning in UK HE institutions.

Brief description of teaching and learning methods:

The module will take students through a week by week programme of lectures, seminars, workshops and guided independent study tasks, over two terms.

Contact hours:

	Autumn	Spring	Summer
Lectures	30	30
Tutorials	2	2	4
Guided independent study:
Wider reading (independent)	24	24
Advance preparation for classes	76	76
Other	48	48
Essay preparation			24
Reflection		8	4
Total hours by term	180	188	32
Total hours for module	400

Summative Assessment Methods:

Method	Percentage
Written assignment including essay	100

Summative assessment- Examinations:

Summative assessment- Coursework and in-class tests:

Two 2,000-word essays comparing up to four texts covered across each term (i.e.  each term, the students individually choose up to four texts that have been covered to compare in the essay). These essays can comprise a series (one or more) of 500-word reflections, or a straight essay, or a combination.

Formative assessment methods:

Reflection on a student-chosen text ready for the discussions in the final weeks of the Spring Term (300 words). This reflection will take the form of a piece of work (including images if desired) that is shared with a small peer review group of 4-6 students through BB groups. This will allow for peer to peer discussion prior to the seminar in which the text will be discussed within the context of the debates raised by the module and each student’s own sense of identity.

Penalties for late submission:

The Support Centres will apply the following penalties for work submitted late:

• where the piece of work is submitted after the original deadline (or any formally agreed extension to the deadline): 10% of the total marks available for that piece of work will be deducted from the mark for each working day (or part thereof) following the deadline up to a total of five working days;
• where the piece of work is submitted more than five working days after the original deadline (or any formally agreed extension to the deadline): a mark of zero will be recorded.

The University policy statement on penalties for late submission can be found at: https://www.reading.ac.uk/cqsd/-/media/project/functions/cqsd/documents/cqsd-old-site-documents/penaltiesforlatesubmission.pdf
You are strongly advised to ensure that coursework is submitted by the relevant deadline. You should note that it is advisable to submit work in an unfinished state rather than to fail to submit any work.

Assessment requirements for a pass:

40% overall

Reassessment arrangements:

Re-examination in August.

Additional Costs (specified where applicable):

1) Required text books: 

2) Specialist equipment or materials: 

3) Specialist clothing, footwear or headgear: 

4) Printing and binding: 

5) Computers and devices with a particular specification: 

6) Travel, accommodation and subsistence: 

Last updated: 22 September 2022