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All Senior English majors must undergo three kinds of assessment in order to graduate:
Any questions about senior assessment should be directed to the Chair, Dr. Kevin Boyle.
Core and concentration questions must be answered orally. Answers will be marked from 1-5, with 5 being the highest mark. Students must make a 3, 4, or 5 on all of the concentration questions and may have no more than one 1 or 2 score on the core questions. If these goals are not achieved, the student must retake the oral part of the interview. Students are NOT allowed to bring in notes or outlines.
Student must answer ALL questions in this section.
Student must answer ONLY questions relating to her/his concentration.
1. Professional Writing and Rhetoric
a. How does your disciplinary identity in professional writing and rhetoric inform your analysis of and actions in workplace, civic, and personal contexts? Be prepared to illustrate your response with examples.
b. How do you define rhetoric, and how does rhetoric inform the study and practice of writing?
c. Identify three to five of the rhetorical strategies you find most powerful, and illustrate their application and value by referring to one or two of your own writing experiences.
2. Creative Writing
a. Describe the style of a contemporary writer (or two) whose work you admire. What have you learned from him or her?
b. How would you describe the development of your style, subject matter, and writing process?
c. Explain how you judge the quality of a short story, poem, or essay.
3. Literature (Choose 3 of the 5 to answer)
a. Choose one of the historical studies courses you have taken at Elon. Define the characteristics of the period itself and give examples of works from the period, showing how at least ONE of those works embodies the period's characteristics.
b. Name a cultural studies course you have taken and explain what it taught you about the value of studying literature within a specific cultural context.
c. Talk about a major author course you have taken. What are the distinctive features of the style and content of this author's work? How did this author's literary career develop? Did you like what you read by this author? Why or why not?
d. Define the term “genre.” Name a genre course you have taken in the English department. Identify the distinctive formal, technical and/or thematic characteristics of this literary genre and describe a text that exemplifies them. Explain how two authors or texts influenced—by defining, enlarging or transforming—the development of this genre.
e. Name a CPT (critical practice and theory) course you have taken in the English department. Identify a controversy in literary studies that you explored in this course. Explain the central issues of this debate, the theoretical positions of various sides and your own stand in the matter.
Teacher Licensure
a. Select a specific text that you studied in a literature class here at Elon and explain how you would adapt it for high-school teaching. Justify your adaptations with specific references to the text and to learning theories.
b. How will you integrate literature, writing, and language study in the high-school classroom?
c. How would you adapt your teaching to address the needs of diverse students?
The following questions should be answered in writing (typed) and brought to the assessment session.
