The course is an introductory course in the Faculty of Languages and Cultures. Its aims and purpose include an introduction of basic concepts and terminology in the field, exploration of critical thinking to increase reading comprehension of academic texts, implementation of practical learning practices and academic procedures to facilitate successful academic studies, discussion on plagiarism and academic integrity, evaluation of academic standards, etc. Students receive practical training in critical evaluation of academic texts, basic argumentation analysis, identification of rhetorical patterns and text structure in various text types, review of acceptable references, and an introduction to analytical reading. Furthermore, students will gain insight into the importance of academic literacy to enhance understanding and writing of academic papers, presentation of research findings, etc.

The course is taught in English and is intended for students in:

1. The English BA program.
2.  Students of foreign languages (other than English)

 *Those students that need ECT credits as a result of changes in the MOM courses, as MOM102G used to be a 5-credit course, need to add an individual assignment (MOM001G, 1 ECT) within the MOM102G course.

• This individual assignment is only intended for students who finished MOM202G (before the school year 2024-2025) and are now enrolled in MOM102G, and have thus only gained 9 credits in the two mandatory MOM courses.
• Students who intend to increase their credits with a 6 ECT course, within their departments, are free to do so – and do thus not take this additional individual assignment (in MOM102G).

To sign up for the individual project you must talk to the teacher of MOM102G.

This course is the first of two introductory courses in linguistics.  It addresses such questions as: what kinds of sounds do humans make when using spoken language? How are those sounds organised within the sound system of a language? What is a word? If a sign is a combination of a form with a meaning, are words linguistic signs? Where do words come from? How are words put together?

The focus of the course is on English, though other languages will be discussed as relevant.

This course offers a survey of important domains of linguistics, especially those which emphasise the relation of human language to man in a broader context: sociolinguistics, dialect variation, first language acquisition, second language acquisition, language and the brain, historical comparative linguistics, and animal communication.  The focus of the course is on English and the course introduces students of English to areas of linguistics that they can explore in more detail later in their studies.

The aim of this course is to give students a good overview of the social and political backgrounds to Great Britain. In the process of doing that we will examine patterns of British culture, political and social institutions and ethnic minority groups. Assessment: a 2 hour final exam.

This is a survey course of British Literature from the beginnings of Romanticism to the early twentieth century. The required reading includes some poetry, a play, short stories, novellas, and a novel. Students will read and analyze works by major Romantics (including Wordsworth, Byron, Shelley, and Keats), Victorians (Tennyson, Browning, Arnold, Gaskell, and Wilde) and modern authors (Yeats and Joyce). They will also be introduced to various literary terms and themes.

In a world increasingly awash in fake news, AI-generated deep fakes and denialism of scientific and historical facts, our ability to interpret politics, culture and society with critical discernment is more important than ever. 

Focusing on culture and linguistics, this course aims to give you the analytical tools you need as a student and citizen to critically interpret texts, visual culture and language. 

You will train your hermeneutical skills on short narratives, photographs and various characteristics of language, with help from selected readings in literary theory, cultural studies, visual culture(s) and linguistics. 

The emphasis in the class will be on critical thinking and group discussion,  allowing you to share your analytical discoveries with your fellow students and build interpretative communities.

Modules:

1. Deciphering texts
2. Understanding visual cultures
3. Figuring out language

An overview of the history and development of the English language.

This course is the second of two introductory courses in linguistics. It addresses such questions as: how are words put together to form sentences? how is the form of words affected by their place in a sentence? what other kinds of grammatical information influence the shape and use of words in a sentence? how are sentences related to each other? how can sentences be combined to form larger sentences? how do separate sentences relate to each other when strung together? what do words mean? what do sentences mean? what is discourse meaning?

The focus of the course is on English, though other languages will be discussed as relevant.

The ability to write well in English is a prerequisite for all other courses in the English department. The main aim of this course is to equip students to write in English for academic purposes. Course work will involve writing practice and composing essays based on primary and secondary research. There will be a strong emphasis on the organization of ideas as well as on style. The main goal is for students to gain an understanding of the writing process and develop their own voice in writing.

• This course aims at revisiting decisive moments of the history of the United States of America, from the early settlement to the present.
• Particular attention will be dedicated to the events surrounding the Independence of the country, the American Civil War and ensuing Reconstruction, as well as offering a broad overview of the 20^th and early 21^st centuries.
• There will also be an emphasis on the experiences of minorities and disenfranchised collectives (Native Americans, African Americans, Latinos, and Asian Americans, the LGBTQ community, as well as the rights of women) in the history of the United States, from the settlement to present.

Authors representative of nineteenth-century American Literature are read in historical context.

“Literature and Essay Writing” will expose students to exemplary texts in English across a range of historical periods and genres. It will prompt students to engage in imaginative and critical dialogues with works of literature  foregrounding close reading skills, poetic and critical thinking, scholarly and creative journaling, and analytical and research essay writing skills. The course is designed to increase proficiency in the generation and organization of ideas, in editing and research skills, and in the use of the MLA style of citation.

This course will expand student's capacity to enjoy, understand and write about language and linguistics. The aim of the module is to develop students' proficiency in process writing in English for academic purposes, with special attention given to increasing proficiency in organization, writing and revising, and on students developing their own voice in expository writing. Course work will include writing assignments and essays, as well as reading a variety of texts for critical reflection and analysis. Individual and peer feedback will be a major feature of this module. The course is also designed to strengthen skills in research and the use of APA style.

This course provides an introduction to the major principles of contemporary literary theory and criticism and to established methods and materials of literary research. Major theories include, structuralism, feminism, Queer Theory, postmodernism, marxism, post-colonial criticism, posthumanism, and eco-criticism. The objective of the course is to help you to develop your skills as a reader and critic.

Midterm Exam information:  
Midterm essay  of 1000-1,500 words. 35 percent (home assignment, file upload)

Final exams:
Exam (theory-focused) 25 percent (short answer questions onsite with inspera) 
Final Essay 40 percent (home assignment, file upload)

This course provides a survey of some of the best known and most influential literary texts in English from the early Middle Ages (Old English period) to the end of the Elizabethan era.

IMPORTANT: This course is the first half of ENS303G British Literature II (which has now been split into two separate courses, one for each term of the academic year). Students who have completed ENS303G are not eligible to take this course.

This course in an introduction to cognitive linguistics and literary studies. The goal is is to make students acquainted with theoretical approaches assuming that human language and human thought in general are characterized by the same cognitive processes. There will be an emphasis on how linguistics and literary analysis can be integrated, e.g. given recent theories on metaphors. Finally, in-class discussions between the instructor and the students will play an important role in this course, e.g. on isses such as the validity of the division of linguistics and literary studies into countless sub-disciplines.

Jane Austen may be a recognizable staple of classic English literature in the 21^st century, but her mass popularity is a fairly recent development. This course will go back to Austen’s beginnings and investigate her as a female pioneer that she was, offering new, refreshing insight into some of her most beloved works, and reframing her importance through a feminist lens. The critical analysis will focus primarily on the late 20^th/early 21^st century reception and (re)framing of Austen’s work; we will investigate Austen’s role in the creation of the chick-lit and rom-com genres, and her overall influence on modern (post-) feminist literature.

The course explores how the Tudors and the Tudor period are presented in contemporary (mainly 21st century) literature and film, especially through portrayals of Henry VIII and his daughter Elizabeth I, but other people connected to them will also be studied as appropriate. Students read selected literary works on the life and reign of Henry VIII and Elizabeth I and watch films and TV series where Tudor monarchs are central and/or minor characters. Emphasis is placed on debates concerning the current infatuation with the Tudors as expressed through popular culture and the social media. Furthermore, those aspects of historical, literary and cultural interpretations of the Tudors’ role in history that are most pertinent to contemporary concerns are discussed.

A historical overview of principles, methods, and best practices of English language teaching. Introduction to the national curriculum of English, teaching materials, and resources. Focus on student-centered teaching, learner autonomy, teacher reflection, and developing a philosophy of teaching.

The National Curriculum Guide will be read and analyzed. Students will have an opportunity to observe and evaluate recorded teaching and they will practice reflecting on their own ideas about teaching and experience of language learning. 

Course work demands active participation and consists of reading, written assignments, discussion, group and individual work, and microteaching.

This course  draws on seminal and current research about effective teaching and learning of English as a foreign language.  Students will come to understand important theories that underpin EFL learning and second language acquisition, especially as it concerns teaching the four language skills (listening, speaking, reading, and writing). This is accomplished by considering relevant concepts related to language acquisition, learner autonomy, and language assessment in a self- reflective and analytical way. Essentially, this course examines the why behind language teaching through student‐led and teacher-supported seminars. It culminates in a research project considering how to practically apply this knowledge to EFL teaching in a way that benefits both teachers and learners.

Course work demands active participation and consists of reading, lectures, face-to-face and online discussions, student-driven presentations and a research project.

The American Dream stands at the forefront of the U.S. national ethos, influencing countless strategies for constructing American identity. On the one hand, the American Dream is an implement of sociopolitical hegemony. On the other hand, it is also structured around a series of intertwined narratives built atop quintessentially American ideals, such as democracy, growth and expansion, amelioration, and egalitarianism.

But what constitutes the actualization of the American Dream? How do the promises and pressures that accrue around it shape the individual’s relationship to material society? What kind of persona stands at the centre of the rags-to-riches story? What does it mean to “make it” in contemporary America? This course will open up these questions through analyses of twentieth- and twenty-first-century literary works that deal centrally with the topic of the American Dream. The trajectory of the course will take us from foundational works in twentieth-century American Dream narratives to the postwar context and the counterculture movement and, from there, to the 1990s and the new millennium.

We will consider how fiction complicates and undermines mainstream narratives that promote standardized notions of success. We will also consider some of the issues that demarcate the limits of the American Dream, including suburban malaise, mass consumerism, violence, and race, gender, and class. Through our explorations of a diverse range of modern and contemporary prose fiction as well as some select films, we will chart a trajectory in the development, revision, and reformulation of the American Dream.

The course offers an in-depth study of John Milton’s great epic Paradise Lost (1667-1674) in its poetic, intellectual, historical, and theological complexity. Our conversations about the poem will be guided by three interrelated concerns. We will pay nuanced attention to the form of Milton’s text: his experimentation with prosody, the artistry of his language, the intricacy of his rhetorical designs, his dazzling structures of imagery, the interweaving of narrative voices and modes. We will also be interested in Milton’s radical intervention in the genre of epic poetry and his ongoing dialogue with Homer, Virgil, Tasso, Ariosto, Spenser, and others. Finally, to facilitate our interpretation of Paradise Lost we will consider the text’s engagements with multifarious cultural, political, social, and religious contexts of seventeenth-century England. We will engage with a host of issues, from book history and Renaissance theories of the imagination to economy and warfare, from law and gender to colonialism and empire, from sexuality and theology to new science and philosophy.

This course provides a survey of some of the best known and most influential poetry and prose in English from the early 17^th to the late 18^th century.

This course will consider the relation between the meaning of a verb and the syntactic patterns with which it is associated. For instance, although both the verb "break" and "hit" can appear as transitive verbs, as in (1) and (2), only "break" can appear as an intransitive, as shown in (3) and (4). 1. John broke the vase. 2. John hit the vase. 3. The vase broke. 4. *The vase hit. This course explores the question of whether there are semantic factors which condition the grammatical patterns with which verbs are associated and to what extent.

This course introduces students to the rich, versatile, and enthralling world of English poetry written during the Renaissance. We will read formally dexterous and imaginatively daring works by major poets of the age (Sidney, Spenser, Shakespeare, Donne), as well as minor and obscure texts, in a wide range of genres (sonnet, epyllion, pastoral, romance, devotional lyrics, psalm paraphrases, satire and others). Focusing on the relationship between experimental poetic form and radical forms of embodiment, sexuality, passion, corporeal metamorphosis, and racial mattering, we will consider such concerns and ideologies as the material conditions of writing and reading, Petrarchan and Ovidian legacies of desire, medical theories, sacramental physics, relationship between body and environment, the nature of language, and status and rank.

This course introduces students to the early writings of James Joyce. Our primary focus will be the stories in Dubliners, and the novel A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man. The course will combine close analyses of the works with discussions of Joyce’s historical, literary, and cultural context.

Utilizing cartoons, jokes and comedy sketches to illustrate linguistic concepts, this course seeks to facilitate the understanding of these concepts. The course covers all the basic topics relating to the study of human language, including communication systems, sounds, words, phrases, sentences, language use, discourse, child language acquisition, and language variation and change. The unsual feature of this course is the use examples of humor, jokes and irony, which are often based on ambiguity. The goal is to make it easier to appreciate ambiguous information so common in language.

BA essay in English, 10 ECTS.

A formal departmental approval is required for a 20 credit essay (submission of a detailed proposal, a preliminary bibliography and the support of a supervisor, to the Chair of the English Department for voting at the next Department meeting).

The BA essay is no longer a requirement to complete the BA, though it is a requirement for entering the masters programme.

This course provides an overview of bilingualism. Through cooperative and individual learning and a variety of delivery modes, students will explore current issues in the learning and using of multiple languages by individuals and groups. This includes the effect of demographic changes on language learning, educational achievement and social stratification by individuals and groups in multilingual societies, as well as, the socio-political and individual interactional implications of foreign language learning, bilingualism and diglossia in communities around the world.

This course presents an overview of the history, literature, language and culture of the Celts over the centuries. Students will get an introduction to the areas settled by Celts in the British Isles (Ireland, Wales and Scotland) and on the European continent (e.g. Brittany), and the past migrations of Celtic-speaking peoples. An outline will be given of the Irish, Welsh and Scottish Gaelic languages and literatures, from the earliest times to the present. Throughout, there will be an emphasis on the influence of Celtic on various aspects of English language and culture, and vice versa. No knowledge of Celtic languages is required.

This course will study Geoffrey Chaucer’s masterpiece, The Canterbury Tales, which we will read in its original Middle English. Chaucer’s poem was written in the late fourteenth century, and it offers a unique opportunity to learn about late medieval English literature, culture, and society. The most striking feature of The Canterbury Tales is its diversity: the poem assimilates a large number of literary forms, genres, and styles (romance, fabliau, tragedy, comedy, saint’s life, allegory, parody) and concerns itself with a multitude of issues, from chivalry, religion, and law to excrement, plague, and money. We will examine Chaucer’s poem both in its historical and cultural context and from the point of view of its literary art.

The course will look in depth at English teaching methods and principles aimed at young learners. Topics include characteristics of young learners, National Curriculum objectives, and teaching and assessment methods, especially those related to listening, speaking, reading, writing, games, songs and creative activities. Students will receive training in lesson planning and integrating English teaching with other subjects.
Course work consists of reading, oral and written assignments, discussions, group work and active participation. The course includes a teaching practice component at primary or middle school levels consisting of classroom observation, practice teaching and a written report. Student teachers will gain experience in creating lessons and activities that take into account young children’s needs and abilities. Students who are exempt from teaching practice (e.g. BA students) will complete an alternative assignment.

Optional course for students of the Faculty of Languages and Cultures, in their 2nd or 3rd year of the BA-programme. The students read and study a well-known play that has been translated into several languages. The students will read the text in the target language. The students choose scenes from the play for the production.

Teachers from the target languages will assist the students with pronunciation.

Maximum number of students in this course is 15.

This course in an introduction to cognitive linguistics and literary studies. The goal is is to make students acquainted with theoretical approaches assuming that human language and human thought in general are characterized by the same cognitive processes. There will be an emphasis on how linguistics and literary analysis can be integrated, e.g. given recent theories on metaphors. Finally, in-class discussions between the instructor and the students will play an important role in this course, e.g. on isses such as the validity of the division of linguistics and literary studies into countless sub-disciplines.

Jane Austen may be a recognizable staple of classic English literature in the 21^st century, but her mass popularity is a fairly recent development. This course will go back to Austen’s beginnings and investigate her as a female pioneer that she was, offering new, refreshing insight into some of her most beloved works, and reframing her importance through a feminist lens. The critical analysis will focus primarily on the late 20^th/early 21^st century reception and (re)framing of Austen’s work; we will investigate Austen’s role in the creation of the chick-lit and rom-com genres, and her overall influence on modern (post-) feminist literature.

The course explores how the Tudors and the Tudor period are presented in contemporary (mainly 21st century) literature and film, especially through portrayals of Henry VIII and his daughter Elizabeth I, but other people connected to them will also be studied as appropriate. Students read selected literary works on the life and reign of Henry VIII and Elizabeth I and watch films and TV series where Tudor monarchs are central and/or minor characters. Emphasis is placed on debates concerning the current infatuation with the Tudors as expressed through popular culture and the social media. Furthermore, those aspects of historical, literary and cultural interpretations of the Tudors’ role in history that are most pertinent to contemporary concerns are discussed.

A historical overview of principles, methods, and best practices of English language teaching. Introduction to the national curriculum of English, teaching materials, and resources. Focus on student-centered teaching, learner autonomy, teacher reflection, and developing a philosophy of teaching.

The National Curriculum Guide will be read and analyzed. Students will have an opportunity to observe and evaluate recorded teaching and they will practice reflecting on their own ideas about teaching and experience of language learning. 

Course work demands active participation and consists of reading, written assignments, discussion, group and individual work, and microteaching.

This course  draws on seminal and current research about effective teaching and learning of English as a foreign language.  Students will come to understand important theories that underpin EFL learning and second language acquisition, especially as it concerns teaching the four language skills (listening, speaking, reading, and writing). This is accomplished by considering relevant concepts related to language acquisition, learner autonomy, and language assessment in a self- reflective and analytical way. Essentially, this course examines the why behind language teaching through student‐led and teacher-supported seminars. It culminates in a research project considering how to practically apply this knowledge to EFL teaching in a way that benefits both teachers and learners.

Course work demands active participation and consists of reading, lectures, face-to-face and online discussions, student-driven presentations and a research project.

The American Dream stands at the forefront of the U.S. national ethos, influencing countless strategies for constructing American identity. On the one hand, the American Dream is an implement of sociopolitical hegemony. On the other hand, it is also structured around a series of intertwined narratives built atop quintessentially American ideals, such as democracy, growth and expansion, amelioration, and egalitarianism.

But what constitutes the actualization of the American Dream? How do the promises and pressures that accrue around it shape the individual’s relationship to material society? What kind of persona stands at the centre of the rags-to-riches story? What does it mean to “make it” in contemporary America? This course will open up these questions through analyses of twentieth- and twenty-first-century literary works that deal centrally with the topic of the American Dream. The trajectory of the course will take us from foundational works in twentieth-century American Dream narratives to the postwar context and the counterculture movement and, from there, to the 1990s and the new millennium.

We will consider how fiction complicates and undermines mainstream narratives that promote standardized notions of success. We will also consider some of the issues that demarcate the limits of the American Dream, including suburban malaise, mass consumerism, violence, and race, gender, and class. Through our explorations of a diverse range of modern and contemporary prose fiction as well as some select films, we will chart a trajectory in the development, revision, and reformulation of the American Dream.

The course offers an in-depth study of John Milton’s great epic Paradise Lost (1667-1674) in its poetic, intellectual, historical, and theological complexity. Our conversations about the poem will be guided by three interrelated concerns. We will pay nuanced attention to the form of Milton’s text: his experimentation with prosody, the artistry of his language, the intricacy of his rhetorical designs, his dazzling structures of imagery, the interweaving of narrative voices and modes. We will also be interested in Milton’s radical intervention in the genre of epic poetry and his ongoing dialogue with Homer, Virgil, Tasso, Ariosto, Spenser, and others. Finally, to facilitate our interpretation of Paradise Lost we will consider the text’s engagements with multifarious cultural, political, social, and religious contexts of seventeenth-century England. We will engage with a host of issues, from book history and Renaissance theories of the imagination to economy and warfare, from law and gender to colonialism and empire, from sexuality and theology to new science and philosophy.

BA essay. A formal departmental approval is required for a 20 credit essay (submission of a detailed proposal, a preliminary bibliography and the support of a supervisor, to the Chair of the English Department for voting at the next Department meeting).

The BA essay is no longer a requirement to complete the BA, though it is a requirement for entering the masters programme.

This course covers the nature of vocabulary acquisition: how vocabulary develops, is learned and taught. Various factors will be analyzed in detail, including, the role of pronunciation, word frequency, various learning strategies for vocabulary growth and considerable attention will be drawn to current research methodology in Vocabulary Acquisition. Students will review research as well as conduct a mini study.

Taught on Tuesdays and Thursdays at 10 am (2. and 3. year students only)

What does Sunset Boulevard, double entendres, self-censorship, the Coen Brothers, and #metoo have in common? They all reveal that Hollywood is not quite the fantasy it poses to be.

A very real place and industry within Los Angeles, California, Hollywood has led in film production since the beginning of narrative film, yet its magic is created within the bland and sometimes devastating concrete lots, sound stages and offices of producers and agents.

This course aims to explore the reality of Hollywood and how it has functioned over time, to examine and critique its presentation and reputation through film and media. The course includes critical viewings of films that are based on both the myth and reality of Hollywood as well as critical readings on historical context, news/gossip, and the history of American narrative film.

Only 35 seats are available for ENS352M. Once the course is filled please contact Nikkita (nhp1@hi.is) to be added onto a waiting list in case a spot opens up.

This course provides an overview of different theoretical ways to approach videogames. Individual learning will be fostered through selected texts, in-class and online discussion, and the practical application of the theories studied. Students will explore current issues in game studies from the perspective of the humanities and the use of narratology and other literary theories for the scholarly study of videogames as texts.

You are the perfect candidate if you have a burning desire to write fiction or poetry, and enjoy reading good books.

Aims include:

1. To sharpen awareness and improve skills through exercises in writing, and especially through revision

2. To provide practical criticism of work-in-progress in a workshop setting, along with advice about revisions and improvisation.

In addition to invoking the muse, students will learn practical writing skills such as organization, structure, characterization and dialogue. The course will also involve the examination of the work of key novel and short story writers, and poets. Throughout the course, students will develop their own work as well as improving their critical skills. Students will complete a short story or a small collection of poems by the end of the course.

Attendance requirement is 100% - you must attend one 1-hour presentation and one 2-hour workshop session per week. Not suitable for distance students.

Students who fulfil the prerequisites will be signed up. Sign up is on first come first served bases and there are 6 seats reserved for MA students and 6 seats reserved for BA students. Any unfilled seats for the course on August 30th will be offered to students on the waiting list. 

This course will consider the relation between the meaning of a verb and the syntactic patterns with which it is associated. For instance, although both the verb "break" and "hit" can appear as transitive verbs, as in (1) and (2), only "break" can appear as an intransitive, as shown in (3) and (4). 1. John broke the vase. 2. John hit the vase. 3. The vase broke. 4. *The vase hit. This course explores the question of whether there are semantic factors which condition the grammatical patterns with which verbs are associated and to what extent.

This course introduces students to the rich, versatile, and enthralling world of English poetry written during the Renaissance. We will read formally dexterous and imaginatively daring works by major poets of the age (Sidney, Spenser, Shakespeare, Donne), as well as minor and obscure texts, in a wide range of genres (sonnet, epyllion, pastoral, romance, devotional lyrics, psalm paraphrases, satire and others). Focusing on the relationship between experimental poetic form and radical forms of embodiment, sexuality, passion, corporeal metamorphosis, and racial mattering, we will consider such concerns and ideologies as the material conditions of writing and reading, Petrarchan and Ovidian legacies of desire, medical theories, sacramental physics, relationship between body and environment, the nature of language, and status and rank.

This course introduces students to the early writings of James Joyce. Our primary focus will be the stories in Dubliners, and the novel A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man. The course will combine close analyses of the works with discussions of Joyce’s historical, literary, and cultural context.

Utilizing cartoons, jokes and comedy sketches to illustrate linguistic concepts, this course seeks to facilitate the understanding of these concepts. The course covers all the basic topics relating to the study of human language, including communication systems, sounds, words, phrases, sentences, language use, discourse, child language acquisition, and language variation and change. The unsual feature of this course is the use examples of humor, jokes and irony, which are often based on ambiguity. The goal is to make it easier to appreciate ambiguous information so common in language.

BA essay in English, 10 ECTS.

A formal departmental approval is required for a 20 credit essay (submission of a detailed proposal, a preliminary bibliography and the support of a supervisor, to the Chair of the English Department for voting at the next Department meeting).

The BA essay is no longer a requirement to complete the BA, though it is a requirement for entering the masters programme.

This course provides an overview of bilingualism. Through cooperative and individual learning and a variety of delivery modes, students will explore current issues in the learning and using of multiple languages by individuals and groups. This includes the effect of demographic changes on language learning, educational achievement and social stratification by individuals and groups in multilingual societies, as well as, the socio-political and individual interactional implications of foreign language learning, bilingualism and diglossia in communities around the world.

This course presents an overview of the history, literature, language and culture of the Celts over the centuries. Students will get an introduction to the areas settled by Celts in the British Isles (Ireland, Wales and Scotland) and on the European continent (e.g. Brittany), and the past migrations of Celtic-speaking peoples. An outline will be given of the Irish, Welsh and Scottish Gaelic languages and literatures, from the earliest times to the present. Throughout, there will be an emphasis on the influence of Celtic on various aspects of English language and culture, and vice versa. No knowledge of Celtic languages is required.

This course will study Geoffrey Chaucer’s masterpiece, The Canterbury Tales, which we will read in its original Middle English. Chaucer’s poem was written in the late fourteenth century, and it offers a unique opportunity to learn about late medieval English literature, culture, and society. The most striking feature of The Canterbury Tales is its diversity: the poem assimilates a large number of literary forms, genres, and styles (romance, fabliau, tragedy, comedy, saint’s life, allegory, parody) and concerns itself with a multitude of issues, from chivalry, religion, and law to excrement, plague, and money. We will examine Chaucer’s poem both in its historical and cultural context and from the point of view of its literary art.

The course will look in depth at English teaching methods and principles aimed at young learners. Topics include characteristics of young learners, National Curriculum objectives, and teaching and assessment methods, especially those related to listening, speaking, reading, writing, games, songs and creative activities. Students will receive training in lesson planning and integrating English teaching with other subjects.
Course work consists of reading, oral and written assignments, discussions, group work and active participation. The course includes a teaching practice component at primary or middle school levels consisting of classroom observation, practice teaching and a written report. Student teachers will gain experience in creating lessons and activities that take into account young children’s needs and abilities. Students who are exempt from teaching practice (e.g. BA students) will complete an alternative assignment.

Optional course for students of the Faculty of Languages and Cultures, in their 2nd or 3rd year of the BA-programme. The students read and study a well-known play that has been translated into several languages. The students will read the text in the target language. The students choose scenes from the play for the production.

Teachers from the target languages will assist the students with pronunciation.

Maximum number of students in this course is 15.

As the internet has become an ever greater presence in our lives, it has become necessary to understand how this global connectivity has affected our society and culture. This course seeks to give students an understanding of their online lives and the forces that move them when they engage with social media. We will examine how the media has adapted to the online world, and how these two avenues of information shape each other. Students will be expected to reflect on their relationship with social media, and discuss their experiences in the digital landscape and their thoughts on the role social media plays in society. In this course, we will engage with material that examines the formation of social media, the dissemination of information across media, human behaviors both on-and offline, and the influence of social media on social and political movements. Students will learn to engage critically with online sources and gain insight into the internet as a field of academic research. They will learn about communication and sociological theories, critical media theory, and theories on moral panics, online radicalisation and internet antagonism. We will explore the often hidden parts of the online world, deeply embedded in pop culture, disinformation and conspiratorial thinking.

Deborah Eisenberg’s post-9/11 short story “Twilight of the Superheroes” opens with an imaginary conversation between the protagonist and his hypothetical future grandchildren. He recounts the story of Y2K, “The year two-thousand! The new millennium!” when some were convinced the world would end. Ultimately, nothing happened; “It was a miracle. Over the face of the earth, from east to west and back again, nothing catastrophic happened at all” (38). That “miracle” was short-lived. The 21st century has been one of crisis and catastrophe, especially in the United States. In this course, students will read narratives that engage with contemporary crises, particularly 9/11, Hurricane Katrina, the 2008 financial collapse, racially motivated violence against Black people, and the Covid-19 pandemic. The course uses literature to emphasize the web of connections linking these crises to one another—for instance, how post-9/11 racial profiling impacted rescue efforts during Hurricane Katrina, and how in turn Hurricane Katrina underscored systemic racial inequalities that came to a head during the Black Lives Matter movement.  Readings will include works by Jonathan Safran Foer, Khaled Hosseini, Dave Eggers, Jesmyn Ward, Michael Lewis, Celeste Ng, Ta-Nehisi Coates, Brit Bennett, and Gary Shteyngart, among others. Students will study and utilize relevant literary theory, including trauma theory, feminist theory, critical race theory, postmodernism, cultural studies, and new sincerity. 

This course seeks to investigate the enigmatic and charismatic figure of the detective in detective fiction as well as some of the common tropes in literary works of this kind. Often eccentric and wonderfully witty, the character of the professional or amateur sleuth is one that has charmed and delighted readers since its invention. The detective, along with the subgenre named after this persona, has attracted legions of fans and enthusiasts who are drawn to mysteries and who are eager to solve puzzles or riddles, alongside their favourite private investigator.

Frequently followed by a well-meaning but clueless sidekick, the detective imparts his knowledge and findings to his assistant and to the audience alike, shedding light on the darkest and most baffling cases, much to the awe and excitement of those in his midst.

This course is a beginner’s course in Latin. No prior knowledge of Latin is assumed at the outset. It introduces the basics of Latin grammar and syntax. Chosen passages will be read in Latin, translated and thoroughly analysed. Teaching consists of 24 lectures on particular aspects of the Latin language and assigned readings.

This course is taught in Icelandic but students can get permission of the instructor to complete assignments and exams in English.

This course is a beginner’s course in Ancient Greek. It introduces the basics of grammar and syntax of the Attic dialect. No prior knowledge of Greek is assumed at the outset. Reading knowledge of Ancient Greek will be prioritized and chosen passages will be read in Greek, translated and thoroughly analysed. Teaching consists of both lectures on particular aspects of the Greek language and assigned readings. It is essential that students read the assigned materials before each lecture.

This course is taught in Icelandic but students can get permission of the instructor to complete assignments and exams in English.

Language can be considered a powerful tool for conveying culture and the classroom can be considered a critical social space that both shapes and influences the attitudes, values, and learning processes of teachers and students. Primary goals of multicultural education are to:

• foster human rights, promote social justice, and support educational equity
• acknowledge the value of cultural diversity and use it as a tool to support learning
• enhance respect for cultural differences (linguistic, ethnic, spiritual, gender and sexual orientation, socio-economic, etc.) and promote understanding of varying life choices and life experiences

The course includes 2credits of practice teaching. Students receive practice in lesson planning and use of a variety of activities and materials which take into account students’ diverse needs and backgrounds. 

The students will develop competencies in the methodology of teaching English to students at lower secondary level based on the objectives of the National Curriculum for English. They will get practice in lesson planning, use of a variety of activities and materials, such as literature and film, and lesson evaluation. The course includes 3 credits of practice teaching. Students who are exempt from teaching practice (for example BA students) will do alternative assignments.

The course is an introductory course in the Faculty of Languages and Cultures. Its aims and purpose include an introduction of basic concepts and terminology in the field, exploration of critical thinking to increase reading comprehension of academic texts, implementation of practical learning practices and academic procedures to facilitate successful academic studies, discussion on plagiarism and academic integrity, evaluation of academic standards, etc. Students receive practical training in critical evaluation of academic texts, basic argumentation analysis, identification of rhetorical patterns and text structure in various text types, review of acceptable references, and an introduction to analytical reading. Furthermore, students will gain insight into the importance of academic literacy to enhance understanding and writing of academic papers, presentation of research findings, etc.

The course is taught in English and is intended for students in:

1. The English BA program.
2.  Students of foreign languages (other than English)

 *Those students that need ECT credits as a result of changes in the MOM courses, as MOM102G used to be a 5-credit course, need to add an individual assignment (MOM001G, 1 ECT) within the MOM102G course.

• This individual assignment is only intended for students who finished MOM202G (before the school year 2024-2025) and are now enrolled in MOM102G, and have thus only gained 9 credits in the two mandatory MOM courses.
• Students who intend to increase their credits with a 6 ECT course, within their departments, are free to do so – and do thus not take this additional individual assignment (in MOM102G).

To sign up for the individual project you must talk to the teacher of MOM102G.

This course is the first of two introductory courses in linguistics.  It addresses such questions as: what kinds of sounds do humans make when using spoken language? How are those sounds organised within the sound system of a language? What is a word? If a sign is a combination of a form with a meaning, are words linguistic signs? Where do words come from? How are words put together?

The focus of the course is on English, though other languages will be discussed as relevant.

This course offers a survey of important domains of linguistics, especially those which emphasise the relation of human language to man in a broader context: sociolinguistics, dialect variation, first language acquisition, second language acquisition, language and the brain, historical comparative linguistics, and animal communication.  The focus of the course is on English and the course introduces students of English to areas of linguistics that they can explore in more detail later in their studies.

The aim of this course is to give students a good overview of the social and political backgrounds to Great Britain. In the process of doing that we will examine patterns of British culture, political and social institutions and ethnic minority groups. Assessment: a 2 hour final exam.

This is a survey course of British Literature from the beginnings of Romanticism to the early twentieth century. The required reading includes some poetry, a play, short stories, novellas, and a novel. Students will read and analyze works by major Romantics (including Wordsworth, Byron, Shelley, and Keats), Victorians (Tennyson, Browning, Arnold, Gaskell, and Wilde) and modern authors (Yeats and Joyce). They will also be introduced to various literary terms and themes.

In a world increasingly awash in fake news, AI-generated deep fakes and denialism of scientific and historical facts, our ability to interpret politics, culture and society with critical discernment is more important than ever. 

Focusing on culture and linguistics, this course aims to give you the analytical tools you need as a student and citizen to critically interpret texts, visual culture and language. 

You will train your hermeneutical skills on short narratives, photographs and various characteristics of language, with help from selected readings in literary theory, cultural studies, visual culture(s) and linguistics. 

The emphasis in the class will be on critical thinking and group discussion,  allowing you to share your analytical discoveries with your fellow students and build interpretative communities.

Modules:

1. Deciphering texts
2. Understanding visual cultures
3. Figuring out language

An overview of the history and development of the English language.

This course is the second of two introductory courses in linguistics. It addresses such questions as: how are words put together to form sentences? how is the form of words affected by their place in a sentence? what other kinds of grammatical information influence the shape and use of words in a sentence? how are sentences related to each other? how can sentences be combined to form larger sentences? how do separate sentences relate to each other when strung together? what do words mean? what do sentences mean? what is discourse meaning?

The focus of the course is on English, though other languages will be discussed as relevant.

The ability to write well in English is a prerequisite for all other courses in the English department. The main aim of this course is to equip students to write in English for academic purposes. Course work will involve writing practice and composing essays based on primary and secondary research. There will be a strong emphasis on the organization of ideas as well as on style. The main goal is for students to gain an understanding of the writing process and develop their own voice in writing.

• This course aims at revisiting decisive moments of the history of the United States of America, from the early settlement to the present.
• Particular attention will be dedicated to the events surrounding the Independence of the country, the American Civil War and ensuing Reconstruction, as well as offering a broad overview of the 20^th and early 21^st centuries.
• There will also be an emphasis on the experiences of minorities and disenfranchised collectives (Native Americans, African Americans, Latinos, and Asian Americans, the LGBTQ community, as well as the rights of women) in the history of the United States, from the settlement to present.

Authors representative of nineteenth-century American Literature are read in historical context.

“Literature and Essay Writing” will expose students to exemplary texts in English across a range of historical periods and genres. It will prompt students to engage in imaginative and critical dialogues with works of literature  foregrounding close reading skills, poetic and critical thinking, scholarly and creative journaling, and analytical and research essay writing skills. The course is designed to increase proficiency in the generation and organization of ideas, in editing and research skills, and in the use of the MLA style of citation.

This course will expand student's capacity to enjoy, understand and write about language and linguistics. The aim of the module is to develop students' proficiency in process writing in English for academic purposes, with special attention given to increasing proficiency in organization, writing and revising, and on students developing their own voice in expository writing. Course work will include writing assignments and essays, as well as reading a variety of texts for critical reflection and analysis. Individual and peer feedback will be a major feature of this module. The course is also designed to strengthen skills in research and the use of APA style.

This course provides an introduction to the major principles of contemporary literary theory and criticism and to established methods and materials of literary research. Major theories include, structuralism, feminism, Queer Theory, postmodernism, marxism, post-colonial criticism, posthumanism, and eco-criticism. The objective of the course is to help you to develop your skills as a reader and critic.

Midterm Exam information:  
Midterm essay  of 1000-1,500 words. 35 percent (home assignment, file upload)

Final exams:
Exam (theory-focused) 25 percent (short answer questions onsite with inspera) 
Final Essay 40 percent (home assignment, file upload)

This course provides a survey of some of the best known and most influential literary texts in English from the early Middle Ages (Old English period) to the end of the Elizabethan era.

IMPORTANT: This course is the first half of ENS303G British Literature II (which has now been split into two separate courses, one for each term of the academic year). Students who have completed ENS303G are not eligible to take this course.

This course in an introduction to cognitive linguistics and literary studies. The goal is is to make students acquainted with theoretical approaches assuming that human language and human thought in general are characterized by the same cognitive processes. There will be an emphasis on how linguistics and literary analysis can be integrated, e.g. given recent theories on metaphors. Finally, in-class discussions between the instructor and the students will play an important role in this course, e.g. on isses such as the validity of the division of linguistics and literary studies into countless sub-disciplines.

Jane Austen may be a recognizable staple of classic English literature in the 21^st century, but her mass popularity is a fairly recent development. This course will go back to Austen’s beginnings and investigate her as a female pioneer that she was, offering new, refreshing insight into some of her most beloved works, and reframing her importance through a feminist lens. The critical analysis will focus primarily on the late 20^th/early 21^st century reception and (re)framing of Austen’s work; we will investigate Austen’s role in the creation of the chick-lit and rom-com genres, and her overall influence on modern (post-) feminist literature.

The course explores how the Tudors and the Tudor period are presented in contemporary (mainly 21st century) literature and film, especially through portrayals of Henry VIII and his daughter Elizabeth I, but other people connected to them will also be studied as appropriate. Students read selected literary works on the life and reign of Henry VIII and Elizabeth I and watch films and TV series where Tudor monarchs are central and/or minor characters. Emphasis is placed on debates concerning the current infatuation with the Tudors as expressed through popular culture and the social media. Furthermore, those aspects of historical, literary and cultural interpretations of the Tudors’ role in history that are most pertinent to contemporary concerns are discussed.

A historical overview of principles, methods, and best practices of English language teaching. Introduction to the national curriculum of English, teaching materials, and resources. Focus on student-centered teaching, learner autonomy, teacher reflection, and developing a philosophy of teaching.

The National Curriculum Guide will be read and analyzed. Students will have an opportunity to observe and evaluate recorded teaching and they will practice reflecting on their own ideas about teaching and experience of language learning. 

Course work demands active participation and consists of reading, written assignments, discussion, group and individual work, and microteaching.

This course  draws on seminal and current research about effective teaching and learning of English as a foreign language.  Students will come to understand important theories that underpin EFL learning and second language acquisition, especially as it concerns teaching the four language skills (listening, speaking, reading, and writing). This is accomplished by considering relevant concepts related to language acquisition, learner autonomy, and language assessment in a self- reflective and analytical way. Essentially, this course examines the why behind language teaching through student‐led and teacher-supported seminars. It culminates in a research project considering how to practically apply this knowledge to EFL teaching in a way that benefits both teachers and learners.

Course work demands active participation and consists of reading, lectures, face-to-face and online discussions, student-driven presentations and a research project.

The American Dream stands at the forefront of the U.S. national ethos, influencing countless strategies for constructing American identity. On the one hand, the American Dream is an implement of sociopolitical hegemony. On the other hand, it is also structured around a series of intertwined narratives built atop quintessentially American ideals, such as democracy, growth and expansion, amelioration, and egalitarianism.

But what constitutes the actualization of the American Dream? How do the promises and pressures that accrue around it shape the individual’s relationship to material society? What kind of persona stands at the centre of the rags-to-riches story? What does it mean to “make it” in contemporary America? This course will open up these questions through analyses of twentieth- and twenty-first-century literary works that deal centrally with the topic of the American Dream. The trajectory of the course will take us from foundational works in twentieth-century American Dream narratives to the postwar context and the counterculture movement and, from there, to the 1990s and the new millennium.

We will consider how fiction complicates and undermines mainstream narratives that promote standardized notions of success. We will also consider some of the issues that demarcate the limits of the American Dream, including suburban malaise, mass consumerism, violence, and race, gender, and class. Through our explorations of a diverse range of modern and contemporary prose fiction as well as some select films, we will chart a trajectory in the development, revision, and reformulation of the American Dream.

The course offers an in-depth study of John Milton’s great epic Paradise Lost (1667-1674) in its poetic, intellectual, historical, and theological complexity. Our conversations about the poem will be guided by three interrelated concerns. We will pay nuanced attention to the form of Milton’s text: his experimentation with prosody, the artistry of his language, the intricacy of his rhetorical designs, his dazzling structures of imagery, the interweaving of narrative voices and modes. We will also be interested in Milton’s radical intervention in the genre of epic poetry and his ongoing dialogue with Homer, Virgil, Tasso, Ariosto, Spenser, and others. Finally, to facilitate our interpretation of Paradise Lost we will consider the text’s engagements with multifarious cultural, political, social, and religious contexts of seventeenth-century England. We will engage with a host of issues, from book history and Renaissance theories of the imagination to economy and warfare, from law and gender to colonialism and empire, from sexuality and theology to new science and philosophy.

This course provides a survey of some of the best known and most influential poetry and prose in English from the early 17^th to the late 18^th century.

This course will consider the relation between the meaning of a verb and the syntactic patterns with which it is associated. For instance, although both the verb "break" and "hit" can appear as transitive verbs, as in (1) and (2), only "break" can appear as an intransitive, as shown in (3) and (4). 1. John broke the vase. 2. John hit the vase. 3. The vase broke. 4. *The vase hit. This course explores the question of whether there are semantic factors which condition the grammatical patterns with which verbs are associated and to what extent.

This course introduces students to the rich, versatile, and enthralling world of English poetry written during the Renaissance. We will read formally dexterous and imaginatively daring works by major poets of the age (Sidney, Spenser, Shakespeare, Donne), as well as minor and obscure texts, in a wide range of genres (sonnet, epyllion, pastoral, romance, devotional lyrics, psalm paraphrases, satire and others). Focusing on the relationship between experimental poetic form and radical forms of embodiment, sexuality, passion, corporeal metamorphosis, and racial mattering, we will consider such concerns and ideologies as the material conditions of writing and reading, Petrarchan and Ovidian legacies of desire, medical theories, sacramental physics, relationship between body and environment, the nature of language, and status and rank.

This course introduces students to the early writings of James Joyce. Our primary focus will be the stories in Dubliners, and the novel A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man. The course will combine close analyses of the works with discussions of Joyce’s historical, literary, and cultural context.

Utilizing cartoons, jokes and comedy sketches to illustrate linguistic concepts, this course seeks to facilitate the understanding of these concepts. The course covers all the basic topics relating to the study of human language, including communication systems, sounds, words, phrases, sentences, language use, discourse, child language acquisition, and language variation and change. The unsual feature of this course is the use examples of humor, jokes and irony, which are often based on ambiguity. The goal is to make it easier to appreciate ambiguous information so common in language.

BA essay in English, 10 ECTS.

A formal departmental approval is required for a 20 credit essay (submission of a detailed proposal, a preliminary bibliography and the support of a supervisor, to the Chair of the English Department for voting at the next Department meeting).

The BA essay is no longer a requirement to complete the BA, though it is a requirement for entering the masters programme.

This course provides an overview of bilingualism. Through cooperative and individual learning and a variety of delivery modes, students will explore current issues in the learning and using of multiple languages by individuals and groups. This includes the effect of demographic changes on language learning, educational achievement and social stratification by individuals and groups in multilingual societies, as well as, the socio-political and individual interactional implications of foreign language learning, bilingualism and diglossia in communities around the world.

This course presents an overview of the history, literature, language and culture of the Celts over the centuries. Students will get an introduction to the areas settled by Celts in the British Isles (Ireland, Wales and Scotland) and on the European continent (e.g. Brittany), and the past migrations of Celtic-speaking peoples. An outline will be given of the Irish, Welsh and Scottish Gaelic languages and literatures, from the earliest times to the present. Throughout, there will be an emphasis on the influence of Celtic on various aspects of English language and culture, and vice versa. No knowledge of Celtic languages is required.

This course will study Geoffrey Chaucer’s masterpiece, The Canterbury Tales, which we will read in its original Middle English. Chaucer’s poem was written in the late fourteenth century, and it offers a unique opportunity to learn about late medieval English literature, culture, and society. The most striking feature of The Canterbury Tales is its diversity: the poem assimilates a large number of literary forms, genres, and styles (romance, fabliau, tragedy, comedy, saint’s life, allegory, parody) and concerns itself with a multitude of issues, from chivalry, religion, and law to excrement, plague, and money. We will examine Chaucer’s poem both in its historical and cultural context and from the point of view of its literary art.

The course will look in depth at English teaching methods and principles aimed at young learners. Topics include characteristics of young learners, National Curriculum objectives, and teaching and assessment methods, especially those related to listening, speaking, reading, writing, games, songs and creative activities. Students will receive training in lesson planning and integrating English teaching with other subjects.
Course work consists of reading, oral and written assignments, discussions, group work and active participation. The course includes a teaching practice component at primary or middle school levels consisting of classroom observation, practice teaching and a written report. Student teachers will gain experience in creating lessons and activities that take into account young children’s needs and abilities. Students who are exempt from teaching practice (e.g. BA students) will complete an alternative assignment.

Optional course for students of the Faculty of Languages and Cultures, in their 2nd or 3rd year of the BA-programme. The students read and study a well-known play that has been translated into several languages. The students will read the text in the target language. The students choose scenes from the play for the production.

Teachers from the target languages will assist the students with pronunciation.

Maximum number of students in this course is 15.

This course in an introduction to cognitive linguistics and literary studies. The goal is is to make students acquainted with theoretical approaches assuming that human language and human thought in general are characterized by the same cognitive processes. There will be an emphasis on how linguistics and literary analysis can be integrated, e.g. given recent theories on metaphors. Finally, in-class discussions between the instructor and the students will play an important role in this course, e.g. on isses such as the validity of the division of linguistics and literary studies into countless sub-disciplines.

Jane Austen may be a recognizable staple of classic English literature in the 21^st century, but her mass popularity is a fairly recent development. This course will go back to Austen’s beginnings and investigate her as a female pioneer that she was, offering new, refreshing insight into some of her most beloved works, and reframing her importance through a feminist lens. The critical analysis will focus primarily on the late 20^th/early 21^st century reception and (re)framing of Austen’s work; we will investigate Austen’s role in the creation of the chick-lit and rom-com genres, and her overall influence on modern (post-) feminist literature.

The course explores how the Tudors and the Tudor period are presented in contemporary (mainly 21st century) literature and film, especially through portrayals of Henry VIII and his daughter Elizabeth I, but other people connected to them will also be studied as appropriate. Students read selected literary works on the life and reign of Henry VIII and Elizabeth I and watch films and TV series where Tudor monarchs are central and/or minor characters. Emphasis is placed on debates concerning the current infatuation with the Tudors as expressed through popular culture and the social media. Furthermore, those aspects of historical, literary and cultural interpretations of the Tudors’ role in history that are most pertinent to contemporary concerns are discussed.

A historical overview of principles, methods, and best practices of English language teaching. Introduction to the national curriculum of English, teaching materials, and resources. Focus on student-centered teaching, learner autonomy, teacher reflection, and developing a philosophy of teaching.

The National Curriculum Guide will be read and analyzed. Students will have an opportunity to observe and evaluate recorded teaching and they will practice reflecting on their own ideas about teaching and experience of language learning. 

Course work demands active participation and consists of reading, written assignments, discussion, group and individual work, and microteaching.

This course  draws on seminal and current research about effective teaching and learning of English as a foreign language.  Students will come to understand important theories that underpin EFL learning and second language acquisition, especially as it concerns teaching the four language skills (listening, speaking, reading, and writing). This is accomplished by considering relevant concepts related to language acquisition, learner autonomy, and language assessment in a self- reflective and analytical way. Essentially, this course examines the why behind language teaching through student‐led and teacher-supported seminars. It culminates in a research project considering how to practically apply this knowledge to EFL teaching in a way that benefits both teachers and learners.

Course work demands active participation and consists of reading, lectures, face-to-face and online discussions, student-driven presentations and a research project.

The American Dream stands at the forefront of the U.S. national ethos, influencing countless strategies for constructing American identity. On the one hand, the American Dream is an implement of sociopolitical hegemony. On the other hand, it is also structured around a series of intertwined narratives built atop quintessentially American ideals, such as democracy, growth and expansion, amelioration, and egalitarianism.

But what constitutes the actualization of the American Dream? How do the promises and pressures that accrue around it shape the individual’s relationship to material society? What kind of persona stands at the centre of the rags-to-riches story? What does it mean to “make it” in contemporary America? This course will open up these questions through analyses of twentieth- and twenty-first-century literary works that deal centrally with the topic of the American Dream. The trajectory of the course will take us from foundational works in twentieth-century American Dream narratives to the postwar context and the counterculture movement and, from there, to the 1990s and the new millennium.

We will consider how fiction complicates and undermines mainstream narratives that promote standardized notions of success. We will also consider some of the issues that demarcate the limits of the American Dream, including suburban malaise, mass consumerism, violence, and race, gender, and class. Through our explorations of a diverse range of modern and contemporary prose fiction as well as some select films, we will chart a trajectory in the development, revision, and reformulation of the American Dream.

The course offers an in-depth study of John Milton’s great epic Paradise Lost (1667-1674) in its poetic, intellectual, historical, and theological complexity. Our conversations about the poem will be guided by three interrelated concerns. We will pay nuanced attention to the form of Milton’s text: his experimentation with prosody, the artistry of his language, the intricacy of his rhetorical designs, his dazzling structures of imagery, the interweaving of narrative voices and modes. We will also be interested in Milton’s radical intervention in the genre of epic poetry and his ongoing dialogue with Homer, Virgil, Tasso, Ariosto, Spenser, and others. Finally, to facilitate our interpretation of Paradise Lost we will consider the text’s engagements with multifarious cultural, political, social, and religious contexts of seventeenth-century England. We will engage with a host of issues, from book history and Renaissance theories of the imagination to economy and warfare, from law and gender to colonialism and empire, from sexuality and theology to new science and philosophy.

BA essay. A formal departmental approval is required for a 20 credit essay (submission of a detailed proposal, a preliminary bibliography and the support of a supervisor, to the Chair of the English Department for voting at the next Department meeting).

The BA essay is no longer a requirement to complete the BA, though it is a requirement for entering the masters programme.

This course covers the nature of vocabulary acquisition: how vocabulary develops, is learned and taught. Various factors will be analyzed in detail, including, the role of pronunciation, word frequency, various learning strategies for vocabulary growth and considerable attention will be drawn to current research methodology in Vocabulary Acquisition. Students will review research as well as conduct a mini study.

Taught on Tuesdays and Thursdays at 10 am (2. and 3. year students only)

What does Sunset Boulevard, double entendres, self-censorship, the Coen Brothers, and #metoo have in common? They all reveal that Hollywood is not quite the fantasy it poses to be.

A very real place and industry within Los Angeles, California, Hollywood has led in film production since the beginning of narrative film, yet its magic is created within the bland and sometimes devastating concrete lots, sound stages and offices of producers and agents.

This course aims to explore the reality of Hollywood and how it has functioned over time, to examine and critique its presentation and reputation through film and media. The course includes critical viewings of films that are based on both the myth and reality of Hollywood as well as critical readings on historical context, news/gossip, and the history of American narrative film.

Only 35 seats are available for ENS352M. Once the course is filled please contact Nikkita (nhp1@hi.is) to be added onto a waiting list in case a spot opens up.

This course provides an overview of different theoretical ways to approach videogames. Individual learning will be fostered through selected texts, in-class and online discussion, and the practical application of the theories studied. Students will explore current issues in game studies from the perspective of the humanities and the use of narratology and other literary theories for the scholarly study of videogames as texts.

You are the perfect candidate if you have a burning desire to write fiction or poetry, and enjoy reading good books.

Aims include:

1. To sharpen awareness and improve skills through exercises in writing, and especially through revision

2. To provide practical criticism of work-in-progress in a workshop setting, along with advice about revisions and improvisation.

In addition to invoking the muse, students will learn practical writing skills such as organization, structure, characterization and dialogue. The course will also involve the examination of the work of key novel and short story writers, and poets. Throughout the course, students will develop their own work as well as improving their critical skills. Students will complete a short story or a small collection of poems by the end of the course.

Attendance requirement is 100% - you must attend one 1-hour presentation and one 2-hour workshop session per week. Not suitable for distance students.

Students who fulfil the prerequisites will be signed up. Sign up is on first come first served bases and there are 6 seats reserved for MA students and 6 seats reserved for BA students. Any unfilled seats for the course on August 30th will be offered to students on the waiting list. 

This course will consider the relation between the meaning of a verb and the syntactic patterns with which it is associated. For instance, although both the verb "break" and "hit" can appear as transitive verbs, as in (1) and (2), only "break" can appear as an intransitive, as shown in (3) and (4). 1. John broke the vase. 2. John hit the vase. 3. The vase broke. 4. *The vase hit. This course explores the question of whether there are semantic factors which condition the grammatical patterns with which verbs are associated and to what extent.

This course introduces students to the rich, versatile, and enthralling world of English poetry written during the Renaissance. We will read formally dexterous and imaginatively daring works by major poets of the age (Sidney, Spenser, Shakespeare, Donne), as well as minor and obscure texts, in a wide range of genres (sonnet, epyllion, pastoral, romance, devotional lyrics, psalm paraphrases, satire and others). Focusing on the relationship between experimental poetic form and radical forms of embodiment, sexuality, passion, corporeal metamorphosis, and racial mattering, we will consider such concerns and ideologies as the material conditions of writing and reading, Petrarchan and Ovidian legacies of desire, medical theories, sacramental physics, relationship between body and environment, the nature of language, and status and rank.

This course introduces students to the early writings of James Joyce. Our primary focus will be the stories in Dubliners, and the novel A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man. The course will combine close analyses of the works with discussions of Joyce’s historical, literary, and cultural context.

Utilizing cartoons, jokes and comedy sketches to illustrate linguistic concepts, this course seeks to facilitate the understanding of these concepts. The course covers all the basic topics relating to the study of human language, including communication systems, sounds, words, phrases, sentences, language use, discourse, child language acquisition, and language variation and change. The unsual feature of this course is the use examples of humor, jokes and irony, which are often based on ambiguity. The goal is to make it easier to appreciate ambiguous information so common in language.

BA essay in English, 10 ECTS.

A formal departmental approval is required for a 20 credit essay (submission of a detailed proposal, a preliminary bibliography and the support of a supervisor, to the Chair of the English Department for voting at the next Department meeting).

The BA essay is no longer a requirement to complete the BA, though it is a requirement for entering the masters programme.

This course provides an overview of bilingualism. Through cooperative and individual learning and a variety of delivery modes, students will explore current issues in the learning and using of multiple languages by individuals and groups. This includes the effect of demographic changes on language learning, educational achievement and social stratification by individuals and groups in multilingual societies, as well as, the socio-political and individual interactional implications of foreign language learning, bilingualism and diglossia in communities around the world.

This course presents an overview of the history, literature, language and culture of the Celts over the centuries. Students will get an introduction to the areas settled by Celts in the British Isles (Ireland, Wales and Scotland) and on the European continent (e.g. Brittany), and the past migrations of Celtic-speaking peoples. An outline will be given of the Irish, Welsh and Scottish Gaelic languages and literatures, from the earliest times to the present. Throughout, there will be an emphasis on the influence of Celtic on various aspects of English language and culture, and vice versa. No knowledge of Celtic languages is required.

This course will study Geoffrey Chaucer’s masterpiece, The Canterbury Tales, which we will read in its original Middle English. Chaucer’s poem was written in the late fourteenth century, and it offers a unique opportunity to learn about late medieval English literature, culture, and society. The most striking feature of The Canterbury Tales is its diversity: the poem assimilates a large number of literary forms, genres, and styles (romance, fabliau, tragedy, comedy, saint’s life, allegory, parody) and concerns itself with a multitude of issues, from chivalry, religion, and law to excrement, plague, and money. We will examine Chaucer’s poem both in its historical and cultural context and from the point of view of its literary art.

The course will look in depth at English teaching methods and principles aimed at young learners. Topics include characteristics of young learners, National Curriculum objectives, and teaching and assessment methods, especially those related to listening, speaking, reading, writing, games, songs and creative activities. Students will receive training in lesson planning and integrating English teaching with other subjects.
Course work consists of reading, oral and written assignments, discussions, group work and active participation. The course includes a teaching practice component at primary or middle school levels consisting of classroom observation, practice teaching and a written report. Student teachers will gain experience in creating lessons and activities that take into account young children’s needs and abilities. Students who are exempt from teaching practice (e.g. BA students) will complete an alternative assignment.

Optional course for students of the Faculty of Languages and Cultures, in their 2nd or 3rd year of the BA-programme. The students read and study a well-known play that has been translated into several languages. The students will read the text in the target language. The students choose scenes from the play for the production.

Teachers from the target languages will assist the students with pronunciation.

Maximum number of students in this course is 15.

As the internet has become an ever greater presence in our lives, it has become necessary to understand how this global connectivity has affected our society and culture. This course seeks to give students an understanding of their online lives and the forces that move them when they engage with social media. We will examine how the media has adapted to the online world, and how these two avenues of information shape each other. Students will be expected to reflect on their relationship with social media, and discuss their experiences in the digital landscape and their thoughts on the role social media plays in society. In this course, we will engage with material that examines the formation of social media, the dissemination of information across media, human behaviors both on-and offline, and the influence of social media on social and political movements. Students will learn to engage critically with online sources and gain insight into the internet as a field of academic research. They will learn about communication and sociological theories, critical media theory, and theories on moral panics, online radicalisation and internet antagonism. We will explore the often hidden parts of the online world, deeply embedded in pop culture, disinformation and conspiratorial thinking.

Deborah Eisenberg’s post-9/11 short story “Twilight of the Superheroes” opens with an imaginary conversation between the protagonist and his hypothetical future grandchildren. He recounts the story of Y2K, “The year two-thousand! The new millennium!” when some were convinced the world would end. Ultimately, nothing happened; “It was a miracle. Over the face of the earth, from east to west and back again, nothing catastrophic happened at all” (38). That “miracle” was short-lived. The 21st century has been one of crisis and catastrophe, especially in the United States. In this course, students will read narratives that engage with contemporary crises, particularly 9/11, Hurricane Katrina, the 2008 financial collapse, racially motivated violence against Black people, and the Covid-19 pandemic. The course uses literature to emphasize the web of connections linking these crises to one another—for instance, how post-9/11 racial profiling impacted rescue efforts during Hurricane Katrina, and how in turn Hurricane Katrina underscored systemic racial inequalities that came to a head during the Black Lives Matter movement.  Readings will include works by Jonathan Safran Foer, Khaled Hosseini, Dave Eggers, Jesmyn Ward, Michael Lewis, Celeste Ng, Ta-Nehisi Coates, Brit Bennett, and Gary Shteyngart, among others. Students will study and utilize relevant literary theory, including trauma theory, feminist theory, critical race theory, postmodernism, cultural studies, and new sincerity. 

This course seeks to investigate the enigmatic and charismatic figure of the detective in detective fiction as well as some of the common tropes in literary works of this kind. Often eccentric and wonderfully witty, the character of the professional or amateur sleuth is one that has charmed and delighted readers since its invention. The detective, along with the subgenre named after this persona, has attracted legions of fans and enthusiasts who are drawn to mysteries and who are eager to solve puzzles or riddles, alongside their favourite private investigator.

Frequently followed by a well-meaning but clueless sidekick, the detective imparts his knowledge and findings to his assistant and to the audience alike, shedding light on the darkest and most baffling cases, much to the awe and excitement of those in his midst.

This course is a beginner’s course in Latin. No prior knowledge of Latin is assumed at the outset. It introduces the basics of Latin grammar and syntax. Chosen passages will be read in Latin, translated and thoroughly analysed. Teaching consists of 24 lectures on particular aspects of the Latin language and assigned readings.

This course is taught in Icelandic but students can get permission of the instructor to complete assignments and exams in English.

This course is a beginner’s course in Ancient Greek. It introduces the basics of grammar and syntax of the Attic dialect. No prior knowledge of Greek is assumed at the outset. Reading knowledge of Ancient Greek will be prioritized and chosen passages will be read in Greek, translated and thoroughly analysed. Teaching consists of both lectures on particular aspects of the Greek language and assigned readings. It is essential that students read the assigned materials before each lecture.

This course is taught in Icelandic but students can get permission of the instructor to complete assignments and exams in English.

Language can be considered a powerful tool for conveying culture and the classroom can be considered a critical social space that both shapes and influences the attitudes, values, and learning processes of teachers and students. Primary goals of multicultural education are to:

• foster human rights, promote social justice, and support educational equity
• acknowledge the value of cultural diversity and use it as a tool to support learning
• enhance respect for cultural differences (linguistic, ethnic, spiritual, gender and sexual orientation, socio-economic, etc.) and promote understanding of varying life choices and life experiences

The course includes 2credits of practice teaching. Students receive practice in lesson planning and use of a variety of activities and materials which take into account students’ diverse needs and backgrounds. 

The students will develop competencies in the methodology of teaching English to students at lower secondary level based on the objectives of the National Curriculum for English. They will get practice in lesson planning, use of a variety of activities and materials, such as literature and film, and lesson evaluation. The course includes 3 credits of practice teaching. Students who are exempt from teaching practice (for example BA students) will do alternative assignments.

The course is an introductory course in the Faculty of Languages and Cultures. Its aims and purpose include an introduction of basic concepts and terminology in the field, exploration of critical thinking to increase reading comprehension of academic texts, implementation of practical learning practices and academic procedures to facilitate successful academic studies, discussion on plagiarism and academic integrity, evaluation of academic standards, etc. Students receive practical training in critical evaluation of academic texts, basic argumentation analysis, identification of rhetorical patterns and text structure in various text types, review of acceptable references, and an introduction to analytical reading. Furthermore, students will gain insight into the importance of academic literacy to enhance understanding and writing of academic papers, presentation of research findings, etc.

The course is taught in English and is intended for students in:

1. The English BA program.
2.  Students of foreign languages (other than English)

 *Those students that need ECT credits as a result of changes in the MOM courses, as MOM102G used to be a 5-credit course, need to add an individual assignment (MOM001G, 1 ECT) within the MOM102G course.

• This individual assignment is only intended for students who finished MOM202G (before the school year 2024-2025) and are now enrolled in MOM102G, and have thus only gained 9 credits in the two mandatory MOM courses.
• Students who intend to increase their credits with a 6 ECT course, within their departments, are free to do so – and do thus not take this additional individual assignment (in MOM102G).

To sign up for the individual project you must talk to the teacher of MOM102G.

This course is the first of two introductory courses in linguistics.  It addresses such questions as: what kinds of sounds do humans make when using spoken language? How are those sounds organised within the sound system of a language? What is a word? If a sign is a combination of a form with a meaning, are words linguistic signs? Where do words come from? How are words put together?

The focus of the course is on English, though other languages will be discussed as relevant.

This course offers a survey of important domains of linguistics, especially those which emphasise the relation of human language to man in a broader context: sociolinguistics, dialect variation, first language acquisition, second language acquisition, language and the brain, historical comparative linguistics, and animal communication.  The focus of the course is on English and the course introduces students of English to areas of linguistics that they can explore in more detail later in their studies.

The aim of this course is to give students a good overview of the social and political backgrounds to Great Britain. In the process of doing that we will examine patterns of British culture, political and social institutions and ethnic minority groups. Assessment: a 2 hour final exam.

This is a survey course of British Literature from the beginnings of Romanticism to the early twentieth century. The required reading includes some poetry, a play, short stories, novellas, and a novel. Students will read and analyze works by major Romantics (including Wordsworth, Byron, Shelley, and Keats), Victorians (Tennyson, Browning, Arnold, Gaskell, and Wilde) and modern authors (Yeats and Joyce). They will also be introduced to various literary terms and themes.

In a world increasingly awash in fake news, AI-generated deep fakes and denialism of scientific and historical facts, our ability to interpret politics, culture and society with critical discernment is more important than ever. 

Focusing on culture and linguistics, this course aims to give you the analytical tools you need as a student and citizen to critically interpret texts, visual culture and language. 

You will train your hermeneutical skills on short narratives, photographs and various characteristics of language, with help from selected readings in literary theory, cultural studies, visual culture(s) and linguistics. 

The emphasis in the class will be on critical thinking and group discussion,  allowing you to share your analytical discoveries with your fellow students and build interpretative communities.

Modules:

1. Deciphering texts
2. Understanding visual cultures
3. Figuring out language

An overview of the history and development of the English language.

This course is the second of two introductory courses in linguistics. It addresses such questions as: how are words put together to form sentences? how is the form of words affected by their place in a sentence? what other kinds of grammatical information influence the shape and use of words in a sentence? how are sentences related to each other? how can sentences be combined to form larger sentences? how do separate sentences relate to each other when strung together? what do words mean? what do sentences mean? what is discourse meaning?

The focus of the course is on English, though other languages will be discussed as relevant.

The ability to write well in English is a prerequisite for all other courses in the English department. The main aim of this course is to equip students to write in English for academic purposes. Course work will involve writing practice and composing essays based on primary and secondary research. There will be a strong emphasis on the organization of ideas as well as on style. The main goal is for students to gain an understanding of the writing process and develop their own voice in writing.

• This course aims at revisiting decisive moments of the history of the United States of America, from the early settlement to the present.
• Particular attention will be dedicated to the events surrounding the Independence of the country, the American Civil War and ensuing Reconstruction, as well as offering a broad overview of the 20^th and early 21^st centuries.
• There will also be an emphasis on the experiences of minorities and disenfranchised collectives (Native Americans, African Americans, Latinos, and Asian Americans, the LGBTQ community, as well as the rights of women) in the history of the United States, from the settlement to present.

Authors representative of nineteenth-century American Literature are read in historical context.

“Literature and Essay Writing” will expose students to exemplary texts in English across a range of historical periods and genres. It will prompt students to engage in imaginative and critical dialogues with works of literature  foregrounding close reading skills, poetic and critical thinking, scholarly and creative journaling, and analytical and research essay writing skills. The course is designed to increase proficiency in the generation and organization of ideas, in editing and research skills, and in the use of the MLA style of citation.

This course will expand student's capacity to enjoy, understand and write about language and linguistics. The aim of the module is to develop students' proficiency in process writing in English for academic purposes, with special attention given to increasing proficiency in organization, writing and revising, and on students developing their own voice in expository writing. Course work will include writing assignments and essays, as well as reading a variety of texts for critical reflection and analysis. Individual and peer feedback will be a major feature of this module. The course is also designed to strengthen skills in research and the use of APA style.

This course provides an introduction to the major principles of contemporary literary theory and criticism and to established methods and materials of literary research. Major theories include, structuralism, feminism, Queer Theory, postmodernism, marxism, post-colonial criticism, posthumanism, and eco-criticism. The objective of the course is to help you to develop your skills as a reader and critic.

Midterm Exam information:  
Midterm essay  of 1000-1,500 words. 35 percent (home assignment, file upload)

Final exams:
Exam (theory-focused) 25 percent (short answer questions onsite with inspera) 
Final Essay 40 percent (home assignment, file upload)

This course provides a survey of some of the best known and most influential literary texts in English from the early Middle Ages (Old English period) to the end of the Elizabethan era.

IMPORTANT: This course is the first half of ENS303G British Literature II (which has now been split into two separate courses, one for each term of the academic year). Students who have completed ENS303G are not eligible to take this course.

This course in an introduction to cognitive linguistics and literary studies. The goal is is to make students acquainted with theoretical approaches assuming that human language and human thought in general are characterized by the same cognitive processes. There will be an emphasis on how linguistics and literary analysis can be integrated, e.g. given recent theories on metaphors. Finally, in-class discussions between the instructor and the students will play an important role in this course, e.g. on isses such as the validity of the division of linguistics and literary studies into countless sub-disciplines.

Jane Austen may be a recognizable staple of classic English literature in the 21^st century, but her mass popularity is a fairly recent development. This course will go back to Austen’s beginnings and investigate her as a female pioneer that she was, offering new, refreshing insight into some of her most beloved works, and reframing her importance through a feminist lens. The critical analysis will focus primarily on the late 20^th/early 21^st century reception and (re)framing of Austen’s work; we will investigate Austen’s role in the creation of the chick-lit and rom-com genres, and her overall influence on modern (post-) feminist literature.

The course explores how the Tudors and the Tudor period are presented in contemporary (mainly 21st century) literature and film, especially through portrayals of Henry VIII and his daughter Elizabeth I, but other people connected to them will also be studied as appropriate. Students read selected literary works on the life and reign of Henry VIII and Elizabeth I and watch films and TV series where Tudor monarchs are central and/or minor characters. Emphasis is placed on debates concerning the current infatuation with the Tudors as expressed through popular culture and the social media. Furthermore, those aspects of historical, literary and cultural interpretations of the Tudors’ role in history that are most pertinent to contemporary concerns are discussed.

A historical overview of principles, methods, and best practices of English language teaching. Introduction to the national curriculum of English, teaching materials, and resources. Focus on student-centered teaching, learner autonomy, teacher reflection, and developing a philosophy of teaching.

The National Curriculum Guide will be read and analyzed. Students will have an opportunity to observe and evaluate recorded teaching and they will practice reflecting on their own ideas about teaching and experience of language learning. 

Course work demands active participation and consists of reading, written assignments, discussion, group and individual work, and microteaching.

This course  draws on seminal and current research about effective teaching and learning of English as a foreign language.  Students will come to understand important theories that underpin EFL learning and second language acquisition, especially as it concerns teaching the four language skills (listening, speaking, reading, and writing). This is accomplished by considering relevant concepts related to language acquisition, learner autonomy, and language assessment in a self- reflective and analytical way. Essentially, this course examines the why behind language teaching through student‐led and teacher-supported seminars. It culminates in a research project considering how to practically apply this knowledge to EFL teaching in a way that benefits both teachers and learners.

Course work demands active participation and consists of reading, lectures, face-to-face and online discussions, student-driven presentations and a research project.

The American Dream stands at the forefront of the U.S. national ethos, influencing countless strategies for constructing American identity. On the one hand, the American Dream is an implement of sociopolitical hegemony. On the other hand, it is also structured around a series of intertwined narratives built atop quintessentially American ideals, such as democracy, growth and expansion, amelioration, and egalitarianism.

But what constitutes the actualization of the American Dream? How do the promises and pressures that accrue around it shape the individual’s relationship to material society? What kind of persona stands at the centre of the rags-to-riches story? What does it mean to “make it” in contemporary America? This course will open up these questions through analyses of twentieth- and twenty-first-century literary works that deal centrally with the topic of the American Dream. The trajectory of the course will take us from foundational works in twentieth-century American Dream narratives to the postwar context and the counterculture movement and, from there, to the 1990s and the new millennium.

We will consider how fiction complicates and undermines mainstream narratives that promote standardized notions of success. We will also consider some of the issues that demarcate the limits of the American Dream, including suburban malaise, mass consumerism, violence, and race, gender, and class. Through our explorations of a diverse range of modern and contemporary prose fiction as well as some select films, we will chart a trajectory in the development, revision, and reformulation of the American Dream.

The course offers an in-depth study of John Milton’s great epic Paradise Lost (1667-1674) in its poetic, intellectual, historical, and theological complexity. Our conversations about the poem will be guided by three interrelated concerns. We will pay nuanced attention to the form of Milton’s text: his experimentation with prosody, the artistry of his language, the intricacy of his rhetorical designs, his dazzling structures of imagery, the interweaving of narrative voices and modes. We will also be interested in Milton’s radical intervention in the genre of epic poetry and his ongoing dialogue with Homer, Virgil, Tasso, Ariosto, Spenser, and others. Finally, to facilitate our interpretation of Paradise Lost we will consider the text’s engagements with multifarious cultural, political, social, and religious contexts of seventeenth-century England. We will engage with a host of issues, from book history and Renaissance theories of the imagination to economy and warfare, from law and gender to colonialism and empire, from sexuality and theology to new science and philosophy.

This course provides a survey of some of the best known and most influential poetry and prose in English from the early 17^th to the late 18^th century.

This course will consider the relation between the meaning of a verb and the syntactic patterns with which it is associated. For instance, although both the verb "break" and "hit" can appear as transitive verbs, as in (1) and (2), only "break" can appear as an intransitive, as shown in (3) and (4). 1. John broke the vase. 2. John hit the vase. 3. The vase broke. 4. *The vase hit. This course explores the question of whether there are semantic factors which condition the grammatical patterns with which verbs are associated and to what extent.

This course introduces students to the rich, versatile, and enthralling world of English poetry written during the Renaissance. We will read formally dexterous and imaginatively daring works by major poets of the age (Sidney, Spenser, Shakespeare, Donne), as well as minor and obscure texts, in a wide range of genres (sonnet, epyllion, pastoral, romance, devotional lyrics, psalm paraphrases, satire and others). Focusing on the relationship between experimental poetic form and radical forms of embodiment, sexuality, passion, corporeal metamorphosis, and racial mattering, we will consider such concerns and ideologies as the material conditions of writing and reading, Petrarchan and Ovidian legacies of desire, medical theories, sacramental physics, relationship between body and environment, the nature of language, and status and rank.

This course introduces students to the early writings of James Joyce. Our primary focus will be the stories in Dubliners, and the novel A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man. The course will combine close analyses of the works with discussions of Joyce’s historical, literary, and cultural context.

Utilizing cartoons, jokes and comedy sketches to illustrate linguistic concepts, this course seeks to facilitate the understanding of these concepts. The course covers all the basic topics relating to the study of human language, including communication systems, sounds, words, phrases, sentences, language use, discourse, child language acquisition, and language variation and change. The unsual feature of this course is the use examples of humor, jokes and irony, which are often based on ambiguity. The goal is to make it easier to appreciate ambiguous information so common in language.

BA essay in English, 10 ECTS.

A formal departmental approval is required for a 20 credit essay (submission of a detailed proposal, a preliminary bibliography and the support of a supervisor, to the Chair of the English Department for voting at the next Department meeting).

The BA essay is no longer a requirement to complete the BA, though it is a requirement for entering the masters programme.

This course provides an overview of bilingualism. Through cooperative and individual learning and a variety of delivery modes, students will explore current issues in the learning and using of multiple languages by individuals and groups. This includes the effect of demographic changes on language learning, educational achievement and social stratification by individuals and groups in multilingual societies, as well as, the socio-political and individual interactional implications of foreign language learning, bilingualism and diglossia in communities around the world.

This course presents an overview of the history, literature, language and culture of the Celts over the centuries. Students will get an introduction to the areas settled by Celts in the British Isles (Ireland, Wales and Scotland) and on the European continent (e.g. Brittany), and the past migrations of Celtic-speaking peoples. An outline will be given of the Irish, Welsh and Scottish Gaelic languages and literatures, from the earliest times to the present. Throughout, there will be an emphasis on the influence of Celtic on various aspects of English language and culture, and vice versa. No knowledge of Celtic languages is required.

This course will study Geoffrey Chaucer’s masterpiece, The Canterbury Tales, which we will read in its original Middle English. Chaucer’s poem was written in the late fourteenth century, and it offers a unique opportunity to learn about late medieval English literature, culture, and society. The most striking feature of The Canterbury Tales is its diversity: the poem assimilates a large number of literary forms, genres, and styles (romance, fabliau, tragedy, comedy, saint’s life, allegory, parody) and concerns itself with a multitude of issues, from chivalry, religion, and law to excrement, plague, and money. We will examine Chaucer’s poem both in its historical and cultural context and from the point of view of its literary art.

The course will look in depth at English teaching methods and principles aimed at young learners. Topics include characteristics of young learners, National Curriculum objectives, and teaching and assessment methods, especially those related to listening, speaking, reading, writing, games, songs and creative activities. Students will receive training in lesson planning and integrating English teaching with other subjects.
Course work consists of reading, oral and written assignments, discussions, group work and active participation. The course includes a teaching practice component at primary or middle school levels consisting of classroom observation, practice teaching and a written report. Student teachers will gain experience in creating lessons and activities that take into account young children’s needs and abilities. Students who are exempt from teaching practice (e.g. BA students) will complete an alternative assignment.

Optional course for students of the Faculty of Languages and Cultures, in their 2nd or 3rd year of the BA-programme. The students read and study a well-known play that has been translated into several languages. The students will read the text in the target language. The students choose scenes from the play for the production.

Teachers from the target languages will assist the students with pronunciation.

Maximum number of students in this course is 15.

This course in an introduction to cognitive linguistics and literary studies. The goal is is to make students acquainted with theoretical approaches assuming that human language and human thought in general are characterized by the same cognitive processes. There will be an emphasis on how linguistics and literary analysis can be integrated, e.g. given recent theories on metaphors. Finally, in-class discussions between the instructor and the students will play an important role in this course, e.g. on isses such as the validity of the division of linguistics and literary studies into countless sub-disciplines.

Jane Austen may be a recognizable staple of classic English literature in the 21^st century, but her mass popularity is a fairly recent development. This course will go back to Austen’s beginnings and investigate her as a female pioneer that she was, offering new, refreshing insight into some of her most beloved works, and reframing her importance through a feminist lens. The critical analysis will focus primarily on the late 20^th/early 21^st century reception and (re)framing of Austen’s work; we will investigate Austen’s role in the creation of the chick-lit and rom-com genres, and her overall influence on modern (post-) feminist literature.

The course explores how the Tudors and the Tudor period are presented in contemporary (mainly 21st century) literature and film, especially through portrayals of Henry VIII and his daughter Elizabeth I, but other people connected to them will also be studied as appropriate. Students read selected literary works on the life and reign of Henry VIII and Elizabeth I and watch films and TV series where Tudor monarchs are central and/or minor characters. Emphasis is placed on debates concerning the current infatuation with the Tudors as expressed through popular culture and the social media. Furthermore, those aspects of historical, literary and cultural interpretations of the Tudors’ role in history that are most pertinent to contemporary concerns are discussed.

A historical overview of principles, methods, and best practices of English language teaching. Introduction to the national curriculum of English, teaching materials, and resources. Focus on student-centered teaching, learner autonomy, teacher reflection, and developing a philosophy of teaching.

The National Curriculum Guide will be read and analyzed. Students will have an opportunity to observe and evaluate recorded teaching and they will practice reflecting on their own ideas about teaching and experience of language learning. 

Course work demands active participation and consists of reading, written assignments, discussion, group and individual work, and microteaching.

This course  draws on seminal and current research about effective teaching and learning of English as a foreign language.  Students will come to understand important theories that underpin EFL learning and second language acquisition, especially as it concerns teaching the four language skills (listening, speaking, reading, and writing). This is accomplished by considering relevant concepts related to language acquisition, learner autonomy, and language assessment in a self- reflective and analytical way. Essentially, this course examines the why behind language teaching through student‐led and teacher-supported seminars. It culminates in a research project considering how to practically apply this knowledge to EFL teaching in a way that benefits both teachers and learners.

Course work demands active participation and consists of reading, lectures, face-to-face and online discussions, student-driven presentations and a research project.

The American Dream stands at the forefront of the U.S. national ethos, influencing countless strategies for constructing American identity. On the one hand, the American Dream is an implement of sociopolitical hegemony. On the other hand, it is also structured around a series of intertwined narratives built atop quintessentially American ideals, such as democracy, growth and expansion, amelioration, and egalitarianism.

But what constitutes the actualization of the American Dream? How do the promises and pressures that accrue around it shape the individual’s relationship to material society? What kind of persona stands at the centre of the rags-to-riches story? What does it mean to “make it” in contemporary America? This course will open up these questions through analyses of twentieth- and twenty-first-century literary works that deal centrally with the topic of the American Dream. The trajectory of the course will take us from foundational works in twentieth-century American Dream narratives to the postwar context and the counterculture movement and, from there, to the 1990s and the new millennium.

We will consider how fiction complicates and undermines mainstream narratives that promote standardized notions of success. We will also consider some of the issues that demarcate the limits of the American Dream, including suburban malaise, mass consumerism, violence, and race, gender, and class. Through our explorations of a diverse range of modern and contemporary prose fiction as well as some select films, we will chart a trajectory in the development, revision, and reformulation of the American Dream.

The course offers an in-depth study of John Milton’s great epic Paradise Lost (1667-1674) in its poetic, intellectual, historical, and theological complexity. Our conversations about the poem will be guided by three interrelated concerns. We will pay nuanced attention to the form of Milton’s text: his experimentation with prosody, the artistry of his language, the intricacy of his rhetorical designs, his dazzling structures of imagery, the interweaving of narrative voices and modes. We will also be interested in Milton’s radical intervention in the genre of epic poetry and his ongoing dialogue with Homer, Virgil, Tasso, Ariosto, Spenser, and others. Finally, to facilitate our interpretation of Paradise Lost we will consider the text’s engagements with multifarious cultural, political, social, and religious contexts of seventeenth-century England. We will engage with a host of issues, from book history and Renaissance theories of the imagination to economy and warfare, from law and gender to colonialism and empire, from sexuality and theology to new science and philosophy.

BA essay. A formal departmental approval is required for a 20 credit essay (submission of a detailed proposal, a preliminary bibliography and the support of a supervisor, to the Chair of the English Department for voting at the next Department meeting).

The BA essay is no longer a requirement to complete the BA, though it is a requirement for entering the masters programme.

This course covers the nature of vocabulary acquisition: how vocabulary develops, is learned and taught. Various factors will be analyzed in detail, including, the role of pronunciation, word frequency, various learning strategies for vocabulary growth and considerable attention will be drawn to current research methodology in Vocabulary Acquisition. Students will review research as well as conduct a mini study.

Taught on Tuesdays and Thursdays at 10 am (2. and 3. year students only)

What does Sunset Boulevard, double entendres, self-censorship, the Coen Brothers, and #metoo have in common? They all reveal that Hollywood is not quite the fantasy it poses to be.

A very real place and industry within Los Angeles, California, Hollywood has led in film production since the beginning of narrative film, yet its magic is created within the bland and sometimes devastating concrete lots, sound stages and offices of producers and agents.

This course aims to explore the reality of Hollywood and how it has functioned over time, to examine and critique its presentation and reputation through film and media. The course includes critical viewings of films that are based on both the myth and reality of Hollywood as well as critical readings on historical context, news/gossip, and the history of American narrative film.

Only 35 seats are available for ENS352M. Once the course is filled please contact Nikkita (nhp1@hi.is) to be added onto a waiting list in case a spot opens up.

This course provides an overview of different theoretical ways to approach videogames. Individual learning will be fostered through selected texts, in-class and online discussion, and the practical application of the theories studied. Students will explore current issues in game studies from the perspective of the humanities and the use of narratology and other literary theories for the scholarly study of videogames as texts.

You are the perfect candidate if you have a burning desire to write fiction or poetry, and enjoy reading good books.

Aims include:

1. To sharpen awareness and improve skills through exercises in writing, and especially through revision

2. To provide practical criticism of work-in-progress in a workshop setting, along with advice about revisions and improvisation.

In addition to invoking the muse, students will learn practical writing skills such as organization, structure, characterization and dialogue. The course will also involve the examination of the work of key novel and short story writers, and poets. Throughout the course, students will develop their own work as well as improving their critical skills. Students will complete a short story or a small collection of poems by the end of the course.

Attendance requirement is 100% - you must attend one 1-hour presentation and one 2-hour workshop session per week. Not suitable for distance students.

Students who fulfil the prerequisites will be signed up. Sign up is on first come first served bases and there are 6 seats reserved for MA students and 6 seats reserved for BA students. Any unfilled seats for the course on August 30th will be offered to students on the waiting list. 

This course will consider the relation between the meaning of a verb and the syntactic patterns with which it is associated. For instance, although both the verb "break" and "hit" can appear as transitive verbs, as in (1) and (2), only "break" can appear as an intransitive, as shown in (3) and (4). 1. John broke the vase. 2. John hit the vase. 3. The vase broke. 4. *The vase hit. This course explores the question of whether there are semantic factors which condition the grammatical patterns with which verbs are associated and to what extent.

This course introduces students to the rich, versatile, and enthralling world of English poetry written during the Renaissance. We will read formally dexterous and imaginatively daring works by major poets of the age (Sidney, Spenser, Shakespeare, Donne), as well as minor and obscure texts, in a wide range of genres (sonnet, epyllion, pastoral, romance, devotional lyrics, psalm paraphrases, satire and others). Focusing on the relationship between experimental poetic form and radical forms of embodiment, sexuality, passion, corporeal metamorphosis, and racial mattering, we will consider such concerns and ideologies as the material conditions of writing and reading, Petrarchan and Ovidian legacies of desire, medical theories, sacramental physics, relationship between body and environment, the nature of language, and status and rank.

This course introduces students to the early writings of James Joyce. Our primary focus will be the stories in Dubliners, and the novel A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man. The course will combine close analyses of the works with discussions of Joyce’s historical, literary, and cultural context.

Utilizing cartoons, jokes and comedy sketches to illustrate linguistic concepts, this course seeks to facilitate the understanding of these concepts. The course covers all the basic topics relating to the study of human language, including communication systems, sounds, words, phrases, sentences, language use, discourse, child language acquisition, and language variation and change. The unsual feature of this course is the use examples of humor, jokes and irony, which are often based on ambiguity. The goal is to make it easier to appreciate ambiguous information so common in language.

BA essay in English, 10 ECTS.

A formal departmental approval is required for a 20 credit essay (submission of a detailed proposal, a preliminary bibliography and the support of a supervisor, to the Chair of the English Department for voting at the next Department meeting).

The BA essay is no longer a requirement to complete the BA, though it is a requirement for entering the masters programme.

This course provides an overview of bilingualism. Through cooperative and individual learning and a variety of delivery modes, students will explore current issues in the learning and using of multiple languages by individuals and groups. This includes the effect of demographic changes on language learning, educational achievement and social stratification by individuals and groups in multilingual societies, as well as, the socio-political and individual interactional implications of foreign language learning, bilingualism and diglossia in communities around the world.

This course presents an overview of the history, literature, language and culture of the Celts over the centuries. Students will get an introduction to the areas settled by Celts in the British Isles (Ireland, Wales and Scotland) and on the European continent (e.g. Brittany), and the past migrations of Celtic-speaking peoples. An outline will be given of the Irish, Welsh and Scottish Gaelic languages and literatures, from the earliest times to the present. Throughout, there will be an emphasis on the influence of Celtic on various aspects of English language and culture, and vice versa. No knowledge of Celtic languages is required.

This course will study Geoffrey Chaucer’s masterpiece, The Canterbury Tales, which we will read in its original Middle English. Chaucer’s poem was written in the late fourteenth century, and it offers a unique opportunity to learn about late medieval English literature, culture, and society. The most striking feature of The Canterbury Tales is its diversity: the poem assimilates a large number of literary forms, genres, and styles (romance, fabliau, tragedy, comedy, saint’s life, allegory, parody) and concerns itself with a multitude of issues, from chivalry, religion, and law to excrement, plague, and money. We will examine Chaucer’s poem both in its historical and cultural context and from the point of view of its literary art.

The course will look in depth at English teaching methods and principles aimed at young learners. Topics include characteristics of young learners, National Curriculum objectives, and teaching and assessment methods, especially those related to listening, speaking, reading, writing, games, songs and creative activities. Students will receive training in lesson planning and integrating English teaching with other subjects.
Course work consists of reading, oral and written assignments, discussions, group work and active participation. The course includes a teaching practice component at primary or middle school levels consisting of classroom observation, practice teaching and a written report. Student teachers will gain experience in creating lessons and activities that take into account young children’s needs and abilities. Students who are exempt from teaching practice (e.g. BA students) will complete an alternative assignment.

Optional course for students of the Faculty of Languages and Cultures, in their 2nd or 3rd year of the BA-programme. The students read and study a well-known play that has been translated into several languages. The students will read the text in the target language. The students choose scenes from the play for the production.

Teachers from the target languages will assist the students with pronunciation.

Maximum number of students in this course is 15.

As the internet has become an ever greater presence in our lives, it has become necessary to understand how this global connectivity has affected our society and culture. This course seeks to give students an understanding of their online lives and the forces that move them when they engage with social media. We will examine how the media has adapted to the online world, and how these two avenues of information shape each other. Students will be expected to reflect on their relationship with social media, and discuss their experiences in the digital landscape and their thoughts on the role social media plays in society. In this course, we will engage with material that examines the formation of social media, the dissemination of information across media, human behaviors both on-and offline, and the influence of social media on social and political movements. Students will learn to engage critically with online sources and gain insight into the internet as a field of academic research. They will learn about communication and sociological theories, critical media theory, and theories on moral panics, online radicalisation and internet antagonism. We will explore the often hidden parts of the online world, deeply embedded in pop culture, disinformation and conspiratorial thinking.

Deborah Eisenberg’s post-9/11 short story “Twilight of the Superheroes” opens with an imaginary conversation between the protagonist and his hypothetical future grandchildren. He recounts the story of Y2K, “The year two-thousand! The new millennium!” when some were convinced the world would end. Ultimately, nothing happened; “It was a miracle. Over the face of the earth, from east to west and back again, nothing catastrophic happened at all” (38). That “miracle” was short-lived. The 21st century has been one of crisis and catastrophe, especially in the United States. In this course, students will read narratives that engage with contemporary crises, particularly 9/11, Hurricane Katrina, the 2008 financial collapse, racially motivated violence against Black people, and the Covid-19 pandemic. The course uses literature to emphasize the web of connections linking these crises to one another—for instance, how post-9/11 racial profiling impacted rescue efforts during Hurricane Katrina, and how in turn Hurricane Katrina underscored systemic racial inequalities that came to a head during the Black Lives Matter movement.  Readings will include works by Jonathan Safran Foer, Khaled Hosseini, Dave Eggers, Jesmyn Ward, Michael Lewis, Celeste Ng, Ta-Nehisi Coates, Brit Bennett, and Gary Shteyngart, among others. Students will study and utilize relevant literary theory, including trauma theory, feminist theory, critical race theory, postmodernism, cultural studies, and new sincerity. 

This course seeks to investigate the enigmatic and charismatic figure of the detective in detective fiction as well as some of the common tropes in literary works of this kind. Often eccentric and wonderfully witty, the character of the professional or amateur sleuth is one that has charmed and delighted readers since its invention. The detective, along with the subgenre named after this persona, has attracted legions of fans and enthusiasts who are drawn to mysteries and who are eager to solve puzzles or riddles, alongside their favourite private investigator.

Frequently followed by a well-meaning but clueless sidekick, the detective imparts his knowledge and findings to his assistant and to the audience alike, shedding light on the darkest and most baffling cases, much to the awe and excitement of those in his midst.

This course is a beginner’s course in Latin. No prior knowledge of Latin is assumed at the outset. It introduces the basics of Latin grammar and syntax. Chosen passages will be read in Latin, translated and thoroughly analysed. Teaching consists of 24 lectures on particular aspects of the Latin language and assigned readings.

This course is taught in Icelandic but students can get permission of the instructor to complete assignments and exams in English.

This course is a beginner’s course in Ancient Greek. It introduces the basics of grammar and syntax of the Attic dialect. No prior knowledge of Greek is assumed at the outset. Reading knowledge of Ancient Greek will be prioritized and chosen passages will be read in Greek, translated and thoroughly analysed. Teaching consists of both lectures on particular aspects of the Greek language and assigned readings. It is essential that students read the assigned materials before each lecture.

This course is taught in Icelandic but students can get permission of the instructor to complete assignments and exams in English.

Language can be considered a powerful tool for conveying culture and the classroom can be considered a critical social space that both shapes and influences the attitudes, values, and learning processes of teachers and students. Primary goals of multicultural education are to:

• foster human rights, promote social justice, and support educational equity
• acknowledge the value of cultural diversity and use it as a tool to support learning
• enhance respect for cultural differences (linguistic, ethnic, spiritual, gender and sexual orientation, socio-economic, etc.) and promote understanding of varying life choices and life experiences

The course includes 2credits of practice teaching. Students receive practice in lesson planning and use of a variety of activities and materials which take into account students’ diverse needs and backgrounds. 

The students will develop competencies in the methodology of teaching English to students at lower secondary level based on the objectives of the National Curriculum for English. They will get practice in lesson planning, use of a variety of activities and materials, such as literature and film, and lesson evaluation. The course includes 3 credits of practice teaching. Students who are exempt from teaching practice (for example BA students) will do alternative assignments.

The course is an introductory course in the Faculty of Languages and Cultures. Its aims and purpose include an introduction of basic concepts and terminology in the field, exploration of critical thinking to increase reading comprehension of academic texts, implementation of practical learning practices and academic procedures to facilitate successful academic studies, discussion on plagiarism and academic integrity, evaluation of academic standards, etc. Students receive practical training in critical evaluation of academic texts, basic argumentation analysis, identification of rhetorical patterns and text structure in various text types, review of acceptable references, and an introduction to analytical reading. Furthermore, students will gain insight into the importance of academic literacy to enhance understanding and writing of academic papers, presentation of research findings, etc.

The course is taught in English and is intended for students in:

1. The English BA program.
2.  Students of foreign languages (other than English)

 *Those students that need ECT credits as a result of changes in the MOM courses, as MOM102G used to be a 5-credit course, need to add an individual assignment (MOM001G, 1 ECT) within the MOM102G course.

• This individual assignment is only intended for students who finished MOM202G (before the school year 2024-2025) and are now enrolled in MOM102G, and have thus only gained 9 credits in the two mandatory MOM courses.
• Students who intend to increase their credits with a 6 ECT course, within their departments, are free to do so – and do thus not take this additional individual assignment (in MOM102G).

To sign up for the individual project you must talk to the teacher of MOM102G.

This course is the first of two introductory courses in linguistics.  It addresses such questions as: what kinds of sounds do humans make when using spoken language? How are those sounds organised within the sound system of a language? What is a word? If a sign is a combination of a form with a meaning, are words linguistic signs? Where do words come from? How are words put together?

The focus of the course is on English, though other languages will be discussed as relevant.

This course offers a survey of important domains of linguistics, especially those which emphasise the relation of human language to man in a broader context: sociolinguistics, dialect variation, first language acquisition, second language acquisition, language and the brain, historical comparative linguistics, and animal communication.  The focus of the course is on English and the course introduces students of English to areas of linguistics that they can explore in more detail later in their studies.

The aim of this course is to give students a good overview of the social and political backgrounds to Great Britain. In the process of doing that we will examine patterns of British culture, political and social institutions and ethnic minority groups. Assessment: a 2 hour final exam.

This is a survey course of British Literature from the beginnings of Romanticism to the early twentieth century. The required reading includes some poetry, a play, short stories, novellas, and a novel. Students will read and analyze works by major Romantics (including Wordsworth, Byron, Shelley, and Keats), Victorians (Tennyson, Browning, Arnold, Gaskell, and Wilde) and modern authors (Yeats and Joyce). They will also be introduced to various literary terms and themes.

In a world increasingly awash in fake news, AI-generated deep fakes and denialism of scientific and historical facts, our ability to interpret politics, culture and society with critical discernment is more important than ever. 

Focusing on culture and linguistics, this course aims to give you the analytical tools you need as a student and citizen to critically interpret texts, visual culture and language. 

You will train your hermeneutical skills on short narratives, photographs and various characteristics of language, with help from selected readings in literary theory, cultural studies, visual culture(s) and linguistics. 

The emphasis in the class will be on critical thinking and group discussion,  allowing you to share your analytical discoveries with your fellow students and build interpretative communities.

Modules:

1. Deciphering texts
2. Understanding visual cultures
3. Figuring out language

An overview of the history and development of the English language.

This course is the second of two introductory courses in linguistics. It addresses such questions as: how are words put together to form sentences? how is the form of words affected by their place in a sentence? what other kinds of grammatical information influence the shape and use of words in a sentence? how are sentences related to each other? how can sentences be combined to form larger sentences? how do separate sentences relate to each other when strung together? what do words mean? what do sentences mean? what is discourse meaning?

The focus of the course is on English, though other languages will be discussed as relevant.

The ability to write well in English is a prerequisite for all other courses in the English department. The main aim of this course is to equip students to write in English for academic purposes. Course work will involve writing practice and composing essays based on primary and secondary research. There will be a strong emphasis on the organization of ideas as well as on style. The main goal is for students to gain an understanding of the writing process and develop their own voice in writing.

• This course aims at revisiting decisive moments of the history of the United States of America, from the early settlement to the present.
• Particular attention will be dedicated to the events surrounding the Independence of the country, the American Civil War and ensuing Reconstruction, as well as offering a broad overview of the 20^th and early 21^st centuries.
• There will also be an emphasis on the experiences of minorities and disenfranchised collectives (Native Americans, African Americans, Latinos, and Asian Americans, the LGBTQ community, as well as the rights of women) in the history of the United States, from the settlement to present.

Authors representative of nineteenth-century American Literature are read in historical context.

“Literature and Essay Writing” will expose students to exemplary texts in English across a range of historical periods and genres. It will prompt students to engage in imaginative and critical dialogues with works of literature  foregrounding close reading skills, poetic and critical thinking, scholarly and creative journaling, and analytical and research essay writing skills. The course is designed to increase proficiency in the generation and organization of ideas, in editing and research skills, and in the use of the MLA style of citation.

This course will expand student's capacity to enjoy, understand and write about language and linguistics. The aim of the module is to develop students' proficiency in process writing in English for academic purposes, with special attention given to increasing proficiency in organization, writing and revising, and on students developing their own voice in expository writing. Course work will include writing assignments and essays, as well as reading a variety of texts for critical reflection and analysis. Individual and peer feedback will be a major feature of this module. The course is also designed to strengthen skills in research and the use of APA style.

This course provides an introduction to the major principles of contemporary literary theory and criticism and to established methods and materials of literary research. Major theories include, structuralism, feminism, Queer Theory, postmodernism, marxism, post-colonial criticism, posthumanism, and eco-criticism. The objective of the course is to help you to develop your skills as a reader and critic.

Midterm Exam information:  
Midterm essay  of 1000-1,500 words. 35 percent (home assignment, file upload)

Final exams:
Exam (theory-focused) 25 percent (short answer questions onsite with inspera) 
Final Essay 40 percent (home assignment, file upload)

This course provides a survey of some of the best known and most influential literary texts in English from the early Middle Ages (Old English period) to the end of the Elizabethan era.

IMPORTANT: This course is the first half of ENS303G British Literature II (which has now been split into two separate courses, one for each term of the academic year). Students who have completed ENS303G are not eligible to take this course.

This course in an introduction to cognitive linguistics and literary studies. The goal is is to make students acquainted with theoretical approaches assuming that human language and human thought in general are characterized by the same cognitive processes. There will be an emphasis on how linguistics and literary analysis can be integrated, e.g. given recent theories on metaphors. Finally, in-class discussions between the instructor and the students will play an important role in this course, e.g. on isses such as the validity of the division of linguistics and literary studies into countless sub-disciplines.

Jane Austen may be a recognizable staple of classic English literature in the 21^st century, but her mass popularity is a fairly recent development. This course will go back to Austen’s beginnings and investigate her as a female pioneer that she was, offering new, refreshing insight into some of her most beloved works, and reframing her importance through a feminist lens. The critical analysis will focus primarily on the late 20^th/early 21^st century reception and (re)framing of Austen’s work; we will investigate Austen’s role in the creation of the chick-lit and rom-com genres, and her overall influence on modern (post-) feminist literature.

The course explores how the Tudors and the Tudor period are presented in contemporary (mainly 21st century) literature and film, especially through portrayals of Henry VIII and his daughter Elizabeth I, but other people connected to them will also be studied as appropriate. Students read selected literary works on the life and reign of Henry VIII and Elizabeth I and watch films and TV series where Tudor monarchs are central and/or minor characters. Emphasis is placed on debates concerning the current infatuation with the Tudors as expressed through popular culture and the social media. Furthermore, those aspects of historical, literary and cultural interpretations of the Tudors’ role in history that are most pertinent to contemporary concerns are discussed.

A historical overview of principles, methods, and best practices of English language teaching. Introduction to the national curriculum of English, teaching materials, and resources. Focus on student-centered teaching, learner autonomy, teacher reflection, and developing a philosophy of teaching.

The National Curriculum Guide will be read and analyzed. Students will have an opportunity to observe and evaluate recorded teaching and they will practice reflecting on their own ideas about teaching and experience of language learning. 

Course work demands active participation and consists of reading, written assignments, discussion, group and individual work, and microteaching.

This course  draws on seminal and current research about effective teaching and learning of English as a foreign language.  Students will come to understand important theories that underpin EFL learning and second language acquisition, especially as it concerns teaching the four language skills (listening, speaking, reading, and writing). This is accomplished by considering relevant concepts related to language acquisition, learner autonomy, and language assessment in a self- reflective and analytical way. Essentially, this course examines the why behind language teaching through student‐led and teacher-supported seminars. It culminates in a research project considering how to practically apply this knowledge to EFL teaching in a way that benefits both teachers and learners.

Course work demands active participation and consists of reading, lectures, face-to-face and online discussions, student-driven presentations and a research project.

The American Dream stands at the forefront of the U.S. national ethos, influencing countless strategies for constructing American identity. On the one hand, the American Dream is an implement of sociopolitical hegemony. On the other hand, it is also structured around a series of intertwined narratives built atop quintessentially American ideals, such as democracy, growth and expansion, amelioration, and egalitarianism.

But what constitutes the actualization of the American Dream? How do the promises and pressures that accrue around it shape the individual’s relationship to material society? What kind of persona stands at the centre of the rags-to-riches story? What does it mean to “make it” in contemporary America? This course will open up these questions through analyses of twentieth- and twenty-first-century literary works that deal centrally with the topic of the American Dream. The trajectory of the course will take us from foundational works in twentieth-century American Dream narratives to the postwar context and the counterculture movement and, from there, to the 1990s and the new millennium.

We will consider how fiction complicates and undermines mainstream narratives that promote standardized notions of success. We will also consider some of the issues that demarcate the limits of the American Dream, including suburban malaise, mass consumerism, violence, and race, gender, and class. Through our explorations of a diverse range of modern and contemporary prose fiction as well as some select films, we will chart a trajectory in the development, revision, and reformulation of the American Dream.

The course offers an in-depth study of John Milton’s great epic Paradise Lost (1667-1674) in its poetic, intellectual, historical, and theological complexity. Our conversations about the poem will be guided by three interrelated concerns. We will pay nuanced attention to the form of Milton’s text: his experimentation with prosody, the artistry of his language, the intricacy of his rhetorical designs, his dazzling structures of imagery, the interweaving of narrative voices and modes. We will also be interested in Milton’s radical intervention in the genre of epic poetry and his ongoing dialogue with Homer, Virgil, Tasso, Ariosto, Spenser, and others. Finally, to facilitate our interpretation of Paradise Lost we will consider the text’s engagements with multifarious cultural, political, social, and religious contexts of seventeenth-century England. We will engage with a host of issues, from book history and Renaissance theories of the imagination to economy and warfare, from law and gender to colonialism and empire, from sexuality and theology to new science and philosophy.

This course provides a survey of some of the best known and most influential poetry and prose in English from the early 17^th to the late 18^th century.

This course will consider the relation between the meaning of a verb and the syntactic patterns with which it is associated. For instance, although both the verb "break" and "hit" can appear as transitive verbs, as in (1) and (2), only "break" can appear as an intransitive, as shown in (3) and (4). 1. John broke the vase. 2. John hit the vase. 3. The vase broke. 4. *The vase hit. This course explores the question of whether there are semantic factors which condition the grammatical patterns with which verbs are associated and to what extent.

This course introduces students to the rich, versatile, and enthralling world of English poetry written during the Renaissance. We will read formally dexterous and imaginatively daring works by major poets of the age (Sidney, Spenser, Shakespeare, Donne), as well as minor and obscure texts, in a wide range of genres (sonnet, epyllion, pastoral, romance, devotional lyrics, psalm paraphrases, satire and others). Focusing on the relationship between experimental poetic form and radical forms of embodiment, sexuality, passion, corporeal metamorphosis, and racial mattering, we will consider such concerns and ideologies as the material conditions of writing and reading, Petrarchan and Ovidian legacies of desire, medical theories, sacramental physics, relationship between body and environment, the nature of language, and status and rank.

This course introduces students to the early writings of James Joyce. Our primary focus will be the stories in Dubliners, and the novel A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man. The course will combine close analyses of the works with discussions of Joyce’s historical, literary, and cultural context.

Utilizing cartoons, jokes and comedy sketches to illustrate linguistic concepts, this course seeks to facilitate the understanding of these concepts. The course covers all the basic topics relating to the study of human language, including communication systems, sounds, words, phrases, sentences, language use, discourse, child language acquisition, and language variation and change. The unsual feature of this course is the use examples of humor, jokes and irony, which are often based on ambiguity. The goal is to make it easier to appreciate ambiguous information so common in language.

BA essay in English, 10 ECTS.

A formal departmental approval is required for a 20 credit essay (submission of a detailed proposal, a preliminary bibliography and the support of a supervisor, to the Chair of the English Department for voting at the next Department meeting).

The BA essay is no longer a requirement to complete the BA, though it is a requirement for entering the masters programme.

This course provides an overview of bilingualism. Through cooperative and individual learning and a variety of delivery modes, students will explore current issues in the learning and using of multiple languages by individuals and groups. This includes the effect of demographic changes on language learning, educational achievement and social stratification by individuals and groups in multilingual societies, as well as, the socio-political and individual interactional implications of foreign language learning, bilingualism and diglossia in communities around the world.

This course presents an overview of the history, literature, language and culture of the Celts over the centuries. Students will get an introduction to the areas settled by Celts in the British Isles (Ireland, Wales and Scotland) and on the European continent (e.g. Brittany), and the past migrations of Celtic-speaking peoples. An outline will be given of the Irish, Welsh and Scottish Gaelic languages and literatures, from the earliest times to the present. Throughout, there will be an emphasis on the influence of Celtic on various aspects of English language and culture, and vice versa. No knowledge of Celtic languages is required.

This course will study Geoffrey Chaucer’s masterpiece, The Canterbury Tales, which we will read in its original Middle English. Chaucer’s poem was written in the late fourteenth century, and it offers a unique opportunity to learn about late medieval English literature, culture, and society. The most striking feature of The Canterbury Tales is its diversity: the poem assimilates a large number of literary forms, genres, and styles (romance, fabliau, tragedy, comedy, saint’s life, allegory, parody) and concerns itself with a multitude of issues, from chivalry, religion, and law to excrement, plague, and money. We will examine Chaucer’s poem both in its historical and cultural context and from the point of view of its literary art.

The course will look in depth at English teaching methods and principles aimed at young learners. Topics include characteristics of young learners, National Curriculum objectives, and teaching and assessment methods, especially those related to listening, speaking, reading, writing, games, songs and creative activities. Students will receive training in lesson planning and integrating English teaching with other subjects.
Course work consists of reading, oral and written assignments, discussions, group work and active participation. The course includes a teaching practice component at primary or middle school levels consisting of classroom observation, practice teaching and a written report. Student teachers will gain experience in creating lessons and activities that take into account young children’s needs and abilities. Students who are exempt from teaching practice (e.g. BA students) will complete an alternative assignment.

Optional course for students of the Faculty of Languages and Cultures, in their 2nd or 3rd year of the BA-programme. The students read and study a well-known play that has been translated into several languages. The students will read the text in the target language. The students choose scenes from the play for the production.

Teachers from the target languages will assist the students with pronunciation.

Maximum number of students in this course is 15.

This course in an introduction to cognitive linguistics and literary studies. The goal is is to make students acquainted with theoretical approaches assuming that human language and human thought in general are characterized by the same cognitive processes. There will be an emphasis on how linguistics and literary analysis can be integrated, e.g. given recent theories on metaphors. Finally, in-class discussions between the instructor and the students will play an important role in this course, e.g. on isses such as the validity of the division of linguistics and literary studies into countless sub-disciplines.

Jane Austen may be a recognizable staple of classic English literature in the 21^st century, but her mass popularity is a fairly recent development. This course will go back to Austen’s beginnings and investigate her as a female pioneer that she was, offering new, refreshing insight into some of her most beloved works, and reframing her importance through a feminist lens. The critical analysis will focus primarily on the late 20^th/early 21^st century reception and (re)framing of Austen’s work; we will investigate Austen’s role in the creation of the chick-lit and rom-com genres, and her overall influence on modern (post-) feminist literature.

The course explores how the Tudors and the Tudor period are presented in contemporary (mainly 21st century) literature and film, especially through portrayals of Henry VIII and his daughter Elizabeth I, but other people connected to them will also be studied as appropriate. Students read selected literary works on the life and reign of Henry VIII and Elizabeth I and watch films and TV series where Tudor monarchs are central and/or minor characters. Emphasis is placed on debates concerning the current infatuation with the Tudors as expressed through popular culture and the social media. Furthermore, those aspects of historical, literary and cultural interpretations of the Tudors’ role in history that are most pertinent to contemporary concerns are discussed.

A historical overview of principles, methods, and best practices of English language teaching. Introduction to the national curriculum of English, teaching materials, and resources. Focus on student-centered teaching, learner autonomy, teacher reflection, and developing a philosophy of teaching.

The National Curriculum Guide will be read and analyzed. Students will have an opportunity to observe and evaluate recorded teaching and they will practice reflecting on their own ideas about teaching and experience of language learning. 

Course work demands active participation and consists of reading, written assignments, discussion, group and individual work, and microteaching.

This course  draws on seminal and current research about effective teaching and learning of English as a foreign language.  Students will come to understand important theories that underpin EFL learning and second language acquisition, especially as it concerns teaching the four language skills (listening, speaking, reading, and writing). This is accomplished by considering relevant concepts related to language acquisition, learner autonomy, and language assessment in a self- reflective and analytical way. Essentially, this course examines the why behind language teaching through student‐led and teacher-supported seminars. It culminates in a research project considering how to practically apply this knowledge to EFL teaching in a way that benefits both teachers and learners.

Course work demands active participation and consists of reading, lectures, face-to-face and online discussions, student-driven presentations and a research project.

The American Dream stands at the forefront of the U.S. national ethos, influencing countless strategies for constructing American identity. On the one hand, the American Dream is an implement of sociopolitical hegemony. On the other hand, it is also structured around a series of intertwined narratives built atop quintessentially American ideals, such as democracy, growth and expansion, amelioration, and egalitarianism.

But what constitutes the actualization of the American Dream? How do the promises and pressures that accrue around it shape the individual’s relationship to material society? What kind of persona stands at the centre of the rags-to-riches story? What does it mean to “make it” in contemporary America? This course will open up these questions through analyses of twentieth- and twenty-first-century literary works that deal centrally with the topic of the American Dream. The trajectory of the course will take us from foundational works in twentieth-century American Dream narratives to the postwar context and the counterculture movement and, from there, to the 1990s and the new millennium.

We will consider how fiction complicates and undermines mainstream narratives that promote standardized notions of success. We will also consider some of the issues that demarcate the limits of the American Dream, including suburban malaise, mass consumerism, violence, and race, gender, and class. Through our explorations of a diverse range of modern and contemporary prose fiction as well as some select films, we will chart a trajectory in the development, revision, and reformulation of the American Dream.

The course offers an in-depth study of John Milton’s great epic Paradise Lost (1667-1674) in its poetic, intellectual, historical, and theological complexity. Our conversations about the poem will be guided by three interrelated concerns. We will pay nuanced attention to the form of Milton’s text: his experimentation with prosody, the artistry of his language, the intricacy of his rhetorical designs, his dazzling structures of imagery, the interweaving of narrative voices and modes. We will also be interested in Milton’s radical intervention in the genre of epic poetry and his ongoing dialogue with Homer, Virgil, Tasso, Ariosto, Spenser, and others. Finally, to facilitate our interpretation of Paradise Lost we will consider the text’s engagements with multifarious cultural, political, social, and religious contexts of seventeenth-century England. We will engage with a host of issues, from book history and Renaissance theories of the imagination to economy and warfare, from law and gender to colonialism and empire, from sexuality and theology to new science and philosophy.

BA essay. A formal departmental approval is required for a 20 credit essay (submission of a detailed proposal, a preliminary bibliography and the support of a supervisor, to the Chair of the English Department for voting at the next Department meeting).

The BA essay is no longer a requirement to complete the BA, though it is a requirement for entering the masters programme.

This course covers the nature of vocabulary acquisition: how vocabulary develops, is learned and taught. Various factors will be analyzed in detail, including, the role of pronunciation, word frequency, various learning strategies for vocabulary growth and considerable attention will be drawn to current research methodology in Vocabulary Acquisition. Students will review research as well as conduct a mini study.

Taught on Tuesdays and Thursdays at 10 am (2. and 3. year students only)

What does Sunset Boulevard, double entendres, self-censorship, the Coen Brothers, and #metoo have in common? They all reveal that Hollywood is not quite the fantasy it poses to be.

A very real place and industry within Los Angeles, California, Hollywood has led in film production since the beginning of narrative film, yet its magic is created within the bland and sometimes devastating concrete lots, sound stages and offices of producers and agents.

This course aims to explore the reality of Hollywood and how it has functioned over time, to examine and critique its presentation and reputation through film and media. The course includes critical viewings of films that are based on both the myth and reality of Hollywood as well as critical readings on historical context, news/gossip, and the history of American narrative film.

Only 35 seats are available for ENS352M. Once the course is filled please contact Nikkita (nhp1@hi.is) to be added onto a waiting list in case a spot opens up.

This course provides an overview of different theoretical ways to approach videogames. Individual learning will be fostered through selected texts, in-class and online discussion, and the practical application of the theories studied. Students will explore current issues in game studies from the perspective of the humanities and the use of narratology and other literary theories for the scholarly study of videogames as texts.

You are the perfect candidate if you have a burning desire to write fiction or poetry, and enjoy reading good books.

Aims include:

1. To sharpen awareness and improve skills through exercises in writing, and especially through revision

2. To provide practical criticism of work-in-progress in a workshop setting, along with advice about revisions and improvisation.

In addition to invoking the muse, students will learn practical writing skills such as organization, structure, characterization and dialogue. The course will also involve the examination of the work of key novel and short story writers, and poets. Throughout the course, students will develop their own work as well as improving their critical skills. Students will complete a short story or a small collection of poems by the end of the course.

Attendance requirement is 100% - you must attend one 1-hour presentation and one 2-hour workshop session per week. Not suitable for distance students.

Students who fulfil the prerequisites will be signed up. Sign up is on first come first served bases and there are 6 seats reserved for MA students and 6 seats reserved for BA students. Any unfilled seats for the course on August 30th will be offered to students on the waiting list. 

This course will consider the relation between the meaning of a verb and the syntactic patterns with which it is associated. For instance, although both the verb "break" and "hit" can appear as transitive verbs, as in (1) and (2), only "break" can appear as an intransitive, as shown in (3) and (4). 1. John broke the vase. 2. John hit the vase. 3. The vase broke. 4. *The vase hit. This course explores the question of whether there are semantic factors which condition the grammatical patterns with which verbs are associated and to what extent.

This course introduces students to the rich, versatile, and enthralling world of English poetry written during the Renaissance. We will read formally dexterous and imaginatively daring works by major poets of the age (Sidney, Spenser, Shakespeare, Donne), as well as minor and obscure texts, in a wide range of genres (sonnet, epyllion, pastoral, romance, devotional lyrics, psalm paraphrases, satire and others). Focusing on the relationship between experimental poetic form and radical forms of embodiment, sexuality, passion, corporeal metamorphosis, and racial mattering, we will consider such concerns and ideologies as the material conditions of writing and reading, Petrarchan and Ovidian legacies of desire, medical theories, sacramental physics, relationship between body and environment, the nature of language, and status and rank.

This course introduces students to the early writings of James Joyce. Our primary focus will be the stories in Dubliners, and the novel A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man. The course will combine close analyses of the works with discussions of Joyce’s historical, literary, and cultural context.

Utilizing cartoons, jokes and comedy sketches to illustrate linguistic concepts, this course seeks to facilitate the understanding of these concepts. The course covers all the basic topics relating to the study of human language, including communication systems, sounds, words, phrases, sentences, language use, discourse, child language acquisition, and language variation and change. The unsual feature of this course is the use examples of humor, jokes and irony, which are often based on ambiguity. The goal is to make it easier to appreciate ambiguous information so common in language.

BA essay in English, 10 ECTS.

A formal departmental approval is required for a 20 credit essay (submission of a detailed proposal, a preliminary bibliography and the support of a supervisor, to the Chair of the English Department for voting at the next Department meeting).

The BA essay is no longer a requirement to complete the BA, though it is a requirement for entering the masters programme.

This course provides an overview of bilingualism. Through cooperative and individual learning and a variety of delivery modes, students will explore current issues in the learning and using of multiple languages by individuals and groups. This includes the effect of demographic changes on language learning, educational achievement and social stratification by individuals and groups in multilingual societies, as well as, the socio-political and individual interactional implications of foreign language learning, bilingualism and diglossia in communities around the world.

This course presents an overview of the history, literature, language and culture of the Celts over the centuries. Students will get an introduction to the areas settled by Celts in the British Isles (Ireland, Wales and Scotland) and on the European continent (e.g. Brittany), and the past migrations of Celtic-speaking peoples. An outline will be given of the Irish, Welsh and Scottish Gaelic languages and literatures, from the earliest times to the present. Throughout, there will be an emphasis on the influence of Celtic on various aspects of English language and culture, and vice versa. No knowledge of Celtic languages is required.

This course will study Geoffrey Chaucer’s masterpiece, The Canterbury Tales, which we will read in its original Middle English. Chaucer’s poem was written in the late fourteenth century, and it offers a unique opportunity to learn about late medieval English literature, culture, and society. The most striking feature of The Canterbury Tales is its diversity: the poem assimilates a large number of literary forms, genres, and styles (romance, fabliau, tragedy, comedy, saint’s life, allegory, parody) and concerns itself with a multitude of issues, from chivalry, religion, and law to excrement, plague, and money. We will examine Chaucer’s poem both in its historical and cultural context and from the point of view of its literary art.

The course will look in depth at English teaching methods and principles aimed at young learners. Topics include characteristics of young learners, National Curriculum objectives, and teaching and assessment methods, especially those related to listening, speaking, reading, writing, games, songs and creative activities. Students will receive training in lesson planning and integrating English teaching with other subjects.
Course work consists of reading, oral and written assignments, discussions, group work and active participation. The course includes a teaching practice component at primary or middle school levels consisting of classroom observation, practice teaching and a written report. Student teachers will gain experience in creating lessons and activities that take into account young children’s needs and abilities. Students who are exempt from teaching practice (e.g. BA students) will complete an alternative assignment.

Optional course for students of the Faculty of Languages and Cultures, in their 2nd or 3rd year of the BA-programme. The students read and study a well-known play that has been translated into several languages. The students will read the text in the target language. The students choose scenes from the play for the production.

Teachers from the target languages will assist the students with pronunciation.

Maximum number of students in this course is 15.

As the internet has become an ever greater presence in our lives, it has become necessary to understand how this global connectivity has affected our society and culture. This course seeks to give students an understanding of their online lives and the forces that move them when they engage with social media. We will examine how the media has adapted to the online world, and how these two avenues of information shape each other. Students will be expected to reflect on their relationship with social media, and discuss their experiences in the digital landscape and their thoughts on the role social media plays in society. In this course, we will engage with material that examines the formation of social media, the dissemination of information across media, human behaviors both on-and offline, and the influence of social media on social and political movements. Students will learn to engage critically with online sources and gain insight into the internet as a field of academic research. They will learn about communication and sociological theories, critical media theory, and theories on moral panics, online radicalisation and internet antagonism. We will explore the often hidden parts of the online world, deeply embedded in pop culture, disinformation and conspiratorial thinking.

Deborah Eisenberg’s post-9/11 short story “Twilight of the Superheroes” opens with an imaginary conversation between the protagonist and his hypothetical future grandchildren. He recounts the story of Y2K, “The year two-thousand! The new millennium!” when some were convinced the world would end. Ultimately, nothing happened; “It was a miracle. Over the face of the earth, from east to west and back again, nothing catastrophic happened at all” (38). That “miracle” was short-lived. The 21st century has been one of crisis and catastrophe, especially in the United States. In this course, students will read narratives that engage with contemporary crises, particularly 9/11, Hurricane Katrina, the 2008 financial collapse, racially motivated violence against Black people, and the Covid-19 pandemic. The course uses literature to emphasize the web of connections linking these crises to one another—for instance, how post-9/11 racial profiling impacted rescue efforts during Hurricane Katrina, and how in turn Hurricane Katrina underscored systemic racial inequalities that came to a head during the Black Lives Matter movement.  Readings will include works by Jonathan Safran Foer, Khaled Hosseini, Dave Eggers, Jesmyn Ward, Michael Lewis, Celeste Ng, Ta-Nehisi Coates, Brit Bennett, and Gary Shteyngart, among others. Students will study and utilize relevant literary theory, including trauma theory, feminist theory, critical race theory, postmodernism, cultural studies, and new sincerity. 

This course seeks to investigate the enigmatic and charismatic figure of the detective in detective fiction as well as some of the common tropes in literary works of this kind. Often eccentric and wonderfully witty, the character of the professional or amateur sleuth is one that has charmed and delighted readers since its invention. The detective, along with the subgenre named after this persona, has attracted legions of fans and enthusiasts who are drawn to mysteries and who are eager to solve puzzles or riddles, alongside their favourite private investigator.

Frequently followed by a well-meaning but clueless sidekick, the detective imparts his knowledge and findings to his assistant and to the audience alike, shedding light on the darkest and most baffling cases, much to the awe and excitement of those in his midst.

This course is a beginner’s course in Latin. No prior knowledge of Latin is assumed at the outset. It introduces the basics of Latin grammar and syntax. Chosen passages will be read in Latin, translated and thoroughly analysed. Teaching consists of 24 lectures on particular aspects of the Latin language and assigned readings.

This course is taught in Icelandic but students can get permission of the instructor to complete assignments and exams in English.

This course is a beginner’s course in Ancient Greek. It introduces the basics of grammar and syntax of the Attic dialect. No prior knowledge of Greek is assumed at the outset. Reading knowledge of Ancient Greek will be prioritized and chosen passages will be read in Greek, translated and thoroughly analysed. Teaching consists of both lectures on particular aspects of the Greek language and assigned readings. It is essential that students read the assigned materials before each lecture.

This course is taught in Icelandic but students can get permission of the instructor to complete assignments and exams in English.

Language can be considered a powerful tool for conveying culture and the classroom can be considered a critical social space that both shapes and influences the attitudes, values, and learning processes of teachers and students. Primary goals of multicultural education are to:

• foster human rights, promote social justice, and support educational equity
• acknowledge the value of cultural diversity and use it as a tool to support learning
• enhance respect for cultural differences (linguistic, ethnic, spiritual, gender and sexual orientation, socio-economic, etc.) and promote understanding of varying life choices and life experiences

The course includes 2credits of practice teaching. Students receive practice in lesson planning and use of a variety of activities and materials which take into account students’ diverse needs and backgrounds. 

The students will develop competencies in the methodology of teaching English to students at lower secondary level based on the objectives of the National Curriculum for English. They will get practice in lesson planning, use of a variety of activities and materials, such as literature and film, and lesson evaluation. The course includes 3 credits of practice teaching. Students who are exempt from teaching practice (for example BA students) will do alternative assignments.