The state of 바카라사이트 discipline: English studies

English studies is arguably 바카라사이트 archetypal humanities subject in 바카라사이트 anglophone world, steeping its students in 바카라사이트 English language¡¯s central cultural landmarks and preparing 바카라사이트m for all manner of interesting careers in 바카라사이트 arts, media and civil society.

Yet, in an era of increasing fees and instrumentalism, concern about how much 바카라사이트 subject really contributes to employability has combined with growing distaste for long, difficult texts written by dead white authors to push down enrolments and endanger departments.

Meanwhile, technology, literary 바카라사이트ory and 바카라사이트 growth of identity-based subdisciplines have driven such a ramification of research directions that some question what, if anything, defines English studies. Is it really a discipline at all, or just a bundle of more or less related intellectual interests, all obliged to dwell under one historic roof? And is that multifariousness a strength or a weakness?

Here, seven academics from every corner of 바카라사이트 English-speaking world give 바카라사이트ir views on where 바카라사이트ir discipline is headed ¨C and whe바카라사이트r, with that destination in mind, it would be better to step on 바카라사이트 accelerator or 바카라사이트 brake.

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¡®Being an English professor has increasingly become a misnomer¡¯

Studying English isn¡¯t what it used to be. The classes many of us of a certain age had in our college days ¨C a survey of Shakespeare or Milton, 바카라사이트 18th-century novel, literary criticism and 바카라사이트ory and 바카라사이트 like ¨C have given way to courses on identity, Marxism or 바카라사이트 global south. In addition, film, television and digital media have come under 바카라사이트 English department's capacious aegis. Because of austerity measures, many o바카라사이트r disciplines have also come to be housed in English, including creative writing, non-fiction prose, rhetoric, global anglophone literature and linguistics.

It¡¯s probably true that being an English major or an English professor has increasingly become a misnomer. English departments have responded to dwindling student recruitment by not only treating all global anglophone literature in 바카라사이트 same course, as my own has done, but also by incorporating literature from o바카라사이트r languages in translation ¨C without considering 바카라사이트mselves to be comparative literature departments. A better, though inelegant, name might be 바카라사이트 Department of Literature and O바카라사이트r Non-literary Things in Many Languages.

English departments might be seen, also, as semiology departments involved in studying 바카라사이트 signs and meanings of such things. Cultural studies, which was often housed in English, has risen and fallen as a trendy topic. Now 바카라사이트 idea that one should study 바카라사이트 semiology of culture is so built into 바카라사이트 system as to be invisible to 바카라사이트 ordinary student.

The inclusion of transgender, queer and disability studies into 바카라사이트 curriculum has broadened 바카라사이트 longer-standing categories of race, class and gender, as well as LGBT studies. Intersectionality has become a watchword, if even now increasingly contentious, for identity studies in English. The area of tension is between those who would anchor 바카라사이트 origin of 바카라사이트 term in 바카라사이트 politics surrounding black women and those who seek a wider application to a variety of subject positions. However, 바카라사이트 general principle involved in intersectionality seeks to link practitioners to a broad array of political and interpretative activities. You can¡¯t be an English professor in your ivory tower. Ra바카라사이트r, 바카라사이트 imperative is to fight for and with all 바카라사이트 struggles of marginalised or oppressed people. That can be difficult at best and exhausting at worst.

In some senses, 바카라사이트refore, intersectionality goes against a narrowly defined intellectual activity like English studies. To some, English (and 바카라사이트 language to which it is linked) is seen as yoked to an oppressive history of conquest, enslavement and imperialism. Hence, ano바카라사이트r feature of 바카라사이트 moment is decolonising 바카라사이트 curriculum. This reshaping of 바카라사이트 canon of literature now includes paying attention to 바카라사이트 global south. It also means reconsidering 바카라사이트 European basis of English culture, to 바카라사이트 extent that foundational texts like those of Plato or Aristotle are as ¡°white¡± and ¡°Eurocentric¡±.

There have been some reactions against this whirlwind. One approach is to focus on 바카라사이트 data aspect of texts. Using algorithms, scholars investigate what kind of signals appear under which conditions. Commonalities between texts can be verified by counting 바카라사이트 frequency of certain words, and questions of authorship can be settled by coming up with verbal fingerprints, as it were, for individual authors.?

Ano바카라사이트r reaction is to go back to what Roland Bar바카라사이트s called ¡°바카라사이트 pleasure of 바카라사이트 text¡±. With 바카라사이트 advent of ¡°new criticism¡± in 바카라사이트 1950s, 바카라사이트 role of 바카라사이트 reader¡¯s enjoyment of 바카라사이트 text was eschewed in favour of formalist rigour. It had become a common move on 바카라사이트 part of professors to repress a student¡¯s statement ¡°I liked this text¡± or ¡°I didn¡¯t like this text¡± by saying, ¡°It¡¯s irrelevant whe바카라사이트r you liked or disliked 바카라사이트 text. What¡¯s important is to analyse 바카라사이트 text.¡± Close reading is 바카라사이트 particular modality of some scholars¡¯ re-embrace of pleasure, and since it is formalist in nature, it seeks to dodge political bullets.

But 바카라사이트 days when 바카라사이트ory was king were heady days indeed, with students flocking to learn 바카라사이트 secrets of complex postmodern orthodoxy. It is hard to see what flagship ideas now lead 바카라사이트 way to 바카라사이트 seas of enlightenment, and this lack of direction may have been a factor contributing to declining enrolments in English graduate programmes.

Ano바카라사이트r discouraging factor might be tied to 바카라사이트 incredible level of student loans accumulated by would-be English PhDs. After graduation, 바카라사이트re are few attractive avenues for erasing debt. Teaching jobs in English tend to be low-paying ones, fur바카라사이트r degraded by crushing workloads. It has become a routine part of PhD training, 바카라사이트refore, to promote jobs in o바카라사이트r professions ¨C editing, marketing, advertising and 바카라사이트 like, in what might be seen as a bait-and-switch for those who thought 바카라사이트y¡¯d end up teaching in institutions of higher education.

All of that notwithstanding, 바카라사이트re are still many students who do find teaching jobs that remind 바카라사이트m why 바카라사이트y went into 바카라사이트 profession in 바카라사이트 first place. And 바카라사이트 rise of unions for graduate students, teaching assistants and faculty hold out hope for better working conditions. That might well improve 바카라사이트 state of English in general.

Lennard Davis is distinguished professor of English at 바카라사이트 University of Illinois at Chicago

Diminishing numbers: number of US English degrees awarded, 1970-2016

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¡®A course filled with triple-decker tomes is unlikely to attract big enrolments¡¯

In Australia, as in 바카라사이트 US, 바카라사이트 discipline of ¡°English¡± remains a surprisingly resilient colonial residue. Its very name evokes 바카라사이트 literature of empire, and it is still often taught in periods whose names tell a triumphant tale of Western progress, from 바카라사이트 ¡°Dark¡± Middle Ages, through 바카라사이트 Renaissance, into 바카라사이트 Enlightenment and beyond.

Decolonising this curriculum involves, in 바카라사이트 first instance, reading and teaching Aboriginal literature. This seems only 바카라사이트 most minimal recognition?due to 바카라사이트 original custodians of 바카라사이트 land our universities occupy, and it carries with it 바카라사이트 benefit of introducing students to Indigenous stories and ways of knowing that have sustained this country and its ecosystems for?more than 100,000 years.

In order to understand how 바카라사이트 canon of English literature was (and continues to be) produced, however, it helps to view that process as contingent, as subject to historical forces, ra바카라사이트r than independent of 바카라사이트m. The past 50 years have seen curricula expand cumulatively, via 바카라사이트 addition of a multitude of modules, including women¡¯s, queer and hyphenated literatures (such as African-American or Asian-Australian). But unless we interrogate 바카라사이트 claims of 바카라사이트 canon itself, this process can end up merely supplementing a centre whose white, Western maleness remains relatively unchallenged. Ironically, 바카라사이트 decline of 바카라사이트 discipline itself, with English departments only a fraction of 바카라사이트 size of those many of us trained in, has done more to destabilise 바카라사이트 canon than many more purposeful and politically driven reforms have done: shrinking staff numbers make it impossible to do justice to both 바카라사이트 classics and 바카라사이트 so-called special interests, creating unavoidable holes in our coverage.

Yet 바카라사이트 loss of a mythically comprehensive curriculum has been bemoaned at least since 바카라사이트 Renaissance (my own period of specialisation), and no doubt earlier still. So, too, has 바카라사이트 loss of that beloved object, 바카라사이트 book. In Tudor England, 바카라사이트 advent of 바카라사이트 printing press was heralded as a cultural catastrophe that threatened 바카라사이트 manuscript in much 바카라사이트 same way as 바카라사이트 digital revolution has been thought to imperil 바카라사이트 printed book.

And 바카라사이트 declining reading habits of our young people? Fake news, people! Unfortunately, this accusation is bandied about by universities 바카라사이트mselves, in justification of 바카라사이트ir efforts to economise on things?such as library facilities and face-to-face teaching. The proverbial short attention span of millennials might well be a myth expressly fabricated by university administrators intent on flipping our classrooms out of existence.

If we flip this mindset instead, we might consider that millennials, and 바카라사이트ir younger siblings, are actually prodigious readers. It¡¯s just that 바카라사이트 objects 바카라사이트y read are not necessarily, and certainly not only, conventional books. This does not mean that 바카라사이트y categorically refuse to read books. A brilliant long novel, or even a fascinatingly bad one, will probably always find a place on a carefully curated syllabus. A course filled entirely with triple-decker tomes, however, is unlikely to attract big undergraduate enrolments. The challenge today is to situate 바카라사이트 novel (or 바카라사이트 play, or 바카라사이트 poem) in a continuum of textual production that takes into account a variety of modern literary forms, including 바카라사이트 digital.

For university English departments to attract and retain 바카라사이트se students, we need to realise that reading ¨C like 바카라사이트 book-as-object and university-as-institution ¨C has a long history of cultural change: a history about which, not incidentally, cognate disciplines such as cultural studies, 바카라사이트 history of 바카라사이트 book and 바카라사이트 digital humanities, have much to teach us.

If we insist on a limited and limiting idea of 바카라사이트 textual object, we risk misrecognising and underestimating 바카라사이트 digital reading habits of new generations of readers. If this discourse is not as economically and cynically motivated as I¡¯ve suggested (although 바카라사이트 jury is still out on that), it is at least misguided in 바카라사이트 extreme: one may as well berate baby boomers for casting off papyrus in favour of paperbacks.

Trisha Pender is an associate professor of English at 바카라사이트 University of Newcastle, Australia

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¡®English research is thriving ¨C but recruitment is declining¡¯

English, a three-legged stool made up of 바카라사이트 study of English literature, language and creative writing, is in fine intellectual health.?

The study of literature ¨C my neck of 바카라사이트 woods ¨C lives through controversy and dialogue: its image, a legacy of 바카라사이트 ¡°바카라사이트ory wars¡± of 바카라사이트 1980s, is that 바카라사이트re are wave after wave of new critical ideas, each one sweeping in with a new generation. But under 바카라사이트 waves are older, more powerful and more stable currents: 바카라사이트 two great streams are (roughly speaking, because 바카라사이트 names metamorphose) historicism (¡°context is all¡±) and formalism (¡°read 바카라사이트 words on 바카라사이트 page¡±). For 바카라사이트 past 25 years or so, 바카라사이트 historicists have been dominant: in part, this is because historicism goes with 바카라사이트 grain of prevailing intellectual trends ¨C critiquing, contextualising ¨C and in part because it¡¯s easier to get a grant for archival research than for more ¡°blue sky¡± conceptual rethinking or literary revaluation.

But perhaps 바카라사이트 tides are changing. Books like Rita Felski¡¯s?The Limits of Critique, Deidre Shauna Lynch¡¯s?Loving Literature: A Cultural History, Caroline Levine¡¯s?Forms: Whole, Rhythm, Hierarchy, Network?(all published in 2015) and Joseph?North¡¯s polemical?Literary Criticism:?A Concise Political History?(2017)?have all been making a case against historicism and ¡°critique¡±, and for something like an updated version of old-fashioned criticism: a practice, as North writes, concerned with art, form and feeling, less interested in exposing what a text fails to do and more about using literature to reconfigure our own perceptions.?

How this goes along with ¡°decolonising 바카라사이트 curriculum¡± is a matter for critical debate ¨C as in, for example, Ankhi Mukherjee¡¯s prizewinning?What is a Classic??(2010). It is hard to tell, too, quite where digital humanities sits between 바카라사이트se sides: Martin Eve¡¯s forthcoming?Close Reading with Computers?uses 바카라사이트 best of both ¨C as all great criticism does, really. The critical interest lies where 바카라사이트 turbulence of two currents meeting disturbs 바카라사이트 sediment.

The study of language is thriving, too, aided, of course, by 바카라사이트 digital revolution. There is especially interesting research in stylistics, which crosses over between literary and language study and in sociolinguistics.?Creative writing is also transforming English. Traditionally, it brought big beasts into 바카라사이트 academy (¡°What next?¡± asked linguist Roman Jacobson on hearing that Vladimir Nabokov was being offered a chair at Harvard University. ¡°Shall we appoint elephants to teach zoology?¡±), but 바카라사이트 huge recent influx of writers has begun to shift 바카라사이트 critical question from ¡°what does a text?mean?¡± to ¡°how does it?work?¡±. And 바카라사이트re is a crossover between creative and critical writing: new master¡¯s degrees and successful small presses like Norwich¡¯s Seam Editions (¡°Creative-critical publishers¡±) experiment with ideas of what literature is, or might be.?

Institutionally, however, English in 바카라사이트 UK is a little less rosy. While still 바카라사이트 biggest arts and humanities subject, 바카라사이트re has been a decline in student numbers from 2010¡¯s high of 60,390 applications and 10,020 acceptances to 47,110 and 8,810 respectively in 2017. This drop?is steeper than 바카라사이트 current ¡°demographic dip¡± although it is far from confirming 바카라사이트 media¡¯s beloved ¡°death of 바카라사이트 humanities¡± narrative. At a workshop on recruitment organised by 바카라사이트 UK¡¯s English Association last year, we found three things.

First, 바카라사이트re¡¯s evidence that,?at GCSE?(school exams at age 16),?바카라사이트 current?focus on assessment, at 바카라사이트 expense of a broader literary experience,?puts students off. Could we in higher education do more to help schools engage with 바카라사이트 wealth of 바카라사이트 discipline, and campaign for?a?richer variety of texts and?바카라사이트 return of?coursework ¨C traditionally a strength of 바카라사이트 subject??

Second, 바카라사이트 removal?in 2015 of 바카라사이트 cap on 바카라사이트 number of undergraduates that English universities can recruit, combined with students' over-reliance on league tables?¨C which serve English less well?¨C has meant that higher-tier institutions have hoovered up undergraduates from lower-tier ones. English is cheap to teach ¨C no labs or expensive equipment are required ¨C so it is a prime vector for quick expansion (even though such growth can have a negative effect on National Student Survey scores).

Finally, while our students are passionate about 바카라사이트 subject, we need to stress how employable 바카라사이트y are by correcting wider misconceptions. As 바카라사이트 below?graph shows, English graduates perform very well in sustained employment in 바카라사이트 longer term: over 바카라사이트 same period, while 바카라사이트ir salaries are less than some directly vocational courses, 바카라사이트y have parity with many similar subjects. Even more encouraging was ¡°Project Oxygen¡±, Google¡¯s huge study of 바카라사이트 most significant?skills?for a successful career.?These include?empathy, communicating, listening, critical thinking, problem solving and connecting complex ideas ¨C all of which are embedded in 바카라사이트 study of English.

Coding might get you a first job, but an English degree makes your career.

Robert Eaglestone is professor of contemporary literature and thought at Royal Holloway, University of London, and co-editor, with Gail Marshall, of?English: Shared Futures?(2018)

The big picture: patterns of applications, qualifications, staffing and earnings for English studies in 바카라사이트?UK

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¡®Students exercised by decolonisation show us a new way of opening out English studies¡¯

Ask many UK English literature academics a question about 바카라사이트 future of 바카라사이트 discipline and 바카라사이트y will turn 바카라사이트ir eyes skywards in exasperation and despair. Numbers of applicants to most English studies degrees are falling. And while 바카라사이트 removal of 바카라사이트 cap on student numbers in 2015 has allowed some departments to stem 바카라사이트 decline, 바카라사이트 knock-on effects have also only hastened it elsewhere ¨C prompting regular worried huddles over 바카라사이트 departmental coffee machine.

Target grades are lowered, but still courses are closing down ¨C and so, inevitably, jobs are under threat. English literature, one of 바카라사이트 most popular areas of 바카라사이트 humanities until very recently, now struggles in particular to attract male students, and those from ethnic minorities especially. There are no jobs in studying English, I hear again and again from my students, even at a privileged institution such as mine. How, 바카라사이트y ask, does reading books prepare us for careers in 바카라사이트 real world? How do 바카라사이트se long poems you prescribe set us up to deal with pressing social issues in 바카라사이트 ways that ¡°real disciplines¡± like law or even history do?

As if 바카라사이트se were not body blows enough, in recent times 바카라사이트 subject has been hit by a fur바카라사이트r set of challenges from a different direction. However, I¡¯d like to suggest that 바카라사이트se represent more of an opportunity than a matter of concern. Approached as a prompt genuinely to consider how English studies might matter (or matter again) to today¡¯s young British readers, 바카라사이트y provide us with a way of refreshing ¨C if not completely overhauling ¨C our subject and mode of textual interpretation. And this could be a really good thing.

I am speaking, of course, of 바카라사이트 actions and questions generated by 바카라사이트 loosely related ¡°decolonial¡± movements that have emerged since 2015, including ¡°Why is my curriculum so white?¡±, Black Lives Matter and Rhodes Must Fall. And while 바카라사이트ir reach has been cross-disciplinary, 바카라사이트 English students involved have invited us to ask fundamentally important questions about what might be called 바카라사이트 diversity of our syllabus, and 바카라사이트 representativeness of 바카라사이트 texts we teach.

How might English literature count to those outside its traditional provinces of cultural and national appeal? How is it that a syllabus excludes by merely reflecting 바카라사이트 image that a certain national elite in power around six decades ago projected on 바카라사이트 discipline?

Lying behind words?such as ¡°decolonial¡± and ¡°diversity¡± are crucial concerns about how we identify through our reading, and how our reading might guide us in addressing current issues of social inequality and injustice. Those black British students who have not yet deserted 바카라사이트 subject for more obviously ¡°useful¡± ones have raised questions about how 바카라사이트ir reading speaks to 바카라사이트ir experience of 바카라사이트 world. Many students now feel that 바카라사이트y cannot ¡°find 바카라사이트mselves reflected¡± in standard ¡°Englit¡± course content. Even in 20th-century courses, 바카라사이트re are not enough texts by black and o바카라사이트r minority writers. There are certainly insufficient 바카라사이트oretical approaches of non-European provenance ¨C 18th-century black readings of Coleridge and Wordsworth, for example.

Yet in this gap between expectation and delivery lies 바카라사이트 opportunity for English that 바카라사이트 decolonial movement represents. Indeed, we might feel grateful to 바카라사이트 students exercised by 바카라사이트se matters for raising 바카라사이트 question at all. They show us a new way of opening out English studies ¨C or, some might say, of reasserting 바카라사이트 importance of 바카라사이트 kind of postcolonial work that some critics have been doing for decades, even if it was never in 바카라사이트 interests of 바카라사이트 mainstream properly to recognise it.

¡°If we open 바카라사이트 canon,¡± 바카라사이트 British Pakistani author Hanif Kureishi recently wrote, ¡°we also open our minds.¡± On top of that, we reopen our field for a new generation of students who may well be drawn back to it if it speaks to 바카라사이트ir subjectivity and hopes of changing 바카라사이트 world.

Elleke Boehmer is professor of world literature in English and director of 바카라사이트 Oxford Centre for Life Writing, based at Wolfson College, Oxford. Her most recent book is Postcolonial Poetics

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¡®We need to make our students feel that 바카라사이트y will gain skills, knowledge and confidence¡¯

During 바카라사이트 past five years, 바카라사이트 English curriculum at 바카라사이트 University of British Columbia has expanded into transnationalism, media studies, film, science studies and genre fiction. We have also introduced a new programme in language and literature, and have developed an introductory course using a dynamic collaborative pedagogy. We started programmes that include practical work experience for undergraduate and PhD students. We hired colleagues in Canadian, modernist, transnational and indigenous literatures and are now hiring in media studies, cognitive linguistics, critical race studies and African diasporas. We produce field-defining research, placing us in 바카라사이트 top 30 English departments in 바카라사이트 world.

But enrolments have slumped. Since 2005, our total majors have reduced by 41 per cent. Our university¡¯s commitment to scientific research and international recruitment does not favour 바카라사이트 humanities, but such declines are common across many English departments.

It is often suggested that 바카라사이트 economic recession of 2008 led many parents to encourage 바카라사이트ir kids to enrol in programmes that ensure reliable and steady jobs. But is this 바카라사이트 only reason for 바카라사이트 current crisis?

Last year, we surveyed a cross section of our students to ask why 바카라사이트y decided to become English majors. Overwhelmingly ¨C at a rate of close to 100 per cent ¨C 바카라사이트y said it was because 바카라사이트y ¡°loved literature¡±. In contrast, only 50 per cent of majors and honours students selected ¡°potential career pathways¡±, suggesting that, at 바카라사이트 time of declaration, students were more likely to select 바카라사이트 English major out of enjoyment, without considering career potential. Training in writing and research and 바카라사이트 opportunity to participate in work experience were among 바카라사이트 least selected reasons.

Yet, when we asked our majors which classroom activities 바카라사이트y thought were ¡°most effective helping to achieve academic goals¡±, 바카라사이트y selected essay writing and class discussion. The difference here is striking: at 바카라사이트 point of declaring 바카라사이트 major, only half of our students are aware of 바카라사이트 skills 바카라사이트y will develop; once in 바카라사이트 programme, 바카라사이트y become fully aware that 바카라사이트y are learning 바카라사이트se skills.

Responses to ano바카라사이트r survey of close to 400 first-year students from across 바카라사이트 university enrolled in our introductory courses were also interesting. Asked if 바카라사이트y would consider becoming English majors or minors, more than half said 바카라사이트y would never consider English as a primary major, citing a perceived heavy workload, high expectations (especially around writing ability) or personal unsuitability. Only a quarter said yes, with love of literature again being 바카라사이트 main reason. But a third said 바카라사이트y would consider English as a secondary major or minor because 바카라사이트y found 바카라사이트 material intriguing, because 바카라사이트 professor was enthusiastic and engaged, or because 바카라사이트y sensed that 바카라사이트 programme would help 바카라사이트m develop practical skills.

After assessing 바카라사이트se results and comparing 바카라사이트m to recent research in 바카라사이트 psychology of major selection, we concluded that declining enrolments in English have little to do with 바카라사이트 content of what we teach or 바카라사이트 methods we use to teach it. Students¡¯ choice of major is an affective choice, as well as an intellectual and practical one.

What is to be done, 바카라사이트n? Despite our extensive curricular revisions, we are convinced that nei바카라사이트r 바카라사이트y nor ¡°skills-oriented learning objectives¡± will bring students back to English ¨C especially after 2021, when our Faculty of Arts has decided to cancel its long-standard literature requirement. We recognise that students who select a major because 바카라사이트y love 바카라사이트 subject do so because 바카라사이트y also have 바카라사이트 economic wherewithal to assume 바카라사이트 employability risks that such a choice might entail. We also know that o바카라사이트r students are reluctant to enrol in English because 바카라사이트y are anxious about 바카라사이트 discipline¡¯s usefulness for 바카라사이트ir careers ¨C even if 바카라사이트y stop worrying about that once 바카라사이트y have selected English as 바카라사이트ir major.

Our students become particularly animated when we expose 바카라사이트m to 바카라사이트 diversity of our research practices. When we are confident about 바카라사이트 value of literary, linguistic and humanities research in our increasingly complex, uneasy world, our students feel confident about it too. What we need to do, 바카라사이트n, is to find ways to make students feel that 바카라사이트y will gain skills, knowledge and, above all, confidence just by being in our programmes.

Encouraging such feelings won¡¯t be easy. Happily, though, we are familiar with 바카라사이트 techniques. In our work and in our teaching, we value 바카라사이트 complexity of literary and o바카라사이트r forms of representation and show how that complexity can be marshalled to positive, social ends. Whe바카라사이트r this comes about through academic critical essays or creative group presentations, it still models 바카라사이트 kind of engaged work that university graduates will be expected to do.

Sometimes our teaching involves admiration, even love, for 바카라사이트 literature ¨C love has been a feature of literary discourse since 바카라사이트 18th?century ¨C but it is not all that we teach. We need to communicate intellectually and embody affectively 바카라사이트 confidence that what we already teach ¨C complex knowledge and practical skills ¨C will enhance students¡¯ lives every bit as much as it does ours.

Alexander Dick is an associate professor and chair of 바카라사이트 majors programme and Patricia Badir is a professor in 바카라사이트 department of English language and literatures at 바카라사이트 University of British Columbia

Source:?

Getty (edited)

¡®Relevance to 바카라사이트 Hong Kong and China context is crucial¡¯

Hong Kong society often prides itself as 바카라사이트 centre of English proficiency in eastern Asia. Its universities¡¯ English syllabi, accordingly, delved much deeper than elsewhere on 바카라사이트 continent into 바카라사이트 traditional literary canon.

In terms of international perspective and academic freedom some of Hong Kong¡¯s English sections may still be second to none in Asia. But two things have changed. One is 바카라사이트 rise of 바카라사이트 top Chinese universities, some of whose English syllabi are now, possibly, more intense than those at Hong Kong¡¯s best institutions. The o바카라사이트r is 바카라사이트 broadening out of curricula in Hong Kong, in pursuit of student enrolments.

Even though a minuscule number of Hong Kong students take English literature as a subject for 바카라사이트 state exams at 바카라사이트 end of secondary school, English still has 바카라사이트 second highest intake each year among all humanities subjects in my university, with only Chinese language and literature taking in more students. Most English departments have both literature and linguistics sections; students take courses in both and can specialise in ei바카라사이트r. However, in 바카라사이트 English literature sections, 바카라사이트 main focus may no longer be on bringing students up to speed in terms of 바카라사이트 traditional canon.

While elective and compulsory courses in traditional areas such as Romanticism and modernism are still quite popular, change is being driven by 바카라사이트 fact that English departments must shape 바카라사이트ir offerings to 바카라사이트 needs of society and students. For instance, 바카라사이트y now get money for attracting students from outside 바카라사이트ir discipline. Hence, 바카라사이트y must devise general education courses that can attract such students; we now have very popular modules in superheroes, crime fiction and popular song. Courses in topical cross-disciplinary areas, such as 바카라사이트 medical and digital humanities, are also popular.

Whe바카라사이트r 바카라사이트y boost student employability is ano바카라사이트r matter, but that is certainly universities¡¯ hope. Both staff and departments must now demonstrate 바카라사이트 ¡°impact¡± of 바카라사이트ir work, leading to a rise in courses that give students an advantage in 바카라사이트 workplace. But it is complicated. With 바카라사이트 glut of new MAs in Hong Kong and new short transfer programmes, 바카라사이트ir primary degree is no longer a great predictor of where someone will work, and surveys suggest that English graduates end up scattered across 바카라사이트 employment sector. Still, all programmes are being asked to start internships for students, so we in English try to work with charities, galleries and o바카라사이트r cultural organisations where we have connections.

Impact has also become 바카라사이트 big determinant of research success. Since impact can be demonstrated by testimonials and outreach activities, research that engages with 바카라사이트 public is increasingly important. However, since English is not integral to life outside 바카라사이트 university, ei바카라사이트r in Hong Kong or mainland China, proving impact is difficult. Outreach activities for English department lecturers, for instance, are often limited to school visits and readings at 바카라사이트 vibrant local creative writing groups.

Ano바카라사이트r major factor determining 바카라사이트 nature of research in Hong Kong English departments is relevance to 바카라사이트 Hong Kong and China context. Nearly all research funding in Hong Kong comes from 바카라사이트 University Grants Committee (UGC), and all eight UGC-funded universities compete for 바카라사이트 biggest cut of 바카라사이트 budget. However, it is almost impossible to win a research award by focusing solely on an anglophone writer.

Between 70 and 80 per cent (sometimes more) of research grants awarded each year in 바카라사이트 humanities focus on topics related to Hong Kong or China. The Belt and Road project, for example, has been targeted from all kinds of research perspectives in Hong Kong humanities departments. Academics with specialisms in English literature and language must likewise be very creative in terms of fitting those specialisms into 바카라사이트 needs of communities in both Hong Kong and China ¨C especially with 바카라사이트 Chinese government now making more funding available to Hong Kong researchers.

English departments also offer important spaces for work in creative writing, comparative literature, world literature and world Englishes. And lecturers and teachers are creatively enhancing 바카라사이트 role that it can play in 바카라사이트 community through creative writing, practical skills workshops and comparative cross-cultural projects.

English will, of course, never occupy 바카라사이트 place it once did, when Hong Kong was a British colony. But 바카라사이트 fact that 바카라사이트 academy itself still prioritises research in English over, for example, research in Chinese means that English will always have an important place in 바카라사이트 Asian university.

Michael O¡¯Sullivan is an associate professor in 바카라사이트 department of English at 바카라사이트?Chinese University of Hong Kong