English

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The English Department serves all UH Hilo students through its introductory and specialized courses in composition, its literature survey courses, and its linguistics courses. These are designed to strengthen students' awareness of the complexity and power of the written language and to increase students' ability to think critically and to express themselves logically and persuasively.

Degree Requirements

See degree requirements for a detailed listing of the English B.A. requirements.

English Web Site

Visit the English web site at http://www.uhh.hawaii.edu/depts/english/.

The English Major

The English major is designed to expose students to a wide range of intellectual history through the reading and analysis of important literary works. The English Department offers students a choice among four major emphases leading to the Bachelor of Arts in English:

  1. The Literary Studies Emphasis
  2. The Rhetoric, Composition, and Creative Writing Emphasis
  3. The Cultural Studies Emphasis
  4. The ESL/TESOL/Linguistics emphasis

Each emphasis requires careful, critical reading of and writing about English language texts.

I. The Literary Studies Emphasis

The Literary Studies Emphasis, combined with a well-balanced General Education program, provides English majors with a comprehensive humanities education, giving students a thorough grounding in the literary tradition in English as well as the tools for addressing the multifaceted questions that literary study raises, including issues of gender, class, and ethnicity. Literature courses address great works written or translated into English, the nature and context of literary production and study, and the historical and theoretical backgrounds and contexts of a wide range of texts. Program requirements ensure that students will graduate with a well-rounded background in humanities that will prepare them to pursue a wide range of career options, including graduate study in areas such as teaching and law.

II. The Rhetoric, Composition, and Creative Writing Emphasis

The Rhetoric, Composition, and Creative Writing Emphasis offers students opportunities to study and practice the arts of rhetoric, argument, and critical and creative expression in written communication. Students will develop analytical, critical, and persuasive skills by writing for a variety of audiences and professions, including business, law, government, and administration. In addition, students will explore rhetoric’s historical origins; sample the latest theories; develop skills for teaching, web designing, document production, and visual communication; learn to write proposals and grant applications; and edit technical and scientific documents, whether print or online. Finally, through the study of creative and literary texts, students will develop a broad appreciation of writing as an artistic endeavor.

III. The Cultural Studies Emphasis

The Cultural Studies Emphasis encourages critical analysis of culture and texts, chiefly literature, film, visual art and popular culture, in light of guided interdisciplinary inquiry into the socio-economic and political conditions which give rise to thought and expression. Students will study specific areas of cultural production, and specific issues in and sites of cultural politics, including those of nation, class, gender, sexuality, ethnicity and race. This emphasis addresses questions about the hegemonic functions of culture, the institutions in which culture is produced and transmitted, and its role in the formation of identities. Forms of cultural expression are thus analyzed in context both as discourse and as praxis.

IV. The ESL/TESOL/Linguistics Emphasis

The ESL/TESOL/Linguistics Emphasis gives students a solid background in linguistics, aspects of the history and uses of the English language, and methods for teaching ESL. Practical teaching experiences, both on and off campus are provided. The 18 semester hour TESOL Certificate prepares students to teach ESL.

UH Hilo English Requirements

UH Hilo requires all students to complete English 100, English 100T, or ESL 100. To enroll in these courses, students must perform at an appropriate level on the UH Hilo Writing Placement Exam. In addition, all non-native speakers must take the English Proficiency Test. On the basis of their performance in the writing placement test, students might be required to successfully complete certain courses before they can proceed to English 100/100T or ESL 100. Credits earned in ESL courses other than ESL 100 do not count towards graduation, but they do count for visa and financial aid purposes.

Note: ENG 100/ESL 100 is required for all other English courses. Any additional prerequisites for courses are indicated as needed.

English Faculty and Staff