Department Of English At University Of Ghana Programmes

Department Of English At University Of Ghana Programmes

ENGL 121 Foundation English 1 (Writing Skills) (3 Credits)
ENGL 121 is designed to help make the student a better, more effective writer and a more critical
thinker and reader. Towards this end, students will learn theories of argumentation and analysis
and practice generating and developing their own ideas. Through drafting and revision, students
will construct reasoned, well-supported written arguments on a variety of literary, linguistic,
academic and general topics. This course will also prepare students to do research and document
source materials correctly and develop a clean, effective writing style that is free of major errors.
ENGL 122 Foundation English 2 (Writing and Imaginative Literature) (3 Credits)
English 122 is a foundation course in literature that is meant to reinforce and build on the
knowledge and skills acquired in ENGL 121. It consists of practice in reading and writing about
imaginative literature with a view to broadening the extent and variety of students’ thinking and
writing. Students will read and write about a variety of literary texts using the argumentative
writing skills they learned in English 121 and some critical perspectives that they will learn in this
course. These exercises will awaken students to the uses of language in literature, the structure of
texts, the ideas that shape our culture, and the interrelationship between ideas and language. In
short, this course will help students learn to think critically and creatively about literature and to
express those thoughts clearly.

ENGL 221 Introduction to the English Language I (3 Credits)
This is a two-part one-semester course which introduces students to the general principles of
phonetic and phonological description of English, the mechanics of speech production, and the
relationship between orthography and orthoepy, leading to a simple analysis of the sound system
of English. It also examines the English language as a grammatical system in which relationships
at definite points in the paradigm of syntactic structures are identified using the traditional
grammatical model of description. Grammatical categories are also explained.
ENGL 222 Introduction to the English Language II (3 Credits)
This course introduces students to linguistic analysis with special reference to lexis and semantics.
Word formation processes and their implications for meaning in English are examined, as well as
the properties of meaning in the English language and the conditions that aid the interpretation of
what we say or do not say.
ENGL 223 Survey of English Literature I (3 Credits)
This course, the first part of a basic introduction to English Literature, traces through a selection of
representative texts the development of English letters from the Anglo-Saxon beginnings through
Shakespeare and his contemporaries in the Elizabethan age to Milton and the Restoration in the
seventeenth century.
ENGL 224 Survey of English Literature II (3 Credits)
This course, the second part of the basic introduction to English Literature, follows through a
selection of representative texts the development of English Literature from the Augustans in the
early eighteenth century to the Age of Sensibility later in that century. It also introduces the
student to the Romantic Movement in the early nineteenth century and the Victorians later in that
century, and concludes with a selection of twentieth century writing.
ENGL 311 Grammar (2 Credits)
This course involves a more detailed analysis of the grammatical structure of the English language
using a chosen theory of linguistic description. The aim is to show how the language can be taken
apart and reassembled to produce different kinds of sentences by looking at the basic constituents
of a sentence from the word to the clause.
ENGL 312 Semantics (2 Credits)
This course provides a core detailed discussion of meaning in language and the way
meaning is expressed through words and sentences. It deals specifically with word
meaning and sentence interpretation. It offers a comprehensive discussion of issues such
as semantic relations, sense relations, semantic roles, semantic change and structural
ambiguity and interpretation.
ENGL 313 Practice in Criticism (2 Credits)
This is a practical course in literary criticism. The aim of the course is to develop students’
responsiveness to literature and give them the technical language and analytical procedure for
describing how literary texts achieve their effects.
ENGL 314 Introduction to African Literature (2 Credits)
This is essentially a survey course meant to offer a formal introduction to African Literature in its
broadest historical and cultural contexts. Our aim is for each student to gain a close, personal
familiarity with selected representative texts of major forms/genres and of the major writers of
various periods. The texts will be placed in the general socio-political and cultural contexts of their
production.
ENGL 315 Phonetics and Phonology (2 Credits)
The importance of phonetics and phonology as reference points in pronunciation is emphasized in
this course. A theoretical approach followed by practice will be adopted in discussing single sound
segments and the phonological processes involved during connected speech. Theories of
syllabification, the phoneme and the taxonomic principles of phonemic analysis as well as the
characteristics and uses of suprasegmental features will also be examined.
ENGL 316 Shakespeare and His Age (2 Credits)
This course aims at introducing students to the achievement of Shakespeare as a poet and
dramatist. A representative sample of this achievement will be read. The main focus will be on
understanding each individual work. Attention will however also be paid to the wider cultural,
literary and stylistic context of his work and how Shakespeare transformed the legacy that he
worked with.
ENGL 317 English as a Second Language (3 Credits)
This course will examine the expectations of different Englishes –English as a first, second and
foreign language. It will explore learning processes and the expected product in second language
situations. It will also examine processes of hybridization consequent on contact situations with
indigenous languages and discuss how far the English language is affected by its relationship with
other languages with which it is contiguous.
ENGL 318 Varieties and Functions of Language (3 Credits)
This course will examine the various ways in which language varieties are classified. Emphasis
will be placed on the linguistic features associated with each variety. In addition, the course will
study the functions language can perform and show how these functions determine the linguistic
choices made.
ENGL 319 Discourse Analysis (3 Credits)
This course will introduce students to the analysis of English in use. The focus will be on the
application of the knowledge of the grammar and lexical systems of English to texts for an
understanding of how sentences are combined in discourse to produce meaning. It will also direct
attention to the analysis of how sentences are used in the performance of different communicative
acts.
ENGL 321 Advanced Expository Writing (3 Credits)
This course aims at equipping students with the skills they need to meet the demands of expository
discourse. It is a practical course that explores various aspects of exposition and provides students
with techniques of expository writing.
ENGL 322 The English Language in Communication (3 Credits)
This course will study the nature of the English language as a tool for communication. It will
involve a closer look at definitions of language—verbal and non-verbal—and the wider
implications of communication theories. The course will also study the English language and the
immediate environment, topics, participants and coding systems, turn taking and cues in
interaction in which English is used as a second language in Ghana.

ENGL 323 Special Topic (3 Credits)
A special course, to be offered under various sub-titles aimed at exploring new areas/subjects of
specialized interest not otherwise already provided for in the syllabus.
ENGL 324 The Development of English Prose Style (3 Credits)
This course examines the inherent features of prose. It is essentially a survey course that looks at
the major periods of prose from Old English times to recent times. Attention will especially be
paid to the 16th, 17th and 18th centuries.
ENGL 325 The Evolution of English Poetry (3 Credits)
This course offers the student the opportunity to study English Poetry from the 16th century to the
middle of the 20th century, and to investigate the lines of continuity which unify the diverse
developments that have occurred in English poetry in the different periods.
ENGL 326 Advanced Practice in Oral Communication (3 Credits)
This course is meant for students with career objectives that require a very high level of
competence in Oral English Communication. The course will be devoted to a thorough grounding
in general phonetics and the phonological system of English, followed by a series of specially
designed practice drills, leading to competence development exercises in a variety of performance
situations.
ENGL 327 History, Theory and Practice of Literary Criticism (3 Credits)
The course provides an overview of how literature has been justified, defended, and criticized
down the centuries from classical antiquity to the modern schools of literary theory. The aim of
the course is to introduce students to the variety of thought on literature itself and ultimately
provide a basis from which they may discuss and write about literature.
ENGL 328 Introduction to Oral Literature (3 Credits)
This course introduces students to the creative and other resources that provide foundation texts
for Africa’s cultural heritage. It will also study the way in which literary traditions serve as a
major creative resource for some traditions of written literature.
ENGL 329 The Early Novel (3 Credits)
The course will study the early phases of development of the novel in English. It will begin with a
general survey of antecedents to the novel form and focus next on those 18th Century writings
which ensured the coming of age of the novel form as a distinct genre.
ENGL 331 Seminal Works in African Thought (3 Credits)
This is a specialist seminar focusing on some of the African continent’s major thinkers. The aim is
not only to study the seminal thoughts forming the wider context of the business of ‘making
literature’ in Africa but also to discuss the intellectual and cultural agenda posed by such thought.
ENGL 332 Drama (3 Credits)
This course will seek to examine the peculiar features of the genre. It will explore such questions
as: What is drama? What is its relation to life? What does the theatre experience involve? What is
the cultural value of drama? Texts from the great ages of drama and representing the main genres
of dram will be elected to explore the foregoing questions.

ENGL 333 Introduction to Creative Writing (3 Credits)
This is an elective open to students with some talent for creative writing. The basic objective of
the course is to introduce students to creative writing in any of the main genres: drama, poetry and
fiction. Each student will be expected to engage in critical discussions of their own writing as well
as on writing of other members of the class. The focus will be on developing a grasp of the
rudiments and the general mechanics of the writer’s craft while at the same time allowing for a
fuller realization of the individuals’ creative impulse and talent.
ENGL 334 Modern Drama (3 Credits)
This course will study classic drama from the modern era. The reading will cover a representative
sampling of British, European, American and African dramatic traditions. It will also cover the
cultural and historical context of the work and the particular author’s contribution to the
transformation of the genre in the modern era.
ENGL 335 Literature and Gender (3 Credits)
The course aims at introducing students to a gender analysis of the institution of literature. It will
offer an overview of such approaches to the institution of literature and through a selection of texts
help students to arrive at a sense of how literature may be judged to have served the respective
interests of men and women in different places and times.
ENGL 336 Creative Writing (3 Credits)
This is an elective open to students who have taken ENGL333 and have demonstrated ability for
creative writing. The basic objective of the course is to sharpen the students’ creative skills in the
main genres—poetry, drama, and fiction. As in ENGL333, each student will be expected to
engage in critical discussions of their own writing as well as of writing of other members of the
class.
ENGL 337 Literature of the African Diaspora (3 Credits)
This is an introductory survey course which will study representative forms of oral literature of the
African Diaspora, early written texts, and selected contemporary authors, covering the Caribbean,
the Americas, and Europe.
ENGL 338 Early English Texts (3 Credits)
This course has two main objectives: to demonstrate language change, i.e. how English has
changed from Old English through Early Middle English and Middle English to the language of
Chaucer, and to introduce students to early English literature in its original form.
ENGL 339 Literature, Film and Society (3 Credits)
This is a course with a focus on theoretical, technical, aesthetic, psychological, and sociological
dimensions of the interface between literature and film as modes of representation and narration.
Selected texts and films will be considered in regard to:
 Narrative form, structure, and social impact
 Image making and manipulation of metaphor and symbol
 Social relevance and imagined realities
 Myth-making in literature and in film
 Language and re/representations of meaning in literature and film
 Frameworks for analysis and interpretation of literature and film, etc.

ENGL 354 Criticism and the Arts (3 Credits)
This is an upper level undergraduate seminar that explores the development from literary theory to
cultural theory and its role in the criticism of the arts especially in Ghana and Africa. The focus
ultimately is on application of the skills of discursive analysis and interpretation to other material
in the realm of the arts apart from the textual.
ENGL 361 Children’s Literature (3 Credits)
This course introduces students to the genre of children’s literature. It explores the reasons why
children enjoy certain kinds of literary imagination. It also examines certain classic texts of the
genre in order to determine its history and to explore the literary qualities that distinguish this
body of writing.
ENGL 374 Modern Poetry (3 Credits)
The course will consist of a historical and a theoretical survey of modern poetry. It will expose
students to the modern trends in poetry in English. Various literary movements of the early 20th
century will be discussed. A selection of poems from the modern era will be studied.
ENGL 376 Literature as Performance (3 Credits)
The course will consider various theoretical issues about the many ways in which “literature as
performance” may be seen as a four-way encounter between text, context, artist, and audience,
each one helping to enhance aesthetic experience and “present enjoyment of the intrinsic qualities
of the act of expression itself” (Bauman). The course provides an appropriate intellectual
framework for critical analysis and appreciation of a wide range of traditional and contemporary
art forms. Along with theoretical considerations, there will also be opportunity to observe recorded
and/or live performance events. Students may be required to offer individual or group performance
mini-projects as part of the requirements.
ENGL 380 Realism in the Novel
This course provides an overview of the practice of the novel especially in its dominant phase.
The reading for the course explores the sense in which the notion of ‘realism’ remains central to
the genre and will also show the significant variations from and challenges to this notion of the
novel.
ENGL 398 Landmarks of African-American literature (3 Credits)
This is a follow-up to ENGL379, aimed at providing an in-depth study of major movements/
periods [such as the Harlem Renaissance] and a small set of seminal or canonical works by major
writers in African literary history.
ENGL 399 Critical Issues in African Literature (3 Credits)
This course involves a close examination of the different debates on how to approach African
literature. Issues such as the authority of the critic of African Literature and the different
theoretical approaches will be discussed in relation to specific chosen works.
ENGL 411 Contemporary English Usage (2 Credits)
The course examines the basic concepts of language contact with special reference to English in
Ghana. It also discusses what constitutes a variety of language, as well as the phonological,
structural, lexical and pragmatic peculiarities of Ghanaian English. The history of English in
Ghana will also be explored.

ENGL 412 English in Ghana (2 Credits)
This is essentially a practical course intended to deal with problem areas of English usage in
Ghana. The question of acceptable usage within the Ghanaian linguistic milieu will be discussed.
The course intends to strengthen students’ confidence in English usage. It will make them aware
of possible options for usage and the consequences of alternative choices. The course will teach
language skills necessary for performing adequately in a modern society and create awareness of
the debate concerning the ‘Indigenized Varieties’ or ‘New Englishes.’
ENGL 413 Ghanaian Literature (2 Credits)
This is an upper level course intended to introduce students to the evolution of creative writing by
Ghanaian authors in the specific context of the emergence of the modern nation state in Africa.
Issues such as nationalism and literature, national culture and the literary imagination, concepts of
national literature, the search for new forms of artistic expression and the Pan African tradition in
Ghanaian literature will inform readings and discussions.
ENGL 414 The Romantic Movement in English Literature (2 Credits)
The course seeks to study the rise and development of Romanticism in English Literature. It will
consist of a historical survey of Romantic prose and poetry and will involve reading selected
works of the major novelists and poets of the Romantic era.
ENGL 415 Modern Literary Theory (2 Credits)
The course explores the main movements in literary studies that have emerged and gained
currency since the rise of English as a discipline of study. The course aims to familiarize students
with the key debates and ideas from these movements.
ENGL 416 Introduction to Stylistics (2 Credits)
The course is essentially an applied course that is meant to sharpen students’ awareness
of what constitutes a text. Various theories as to what we mean by style and stylistics will
be examined. Other topics will include foregrounding, deviation and parallelism.
ENGL 417 History of the English Language (3 Credits)
This course will survey the historical development of the English Language from Anglo-Saxon
times to present day. It will study the concept of language change – the why and the how as well as
the internal history of the English Language.
ENGL 418 Pragmatics (3 Credits)
This course will examine the different ways in which context can influence the way we
interpret sentences. It will generally deal with the relationship between system sentences
and utterance. It will also address the speech act theory of meaning and basic elements of
logic and how they affect meaning. In addition, it will examine the relationship between
semantics, semiotics, and pragmatics, and bring out the syntactic and analytic structures
which influence the meaning that is accepted by the users of natural languages.
ENGL 419 Poetry (3 Credits)
The course will teach poetry as a genre. It will deepen students’ knowledge and appreciation of
poetry. Insights provided by such deep knowledge should lead students on to a more confident
aesthetic and analytical engagement with poetry in its various manifestations as defined by
context, time, place, and function. Texts for the course will be drawn from a wide range of
traditions.

ENGL 421 Introduction to Film and TV (3 Credits)
This course introduces students to what is sometimes considered as the newest art form in world
cultural history, and now probably the most pervasive form of artistic representation. Beginning
with a brief history of the invention of and early developments in cinematography, the course will
move into a focus on basic theories and techniques of representation in film, film as narrative art,
the aesthetics of film and the psychology and social impact of film and television. A selection of
films/productions will be viewed for discussion and analysis.
ENGL 422 Business Writing (3 Credits)
The course covers the following subjects: editing, speech writing, resume/CV writing,
report writing, minutes, conference reporting, and research/project proposals. Beyond a
general introduction which the course will offer to all students, there will be course
offerings tailored to the specific needs of individual students.
ENGL 423 The Short Story (3 Credits)
The course will study English, European, Pan-American and African masters of the form. The aim
of the course will be to give students an understanding of the practice of each of the selected
writers and their unique contributions to the development of the short story genre.
ENGL 424 The New Literatures in English (3 Credits)
The course focuses on the literary phenomenon of the emergence of powerful literary voices from
those widely dispersed regions of the world, almost all of which were once part of the British
Empire, but all of which now claim articulations of self-determination and individual identity
through the ambivalent legacy of the English Language.
ENGL 425 Nineteenth Century Fiction (3 Credits)
The course provides an overview of the practice of the novel, especially in its dominant phase –
Jane Austen, George Eliot, Charles Dickens, Thomas Hardy. The course explores the
development of the ‘great tradition’ of English novel writing up to the late Victorian/early modern
period.
ENGL 426 Special Author (3 Credits)
This course is a specialist seminar on individual authors of exceptional significance in world
literary history. The seminar will be devoted to an in-depth examination of representative texts
from what must, in each case, be a substantial corpus of major literary works.
ENGL 427 Renaissance Drama (3 Credits)
This course will focus on dramatic attainment of this period of English literary history. The major
dramatists of the period will be studied with a view to determining how each of them reflects and
/or deviates from the characteristics of the period.
ENGL 428 Masterpieces of African Literature (3 Credits)
This course will deepen knowledge of Africa’s major / landmark contributions to world literary
heritage. It will pay critical attention to selected texts from various African countries, cultures,
languages and historical periods.
ENGL 429 Satire and the Enlightenment (3 Credits)
This course will be an exploration of the relationship between Literature, Politics and Society
during the Enlightenment in Europe, and how these are manifested in the texts to be studied.

ENGL 431 Studies in Popular Literature (3 Credits)
The course will consider the alleged disparity between the so-called ‘highbrow’ and ‘popular’
genre and themes in contemporary literature. It will consider the Ghanaian forms: the concert
party, highlife texts and the new novel with its romantic moralistic slant. It will also look at
‘popular’ international literature such as song texts, soap operas, the romantic novel, the ‘whodone-
it’ novel, the ‘superman’ action novel, etc.
ENGL 432 Twentieth Century Fiction (3 Credits)
This course continues the exploration of the development of the novel in English with a study of a
selection of novels from the early modern period – Henry James, Virginia Woolf, James Joyce, D.
H. Lawrence and Joseph Conrad. The debates surrounding these writers’ individual contributions
to the development of the novel will be explored. The theoretical dimension of the course rests in
an exploration of some key approaches to the study of the novel.
ENGL 433 English Literature from Milton to Blake (3 Credits)
This course is intended to acquaint students with the variety and development of English literature
from the age of John Milton to the age of William Blake. The reading on this course will be used
to show how each of the writers under study could be said to reflect and, sometimes, deviate from
the qualities that characterize the particular era in which they were writing.
ENGL 434 Caribbean Literature (3 Credits)
This course is devoted to representative authors/works that are fully grounded in the peculiarities
of the Caribbean, defined by its historical-geographical reality of fragmentation as well as by its
socio-cultural reality of multiple cultural heritages.
ENGL 435 Studies in African Prose (3 Credits)
This course is dedicated to a selection of important prose texts from the wider African literary
canon, with emphasis on the contemporary period. The texts for the course will include both prose
works originally written in the English language and those translated into English. While the
course will be organized around the aesthetic, cultural and political concerns that spur the authors
of the various texts, class discussions will also seek to situate the texts within their proper
historical contexts in order to establish how the concerns of African prose authors have evolved
over the past half century or so.
ENGL 436 Masterpieces of World Literature (3 Credits)
This is an upper level course which introduces students to a small set of selected texts from
various cultures and historical periods, each of which has become a foundation text in world
literary heritage. The qualities that make such texts stand the test of time and place will be at the
centre of critical attention.
ENGL 437 Studies in African Drama (3 Credits)
The course traces the development of African Drama from the traditional to the modern. It
explores the relationship between traditional African dramatic forms and western forms and how
playwrights have attempted to manage the two traditions and to theorize their practice.
ENGL 438 Masterpieces of American Literature (3 Credits)
This course introduces the students to literary works that stand out prominently from the American
literary landscape. The course, therefore, deals with works of a kind and magnitude that have
rendered them conspicuous, and which in various ways have provided a sense of direction to the
course of American literary development.

ENGL 439 Studies in African Poetry (3 Credits)
This is an exploratory course on the oral and written forms of African poetry. It includes the study
of the developments in African poetry in the European languages from the early writers through
the periods of negritude to the present.
ENGL 449 The Language of Religion (3 Credits)
This course will study the recurring structures in religious tracts, sermons and other such religious
texts. It will also consider meaning mechanisms and the effects they are expected to produce. It
will include a study of logic on the one hand, and rhetoric and persuasive language on the other. A
discussion of the nature of the mind and how it affects our decisions and actions will also be
explored.
ENGL 458 Life Story (3 Credits)
The course will begin with an examination of some of the most original and influential examples
of memoir and life story writing such as Caesar’s Gallic Wars (De Bello Gallico), Confessions of
St. Augustine, and Boswell’s Life of Samuel Johnson LL.D. The aim will be to discover the
modes employed traditionally by this kind of writing, namely: (a) the chronicle; (b) the
confession; (c) the secular model; (d) exemplary lives of the saints. Using examples from different
times and places, the course will then explore how the tradition has transcended and evolved
beyond these generic boundaries.
ENGL 476 Literature in Translation (3 Credits)
The course will:
 look at both prose and poetry that have been translated into the English language.
 consider the peculiar difficulty involved in translating an English text into a Ghanaian
language
 look at the peculiar differences that exist between translating a prose text and a poem.
The course will further look at the processes involved in this transference of one
linguistic system onto another.
ENGL 484 Advanced Practice in Criticism (3 Credits)
This course builds on the foundations laid in ENGL343. Through small group discussions of
selected texts, it aims to help students become more aware of the assumptions and frameworks
underpinning their reading of particular examples of literature even as they formulate their
response to texts.
ENGL 486 English Literature from Wordsworth to Hardy (3 Credits)
The course surveys writing from Wordsworth to Hardy. Though the main emphasis will be on an
understanding of each individual writer, the reading on the course will be used to bring out the
unity, change and development in this period of English literary history.
YEAR-LONG COURSES
ENGL 460 Long Essay (6 Credits)
ENGL 470 Advanced Creative Writing (6 Credits)
This course is a follow-up to ENGL 364 to be reserved for a handful of students who would have
demonstrated a strong potential for developing their individual creative writing projects into
publishable manuscripts. It is a two-semester conference course in which the student is helped to
finalize his/her work for submission to a publisher. No student can sign up for the course without a
written approval from the course instructor or Head of Department.