Restoration and the 18^th Century Literature (chart 2)     

No.	Section	Writer	Work
1	Drama	William Congreve	The Way of the World
		John Gay	The Beggar’s Opera
		Ben Jonson	Volpone (Stage Performance)
2	Poetry	Alexander Pope	The Rape of the Lock
		John Dryden	Absalom and Achitophel

To visualize the students’ appreciation of the different worlds in the 17-18^th century, the teacher proposes to show the adapted films to the students along with the explication of the original texts. Thus, the students would have impressive images on the literary texts they are going to read and eventually to perform the original play on the stage. After reading the original texts, a group discussion and the assigned questions will be accordingly followed to cultivate the students’ capability to digest the reading texts and their ability of having a critical thinking. The students are anticipated to respond to the reading texts critically yet sensitively by using appropriate textual material. At the same time, the exploring of important literary terms is a necessary must for understanding the spirit of each literal text. In other words, the course emphasizes the students’ participation in ways of group interaction and presentations, drama-focused activity, and individual writing projects to develop their ability of in-depth understanding of the 17-18^th century literature.

At the conclusion of the course, the students are expected to

  Discuss the works of major 17-18 British writers in the following contexts:
     ~  Literary periods (the 17^th century, Restoration, and the 18^th century)
     ~  Social, intellectual movements and royal history;
  Trace the development genres within their historical contexts;
  Analyze literary works for their aesthetic features and thematic patterns;
  Identify styles, themes, and works of major writers;
  Examine a variety of critical approaches to literature though formal and cultural approaches

  Think critically and discuss your responses confidently;
  Write clear analytical essays; 

 Learning and practice a stage performance

Attendance Policy (15%)出勤

       It is necessary to be punctual in the class. Regular attendance and voluntary participation in the class and discussion are cordially invited. There are 7-8 times of roll calls to be counted and scored, each of them is 2 % of course grade, which means all together students’ attendance of the class will be 15 % of course grade. If you miss more than 3-4 classes, your grade and reading progress will be so seriously affected that you would confront the problem of failing this course. 2 times of being recorded as arriving late is considered as 1 absence. Only 1 sickness is allowed, otherwise the students have to show a remedy certificate. However, the best policy is to be punctual and well-prepared to discuss the assigned reading materials and handouts. It is advisable for any student with special medical problem who informs the teacher of his/her health situation regularly.    

Mid-term Examination (30%)

     The mid-term examination is based on the above texts depicted in “Chart 1.” The students are required to study the above texts in order to take the mid-term examination. However, any student disobeying the rule may be disqualified from the examination. The written mid-term examination lasts for two hours and the students are expected not to leave the class after one-hour stay. The examination format could be multiple choice and essay questions drawn from the discussions in the class. The essays must be well written and must reflect a thorough knowledge of what we have discussed in the class. Make-up tests will be given only in the case of extreme emergency and may consist of essay questions only and the score will be deducted 20%. 

Play Performance (30%)

     All the students are expected to join the rehearsal and drama competition held by the English Department by staging Ben Jonson’s Volpone. Each person should be assigned or voluntarily   participate in the stage performance and follow the instruction of the teacher and director. A drama competition personnel list will be given after the mid-term exam for the students to choose their appropriate roles on the stage or off the stage. The grading will be valued according to the students’ diligence, enthusiasm, talent, and cooperation, especially on the process of rehearsal and the stage of performance.  

Group-based English Oral Presentation (25%)口頭報告

       10 groups are divided and 1 leader must be chosen for each group for the purpose of giving an oral presentation (20 %), which is required to be demonstrated around 10-15 minutes for each group and a timer will help to set the time. The pattern of an oral presentation would be suggested as follows. (1) a presentation must be relevant to the understanding of one assigned reading, especially on the issues of assigned literary terms, characters, themes, settings, metaphors and an analysis of the website article. (2) Highly encouraged for each group is the use of audiovisual materials (powerpoint format slides with pictures, videotapes, audio recordings, web pages) as well as creative work by the presenters such as skits, reciting, performances, art work, etc. to the teacher 2 days earlier (3) The use of website materials, especially Norton Topics Online, will make each group’s score higher. (4) It is better to have a host (or hostess) to introduce each reporter and the procedure in English on the stage. (6) The student who is absent from the oral report will be penalized with 0 score.

Plagiarism 抄襲

        Proper citation and documentation of any source should be recorded at the point in your papers to specify where they come from and in a list of all sources cited given at the end of your paper. Plagiarism is considered as a serious academic violation of intellectual property rights, and may earn your written report an automatic score of below 60 or even failure of the course.