.(1) Emma-Louise Silva will provide students with an introduction to life course studies and age studies, based on research by Lorraine Green and Susan Pickard. Then she will delve into an article by Vanessa Joosen on intergenerational dialogues in children's literature studies. Lieven Vandelanotte will introduce students to the work of several linguists and other writers working on topics related to language and language change across the life course: Michael Erard, Patrick McGuinness, Peter Petré, and Heike Pichler. This theoretical background will form the basis for the students' active participation in supporting the organisation of the Belgian Association of Anglicists in Higher Education's (BAAHE) annual conference, which will be held at UNamur on 11 and 12 December. This two-day event features an interdisciplinary symposium "Lifelines: Language, memory, and the life course" and a themed conference "Language and literature across the lifespan". The students will thus gain hands-on experience on conference organisation, and they will co-host a range of researchers and authors.
(2) With Nathalie Borrelli, the students will study Shakespeare as a "living" author. The focus this semester will be on The Comedy of Errors and Macbeth. Together with the course teachers, the students will attend a performance of The Comedy of Errors by the Cambridge University European Theatre Group in Leuven on 10 December.
The course as a whole will further develop the students' literary and linguistic erudition, and further improve the students' knowledge of the English language in various stylistic forms. The course also aims to improve oral and written skills in English allowing students to competently present literary and linguistic pieces of academic argumentation (level C1 of the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages).
(1) Reading with comments of selected secondary sources on life course studies, age studies, and literary studies
(2) Reading of The Comedy of Errors and Macbeth
Lorraine Greene, Understanding the Life Course (2017)
Susan Pickard, Age Studies (2016)
Vanessa Joosen, "Second Childhoods and Intergenerational Dialogues: How Children's Literature Studies and Age Studies Can Supplement Each Other" (2015)
Articles by Michael Erard, Patrick McGuinness, Peter Petré and Heike Pichler
Patrick McGuinness, Other People’s Countries
The Comedy of Errors
Macbeth
The exercises correspond to the Shakespeare component of the course. For this module, students should be able to provide a detailed paraphrase in modern English of key passages in the original text.
(1) Reading of scholarly articles with the help of the teacher. Discussion of article contents with the students, and presentation of their own analyses or reflections.
(2) Reading of (fragments from) the plays with comments by teacher. Dramatic reading exercises. Video fragments. Presentation of selected fragments by the students (coached by instructor). Attending a performance of the The Comedy of Errors. Personal reading.
Taking part in any activities organised by the department (whether intra muros or extra muros) as part of this course is considered to be part and parcel of the learning experience and is obligatory. In particular, class attendance is obligatory, as is presence at the Shakespeare performance, the interdisciplinary symposium and the conference on 10, 11 and 12 December.
(1) Active class participation. Participation in the preparation and organization of the conference. Final written conference report.
(2) Continuous assessment. Test on Macbeth. Oral exam.
Use of AI tools to produce texts or content in either the formative or summative assessment phases will not be tolerated, unless explicitly stated.
Weighting of the different course components:
(1) 14/20
(2) 6/20
(1) Scholarly articles and other texts (including the book Other People’s Countries by Patrick McGuinness)
(2) Editions of the plays studied
| Training | Study programme | Block | Credits | Mandatory |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bachelor in Modern Languages and Literatures: German, Dutch and English | Standard | 0 | 5 | |
| Bachelor in Modern Languages and Literatures: German, Dutch and English | Standard | 3 | 5 |