English, B.A.

Program Learning Outcomes

“Expected student learning outcomes specify the knowledge, skills, values, and attitudes students are expected to attain in courses or in a program.” Page 69. Resource Manual for the Principles of Accreditation: Foundations for Quality Enhancement, Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges (SACSCOC), 2018.

1. Students will identify the major historical periods and key movements in American and British literature, demonstrating an understanding of the major authors, ideas, and literary techniques (including genres and subgenres) of those respective periods and movements.

2. Students will display a command of standard written English and an appreciation for its structures, nuances, and rhetorical effects.

3. Students will know and apply key literary terms and interpretive strategies, demonstrating a basic familiarity with major literary theories.

4. Students will write mature, substantive analyses of literary texts, informed by the appropriate tools of the profession.

5. Students will employ critical and creative thinking in various reading and interpretive processes.

6. Students will demonstrate the ability to read and interpret literary texts with reference to a Christian perspective

General Education Requirements - 43-48 Credit Hours

English majors must meet the Baccalaureate Degree Requirements  as set out in the General Education Program .

Foreign Language Requirement - 3-6 Credit Hours

English majors are required to take:

• one intermediate foreign language course (3 credit hours), OR
• two elementary foreign language courses (6 credit hours), OR
• one elementary and one intermediate foreign language course (6 credit hours).

Note: No CLEP, AP, IB, or transient study credits may be used to fulfill this requirement. These credits must be fulfilled at PBA. English majors taking classes at PBA in French, German, or Spanish to meet the language requirement for the major should use one of those to fulfill the Global Studies requirement.

School of Arts and Sciences Additional Natural Science Requirements - 5 Credit Hours

Students in the School of Arts and Sciences must take five additional hours of natural science: 1 lab to accompany the course taken for general education [BIO 1043 , BIO 1023 , ESC 1043 , OCY 1043 , FOR 1003  , PHY 1033 , PHY 1063 , or PHY 2113  and one additional natural science course and accompanying lab. The two natural sciences must be in different areas (one BIO and one other). In sum, students are required to take a minimum of 8 hours of natural science courses: two natural science courses (one biological science and one other) along with the labs associated with each. We recommend Psychology majors take BIO 1043   and BIO 1041  (lab) to fulfill one science requirement.

Required English Courses - 39 Credit Hours

Additional required credit hours - 32-33 Credit Hours

This meets the 120-credit-hour requirement and the 42-upper-level requirement.

Sample English Degree Plan

120 Credit Hours