Rhetoric, Composition, and Language Courses Fall 2025
ENGL 362: Foundations of Technical Writing
Instructor: Yee-Lum Mak
16418 | By appointment | Online (Aug 18-Oct 10)
16420 | By appointment | Online (Oct 15-Dec 12)
ENGL 380: Introduction to Rhetoric & Composition
Instructor: Pritha Prasad & Laura Northup
21096 | MW 2:00-3:15 PM | Wescoe 4051
This course will introduce you to the interdisciplinary field of rhetoric and composition, a sub-discipline of English that emphasizes the study and teaching of writing, rhetorical criticism, and cultural studies. How has the study of rhetoric, communication, and literacy evolved throughout history and across cultural and political contexts? How did rhetoric, the study of the art of persuasion, come to be integrated with composition, the study and teaching of writing? Where does rhetoric and composition fit within the broader landscape of English studies and the unique history of English departments? While we will consider these broader questions surrounding rhetoric and composition’s origins and disciplinary identity, this course will also more specifically consider the histories and archives of theory that have been foundational to the discipline, yet also deeply underrepresented. In particular, we will center and explore Black studies, decolonial studies, and critical race/ethnic studies perspectives on writing, literacy, and rhetoric. By the end of the course, students will have gained sufficient experience in understanding the historical, cultural, political, and institutional exigencies that have informed the development and evolution of rhetoric and composition as a discipline; discussing major conversations in the field surrounding rhetoric, literacy, and writing/the teaching of writing; and identifying underrepresented and/or emergent perspectives, histories, and theoretical approaches in the field and their implications for past and future scholarship and teaching in rhetoric and composition.
ENGL 387: Introduction to the English Language
Instructor: Wen Xin
26552 | TuTh 9:30-10:45 AM | Wescoe 4023
In this course, we will first learn the “language” that we can use to appropriately describe the English language at the pronunciation, word, and sentence levels. Then, we will explore what factors influence how people speak and write in different contexts, where such contextual conventions come from, and how these conventions have changed over time and are still changing. We will also talk about how a principled collection of language use can assist us in understanding how the English language works. Last, we will look at English in the U.S. and around the world, dipping into the history of English as well as predicting its future. By the end of this course, I hope you 1) are able to use appropriate language to talk about the English language, 2) are aware that language variations occur across regions, nations, communicative contexts, and time periods depending on various factors, and 3) are able to employ corpora to explore language-related questions.
ENGL 580: Rhetorics & Politics of Horror
Instructor: Pritha Prasad
24457 | MW 3:30-4:45 PM | Wescoe 4021
In this seminar, we will discuss and interrogate the ways horror has been used in film and television to forward political and cultural commentary, particularly surrounding identity and power (i.e. race, gender, class, nation, and dis/ability). We will cover a range of historical and contemporary examples of horror film and television, focusing specifically on subgenres like racial horror, feminist horror, body horror, and psychological horror. We will supplement and contextualize our analyses of these texts with interdisciplinary readings from film and media studies, rhetorical criticism, critical race theory, feminist and queer studies, and popular culture studies. What makes something “scary,” and how might dominant fears and anxieties be underpinned by gendered, racialized, sexualized, and/or ableist cultural narratives? As a genre that uniquely relies upon the creative, multimodal use of visual, aural, spoken, and textual elements, what kinds of “arguments” does horror make about culture, politics, society, and history? Throughout the semester, students will be required to complete regular reading and viewing assignments, as well as a series of writing assignments, including a final analytical research paper.
