Presentation of programme and evaluation criteria

19 Setembro 2016, 14:00 • Cecília Maria Beecher Martins

Teacher: Cecilia Beecher Martins email address: cbeecher@campus.ul.pt

Learning outcomes of the curricular unit

This CU has two principle objectives. The first is to encourage students to develop a reflective and analytical encounter with the arts, namely cinema and literature. To expand students’ insight in this area conventional thinking will be supplemented with concepts from Norman N Holland’s psychoanalytic literary & film criticism as well as contemporary biological scientists and philosophers. Neuroendocrinologist, Robert Sapolsky and neuropsychoanalyst Mark Solms in the case of the former. In the case of the latter Byung-Chul Han and Miranda Fricker.

 

The second principle objective is to provide students with the linguistic and practical skills required so that they can become familiar with the writing style and language associated with film and literary criticism in the English language. As this CU is a thematic English language CU at C2 level all written and oral exercises will be graded at this level and students will be evaluated according to this pattern.

 

Syllabus

During the course of this CU students will read one set novel: Colm Tóibín’s Nora Webster (2015). This will be discussed in class through student presentations as it presents perspectives on how the arts can offer relevant solutions for contemporary issues. In the former a bereaving family, mourning the early death of a father, find common ground in cinema. The films presented in the basic filmography will either support the above work or be used to teach conventional and free associative film analysis techniques.

Students will also read, present in class and/or discuss texts of the following types:

1.      contemporary literary scholars, namely Norman N Holland and Murray Schwartz, working in the area of psychoanalytical literary criticism;

2.      Contemporary philosophy, namely Byung-Chul Han’s thinking on possible causes for the exponential growth of anxiety in contemporary society as well as Miranda Fricker’s proposals on epistemic injustice. We will discuss how reflective contact with the arts may be relevant in dealing with the above traits.

Students will also watch and discuss online lectures relevant in the areas of neuroendocrinologist, Robert Sapolsky and neuropsychoanalyst Mark Solms.

 

Essay writing and literary criticism writing will also be important elements in the CU.

 

Demonstration of the syllabus coherence with the curricular unit's objectives

Students will be instructed in the writing of conventional literary and film criticism using benchmark references in this area namely Barnet & Cain’s A Short Guide to Writing about Literature, and Corrigan’s A Short Guide to Writing about Film 5^th Ed, (2001). They will be prepared for writing free associative film and literary analysis using the most important references in this field, namely Holland’s Meeting Movies (2006), and Holland and Schwartz’s Know Thyself Delphi Seminars (2008). All these works not only offer a comprehensive explanation of the subject, but they also offer practical examples. The matters will be discussed sequentially giving students time to get used to one subject before moving onto the next. Methods and applications will be compared and contrasted as the work proceeds. 

The scientific materials selected from outside the literary area are all presented in comprehensive language and a dynamic pedagogical approach. The literary texts read during the semester have been chosen because they exemplify and illustrate points presented in the scientific articles.

Thus care has been taken in the selection of the bibliography and in the progression of the presentation of topics.

 

Teaching methodologies (including evaluation)

Student-centred task-based methods will be used in this CU. A step-by-step approach will be applied and the degree of difficulty of tasks will develop progressively.

Evaluation:

40%: Written test based on theoretical elements of the program.

30%: 2,000-word written assignment: a comprehensive film or literary review using conventional and free associative analysis techniques or an academic essay on the role the arts (in particular film and literature) can play in contemporary society.

30%: Continuous Assessment made up of grades arising from class presence & participation as well as oral and written assignments. All students must perform at least one class presentation of CU material and two short (2-page) written film analysis assignments during the semester.

Graded assignments – 3x10%:

1^st written assignment: A conventional film review following procedures presented in class.

Oral Assignment: Presentation of class material.

2^nd Written Assignment: Addition of free associative film analysis component to the first review.