December 2011

M.A./M.A.T. Comprehensive Examination

The M.A./M.A.T. Comprehensive Exam will take the following form:

I. Explication of a short poem

A. M.A./M.A.T. Candidates: Explicate a short poem, demonstrating your

knowledge of rhetorical and prosodic terminology wherever appropriate.

II. Essay on the following prepared titles:

In Memoriam A.H.H., Alfred Tennyson

The Year of Magical Thinking, Joan Didion

Students are expected to study these texts carefully and to read appropriate criticism.

III. Essay on one of the following topics/areas:
    1. M.A. Candidates: Select one of the following topics and prepare it by studying appropriate texts and criticism:

    1. Imperial Gothic (at least two novels): Imperial Gothic is a distinctive subgenre of the Gothic characteristic of late Victorian England (post-1880)

    2. Paradox: the role of paradox in New Criticism and Deconstruction

    3. English Renaissance Revenge Tragedy (at least three plays)

    4. Error: study the role of error in student writing from one of the following perspectives. (The citations are meant as starting points for your inquiry.)

• World Englishes/Cultural Rhetorics perspective (Land and Whitley, "Evaluating Second-Language Essays in Regular Composition Classes," 1989; Silva, "On the Ethical Treatment of ESL Writers," 1993)

• Literacy History perspective (Shaughnessy, Errors and Expectations, 1977; Rose, "Rethinking Remediation: Toward a Social-Cognitive Understanding of Problematic Reading and Writing," 1989)

• Discourse Community perspective (Bizzell, "Cognition, Convention, and Certainty: What We Need to Know about Writing," 1982; Bartholomae, "Inventing the University," 1985)

• Rhetorical Grammar perspective (Weaver, Teaching Grammar in Context, 1996; Kolln, Rhetorical Grammar, 2006)
    1. M.A.T. Candidates: Discuss and explain in detail a pedagogical theory or approach that has informed or might inform your teaching, being sure to identify the source or work for that theory. Then apply that theory or approach to a specific literary text, explaining how it has informed your teaching of that text. Be specific in your discussion of the literary text. (The work must be different than those assigned in Section II above.)

Students must register for the Comprehensive Exam in the Graduate School Office.

Examination Date: Saturday, December 3, 9:00 am-12:00 pm in Tillinghast 301.

If you have any other questions, please contact Dr. G. Chaplin, Graduate Coordinator, X2606; email: gchaplin@bridgew.edu