EN3CL: Children's Literature

Module code: EN3CL

Module provider: English Literature; School of Humanities

Credits: 20

Level: Level 3 (Honours)

When you'll be taught: Semester 2

Module convenor: Professor Karin Lesnik-Oberstein, email: k.b.lesnik-oberstein@reading.ac.uk

Pre-requisite module(s): Before taking this module, you must have at least 40 credits of EN-coded modules at Part 1 (except for visiting students). (Open)

Co-requisite module(s):

Pre-requisite or Co-requisite module(s):

Module(s) excluded:

Placement information: NA

Academic year: 2024/5

Available to visiting students: Yes

Talis reading list: Yes

Last updated: 21 May 2024

Overview

Module aims and purpose

The module questions popular assumptions about writing for children and its role and criticism, and it considers how ideas about authorship and readership are constructed within the criticism of children's literature. Students will be asked to analyse texts closely for cultural constructions of childhood, and to analyse their own critical language and assumptions. 

Module learning outcomes

By the end of the module, it is expected that students will be able to: 

1. Question critically assumptions about childhood and reading  
2. Exercise skills of close textual analysis, especially as a critique of the way children's literature texts are often assumed to be 'simple' or 'transparent'. 
3. Demonstrate an awareness of the theoretical and methodological issues pertinent to the module throughout their own critical formulations and readings. 
4. Question assumptions about authorship and means of textual production central to Children's Literature as a genre produced by adults 'for' children. 
5. Connect the issues and implications of this module to related issues on other modules. 

Module content

The module critiques popular assumptions both about and within ‘children’s literature criticism’, emphasising that children’s literature is a body of works written, produced, and distributed by adults, and also that ‘childhood’ is a variable historical and cultural construction. Students start by reading and analysing set texts, namely Kenneth Grahame’s The Wind in the Willows, Frances Hodgson Burnett's The Secret Garden, J. M. Barrie’s Peter and Wendy, Edith Nesbit’s The Story of the Amulet, A. A. Milne’s Winnie the Pooh, and J. R. R. Tolkien’s The Hobbit. Students will be asked throughout to question their own critical formulations and assumptions, as they relate to ideas of authorship, texts, readership and response, and as all of these elements in turn are related specifically to ideas about the child and childhood. 

Structure

Teaching and learning methods

Three seminar hours weekly, for which students are required to do preparatory reading. Students are also entitled to a half-hour tutorial on their formative written work. With the consent of the module convenor, students may also undertake a placement, through which they will learn how to apply the knowledge and skills gained in studying for this module in a professional context outside the University. 

Study hours

At least 30.5 hours of scheduled teaching and learning activities will be delivered in person, with the remaining hours for scheduled and self-scheduled teaching and learning activities delivered either in person or online. You will receive further details about how these hours will be delivered before the start of the module.

Please note the independent study hours above are notional numbers of hours; each student will approach studying in different ways. We would advise you to reflect on your learning and the number of hours you are allocating to these tasks.

Semester 1 The hours in this column may include hours during the Christmas holiday period.

Semester 2 The hours in this column may include hours during the Easter holiday period.

Summer The hours in this column will take place during the summer holidays and may be at the start and/or end of the module.

Assessment

Requirements for a pass

Students need to achieve an overall module mark of 40% to pass this module.

Summative assessment

Penalties for late submission of summative assessment

The Support Centres will apply the following penalties for work submitted late:

Assessments with numerical marks

• where the piece of work is submitted after the original deadline (or any formally agreed extension to the deadline): 10% of the total marks available for that piece of work will be deducted from the mark for each working day (or part thereof) following the deadline up to a total of three working days;
• the mark awarded due to the imposition of the penalty shall not fall below the threshold pass mark, namely 40% in the case of modules at Levels 4-6 (i.e. undergraduate modules for Parts 1-3) and 50% in the case of Level 7 modules offered as part of an Integrated Masters or taught postgraduate degree programme;
• where the piece of work is awarded a mark below the threshold pass mark prior to any penalty being imposed, and is submitted up to three working days after the original deadline (or any formally agreed extension to the deadline), no penalty shall be imposed;
• where the piece of work is submitted more than three working days after the original deadline (or any formally agreed extension to the deadline): a mark of zero will be recorded.

Assessments marked Pass/Fail

• where the piece of work is submitted within three working days of the deadline (or any formally agreed extension of the deadline): no penalty will be applied;
• where the piece of work is submitted more than three working days after the original deadline (or any formally agreed extension of the deadline): a grade of Fail will be awarded.

The University policy statement on penalties for late submission can be found at: /cqsd/-/media/project/functions/cqsd/documents/qap/penaltiesforlatesubmission.pdf

You are strongly advised to ensure that coursework is submitted by the relevant deadline. You should note that it is advisable to submit work in an unfinished state rather than to fail to submit any work.

Formative assessment

Formative assessment is any task or activity which creates feedback (or feedforward) for you about your learning, but which does not contribute towards your overall module mark.

Students write one formative essay of between 1,500 and 2,000 words.

Reassessment

Additional costs