2025 - 2026

In this module, students will attend a few lectures to review the basics in thesis, but most of the time will be spent in writing their theses, and meeting up with their supervisors and revising their works.

This course provides a review of both essential and fine points of the grammatical structural features of formal written English. The students will be instructed to develop their knowledge of the form, meaning and use of English grammar structures in order to enhance their written and spoken performances in academic setting. Emphasis will be placed on active production and error analysis of standard English.

Lecturer: Tang Renfang (PhD, Assistant Professor)

Email: renfang.tang@xmu.edu.my

WeChat ID: rft2014

Office: A1 #314

Consultation hours:  Tuesday    3.00 pm - 5.00 pm      Thursday   9.00 am - 11.00 am

Introduction:

This course presents a broad outline of the development of British and American literature. It offers a chronological and critical survey of British literature, spanning from Anglo-Saxon period, the Middle Ages, through Renaissance to the modern period. It offers a chronological and critical survey of American literature from colonial period to modern times. It examines the different movements and genres developed during these periods and places them in their social-cultural contexts. Students will have the opportunity to know about some influential works of prose, poetry, drama and fiction in relation to their historical, social, political and cultural contexts.

Lecturer: Tang Renfang (PhD, Assistant Professor)

Email: renfang.tang@xmu.edu.my

WeChat ID: rft2014

Office: A1 #314

Consultation hours:  Tuesday    3.00 pm - 5.00 pm      Thursday   9.00 am - 11.00 am

Introduction:

This course introduces students to poetry written in English, especially those written during the Romantic and Modern periods. They will learn the key elements of the poetic art, including voice, image, metaphor and form. Poems written by representative authors from the periods will be used as examples for students to read, recite and critically analyse. Students will develop their critial reading and writing skills through the journals they will write in response to these poems and the critical essays they will write analyzing the works. In doing so, they will get insight into the power of poetry and enjoy the pleasure of reading this genre of literature.

Required References:

• Ferguson, M., Kendall, T. & Salter, M. J. (2018). The Norton Anthology of Poetry, 6th Ed. New York: W. W. Norton & Company.

• Gill,P. (2022). An Introduction to Poetic Forms. Taylor & Francis.

• Gerard, A. S. (2023). English Romatic Poetry Ethod, Structure and Symbol in Coleridge, Wordsworth, Shelly and Keats. University

of California Press.

• Drinkwater. J (2019). Revival: English Poetry: An Unfinished history (1938).

Further Readings:

• Texts on different poets will be assigned.

Lecturer: Tang Renfang (PhD, Assistant Professor)

Email: renfang.tang@xmu.edu.my

WeChat ID: rft2014

Office: A1 #314

Consultation hours:  Tuesday    3.00 pm - 5.00 pm      Thursday   9.00 am - 11.00 am

Introduction: 

This course introduces students to two kinds of writing called fiction writing and non-fiction writing. Fiction writing will cover how to write short stories, prose, novels, screenscript, playscript and poems while the non-fiction writing will embrace those influenced by fiction, magazine, journalism, memoirs and personal essay. Some basic techniques of the two kinds of writing will be briefly introduced to the students. This is also a hands-on course, which provides opportunity for students to apply writing in fiction and non-fiction so that they have the chance to develop their writing skills creatively.

Required References:

• Zinsser, W. (2016). On Writing Well: The Classic Guide to Writing Nonfiction, 30th Ed. New York: Harper Perennial.

• Mura, D. (2018). A Stranger's Journey: Race, Identity and Narrative Craft in Writing Author: University of Georgia Press.

• Scott, J. (2023). Creative Writing and Stylistics, Revised and Expanded Edition: Critical and Creative Approaches - Approaces to

Writing: Bloomsbury Publishing PLC, 2023 (ISBN: 9781350372955).

• Hill, A. (2023). Digital Storytelling and Ethics: Collaborative Creation and Facilitation - Routledge Studies in Creative Writing: Taylor

& Francis Ltd, 2023 (ISBN: 9781032061238).

Further Readings:

• Jon McGregor, Sarah Hall, Jessie Greengrass (2022) Reverse Engineering: Scratch Books (ISBN: 1739830105, 9781739830106).

The course presupposses to research the key principes of effective and efficient academic writing.

The course presupposses to research the key principes of effective and efficient academic writing.

The course presupposes critical examination of the novel, including social, cultural, historical and religious context.

This purpose of this course is to introduce both theoretical and practical aspects of art as a form of therapy. The fundamentals of art therapy will be visited and students will be exposed to various basic art techniques and colour use. Students will also be able to comprehend and be familiarised with the benefits, core purpose and practices of art therapy. This course will aim to equip students with the ability to restore their mental health and well being through the practices they have learned in class. 

This course is designed to introduce students to the study of literary works and cinematic forms. The link between novels, film, theatre and television will be examined. Students will explore issues pertaining to each medium as well as larger questions related to style and adaptation. In this course, selected literary works will be studied and films will be viewed. Additional works by selected representative literary and film theorists as well as historians will be discussed.

This is a very brief introduction to the most general, intriguing and illuminating points of intersection between literature and other subjects such as philosophy, art, education, politics, religion, etc. It is an interdisciplinary course which aims at highlighting the value of literature in the development of human beings. Students will be instructed to recognize and understand the interaction between literature and other social and science subjects in the history of humankind. Through exploring the relationship between literature and other subjects, students will be helped to detect the crucial roles that literature has played in our daily life so that they may make full use of literature consciously to enrich their daily life and to solve their own and community problems. 

This course introduces students to British and American influential poets, novelists and play and screen writers and their most important works. It covers authors from the1880s to the present. It examines the socio-economic and cultural environments during which their works were written.

This course will introduce students to some classic plays from different times in Britain and America. The focus is to introduce the
participants to this literary genre, examining the plot, characters, theme, setting, scene, dialogue, conflict, rhetorical and linguistic devices,
and dramatic forms, such as tragedy, comedy, theatre of the absurd, etc. The students will examine the cultural contexts of these plays to
see how these contexts are reflected in the literary works and how reality is depicted in the plays.

This is an interdisciplinary course that explores British culture in the 20th and 21st century through the nation's history, sociology, literature
and the arts, politics and mass media. It taps on students' previous experiences to examine the British popular and ethnic cultures, and how
historical, social, religious and political movements have shaped the nation's culture. The course highlights the difficulty of defining what
"culture" is with special reference to the British context, and how the different ethnic groups emigrating to Britain have contributed to its
overarching sub-cultures.

This course will address the complexity of the contemporary aesthetic experience through a related series of questions that drive the discourse in contemporary
Literature and arts: How do we open ourselves to what is unfamiliar in the arts and literature and what is the purpose in doing so? Who decides what is of value in the
arts and literature and how are these determinations made? How do the arts literature respond to culture and how do they lead them? Whose voice is allowed access to
speak through the arts and literature? What is the place of beauty in the arts literature and how has that concept changed over time? Through exploring aesthetic
thoughts from Ancient Greece to the main theories of the subject, the questions above will be discussed. Through observation, contemplation, sensation, reading,
writing, attendance at some events of literature, and heightened self-awareness, the student will engage as an aesthetic observer and participant in the world

This course allows students to explore how post-colonial literary texts depict Great Britain's colonization in Africa, Asia and the Caribbean, and how the Afro-Caribbean
and South Asian communities struggled against slavery and its abolition; and individuals, groups, and nations fought for independence and their self-identity. It will cover
issues like gender, tribes, castes, class, education and income gap. Students will also investigate the styles of writing, the varieities of English used, the cultures and
aspirations espoused in their writings, and how these differ from mainstream 19th century English literature.

This course is designed to help graduate students improve their ability to communicate professionally. Students will learn the tools they need to adapt their writing in
varied professional, cross-cultural contexts and to translate it into effective verbal presentations in these settings. In particular, students will develop an awareness of
professional language, written conventions, and multimodal communication, including verbal, written, and digital/visual modes. Students will learn skills in rhetorical
analysis, which will enable them to adapt to multifaceted professional writing scenarios in the future. It emphasizes the practical skill of public speaking, including
techniques to lessen speaker anxiety, and the use of visual aids to enhance spearker presentations. This course combines both knowledge and theories of verbal and
non-verbal professional communication.

This course introduces students to the linguistic, psycholinguistic, and sociolinguistic dimensions of bilingualism. Students will explore how bilingualism is defined, developed, and measured. 
The course will address topics such as language and identity, language maintenance and loss, language planning, and bilingual education. Students will analyse case studies of bilingual education.