Student Learning Outcomes

Master of Arts in English

• Develop a critical understanding of the ways in which texts exist within broader aesthetic, social, and political contexts.
• Develop the ability to investigate the reception(s) of texts within their own time periods and at subsequent historical moments.
• Master the structural principals that have shaped traditional literary genres and forms, (e.g., sonnets, villanelles, bildungsromans, etc.).
• Appreciate the value of studying both the broad sweep of many texts within and across historical periods and the in-depth exploration of a single text.
• Express themselves well, both orally and in writing, to serve as eloquent advocates for their interpretive positions, and to disagree with civility.
• Engage with the vast array of information technologies available to them, including conducting research on-line, using classroom Web sites to further discussion with their peers and teachers, and connecting with the scholarly world beyond UMKC.
• Invite others to join in conversations about texts and language, either as teachers themselves or more informally in their lives beyond the classroom.
• Appreciate the beauties of language and share in the joy of textual interaction.
• Create their own innovative creative and scholarly writing that engages the principles listed above.