BASIC COURSE INFORMATION
Cover Page
Department/ Subject Area ENG
Course Number 034
Disciplines ENG-English
Proposal Type Course Revision (Minor)
Division Library, Learning Resources, and Language Arts Division
Cross Listing Courses
Course Title The Rock Lyric as Literature: Practical Literary Criticism
Transcript Title Rock Lyric as Lit
Course Description This course is an examination of five decades of American Rock and Roll lyrics. Special emphasis is placed on the exploration of sociohistorical context and the application of literary methodology. (CSU)
Community Service No
Proposed For Associate Degree
Revision
Effective Date 2006 Fall
Change MINOR
How Course is being Changed
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Course Description
Lecture Hrs: 3.00 - 3.00
Lab Hrs: 0 - 0
Student Unit Hrs: 3.00 - 3.00
Faculty Lecture Units: 3.00
Faculty Lab Units: 0
Field Trips Not Required
Grade Options 0: A-F or Inc.
Transfer/Degree Applicability Associate Degree & Transfer
Non-Credit Options
Repeated NO
Repeat Count
Repeat Frequency
Repeat Period
Repeat Units
Repeat Rationale
Challenged NO
Rationale English 34 is primarily a skill development course for which rock and roll lyrics, genres, and social issues provide the occasion to master the abilities to compose essays using the MLA citation format; to make public speaking presentations in both formal and informal styles; and to compose evaluative arguments. Students compose fifteen 500-word journals and three formal 1000-word essays in addition to participating in public speaking and group exercises. Because the course is work-intensive, it is impossible to create an instrument to measure the considerable workload required by the course.
Fee Amount 0.00
Comparable Course Information
Comparable Course Information CSU
CSU Hayward
Film Criticism (4) 4745
Catalog Year: Page:
URL: ://www.csuhayward.edu/ecat/20052006/u-engl.html#
Lecture/discussion with films. Written critical resumes of the work of American and international writer-directors. Study of film scripts, emphasizing characterization, themes, and techniques. Prerequisite: ENGL 1001. (Y)

Community College Course
Cabrillo College
Studies in Literary Themes/Types ENGL 17
Catalog Year: Page:
URL: http://babyface.cabrillo.edu:8080/programs/courses.jsp
1–3 units; 1 hour Lecture Prerequisite: ENGL 1A/1AMC. Repeatability: May be taken 2 times. Subject matter must be different with each repetition. An investigation of a particular literary theme, genre, movement, or tradition; an investigation of a literary topic in a particular historical, political, social, or cultural context. Readings vary with course topic. Transfer Credit: Transfers to CSU. Transfers to UC with conditions: Must be taken for a minimum of 3 units to transfer to UC.
Please note: these courses obviously do not share the subject matter of English 34, but they are comparable in they involve the application of literary studies to nontraditional types of literature.
Community College Course
Los Angeles City College
Literature and the Motion Picture I ENGLISH 240
Catalog Year: Page:
URL: ://catalog.lacitycollege.edu/pages/english.htm
3 UNITS - (UC:CSU) Prerequisite: English 101 or equivalent. This course gives students opportunities to analyze and evaluate films of artistic and cultural significance. The language, structure, and narrative techniques of film and literary classics will be compared by reading literature and watching films based on these literary sources.
Please note: these courses obviously do not share the subject matter of English 34, but they are comparable in they involve the application of literary studies to nontraditional types of literature.
CSU
CSU Sonoma
Explorations in Literature (4) 349
Catalog Year: Page:
URL: http://www.sonoma.edu/catalog/english.html
A course in literary explorations that will include subjects not normally offered in the regular curriculum. Please see Schedule of Classes for current titles. May be repeated for credit
Please note: these courses obviously do not share the subject matter of English 34, but they are comparable in they involve the application of literary studies to nontraditional types of literature.
Course Goals
Course Goals General Goals: Upon successful completion of this course, the student will be able to:
1. Practice the sociohistorical, psychoanalytical, and formalist methods of literary analysis.
2. Compare and contrast the significant social, political, and economic history of American culture inspiring rock lyrics from 1950 through 2005.
3. Categorize the major themes of the rock lyric.
4. Conduct an ongoing contrastive analysis between lyrics of a given decade and contemporary treatment of similar themes and subjects.
5. Articulate conclusions about the relationship between youth culture, rock lyrics, and history in recent American society.
6. Transform his/her involvement in popular culture from passive participation to active analysis.
Course Objectives
Course Objectives Specific Objectives: Upon successful completion of this course, the student will be able to:
1. Read and discuss lyrics in thematic groupings in order to analyze the representative philosophical, moral, and political outlooks expressed by the voices of youth culture.
2. Apply the sociohistorical, psychoanalytical, and formalist methods of literary analysis to specific works in order to draw an evaluative conclusion about significance and merit.
3. Interpret and analyze specific works to classify the artistic intent as imitative, affective, or expressive.
4. Identify the causal relationship between episodes of American history and lyrical responses.
5. Categorize, compare, and contrast thematically similar lyrics from different decades in order to articulate conclusions about the evolution of social thought and the role of literature.
6. Cultivate an awareness and understanding of the interplay between historical event and popular writing.
7. Articulate a conclusion about the role of rock and roll lyrics in shaping contemporary popular American youth culture.
Course Outcomes
Course Outcomes
  1. Outcome:Upon successful completion of this course, the student will be able to paraphrase the thematic content expressed by a particular lyric or genre of the student's own choosing in order to contrast and compare those values with the values of the student's own belief system.
    Assessment:The student's final examination is a required 1000 word essay which identifies, analyzes, and evaluates the values of particular lyrics or genres in order to answer the question of which lyrics or genre best represents the student's own belief system.
Course Outline
Outline Text
  1. An Introduction to Literary Criticism
    1. Sociohistorical criticism
    2. Psychoanalytical criticism
    3. Formalist criticism
  2. The Vocabulary of Poetic Analysis
    1. Speaker, listener, dramatic situation, point of view
    2. Diction, tone, and voice
    3. Figurative devices
    4. Form and structure
  3. Theories of Artistic Intent
    1. Imitative intent
    2. Affective intent
    3. Expressive intent
  4. The Fifties
    1. Youth culture: innocence
    2. Technological advances
    3. Economic prosperity
    4. Democratic access to education
    5. Selected lyrics
  5. The Sixties
    1. Youth culture: rebellion
    2. The Vietnam engagement
    3. The civil rights movement
    4. The free love era
    5. The corporatization of the music industry
    6. Selected lyrics
  6. The Seventies
    1. Youth culture: self-absorption
    2. Loss of faith and alienation
    3. Economic downturn
    4. Selected lyrics
  7. The Eighties
    1. Youth culture: factionalization
    2. Diversification of rock and roll genres
    3. Censorship revived
  8. The Nineties
    1. Youth culture: generation x
    2. Social concerns revived
    3. Selected lyrics
Course Assignments
Course Assignments Writing
Optional Text:
Assignments: Sample 500 Word Minimum Journal Topic
  1. Journal Two Topic:
  2. Szatmary writes that "the White Citizens Council of Birmingham, Alabama, charged that rock-and-roll--'the basic, heavy-beat music of the Negroes'--appealed to the 'base in man [and brought] out animalism and vulgarity.'"
  3. The student will be asked to discuss whether or not s/he sees the same kinds of objections presented against modern rock and roll music. If the objections of the current day are caused by the same prejudices as those of 50's, the student is asked to explain why. If the student finds the objections are caused by different, more contemporary biases, the student is asked to describe them.
  4. Thesis Option One: The contemporary objections to rock and roll are similar to the objections of the 1950s Szatmary describes in Chapter One in that 1, 2, 3...
  5. Thesis Option Two: The contemporary objections to rock and roll are different from those described by Szatmary because 1, 2, and 3 have changed...

Other
Optional Text:
Assignments: Sample 500 Word Minimum Journal Topic
  1. Using Szatmary's social and economic background, the student is asked to explain how carpe diem surfing music could have developed in the same era as the sober social protest lyrics of Bob Dylan, Joan Baez, and Phil Ochs.
  2. The student is asked to describe the roles east-west differences played in the development of these genres, especially the contrasting geographies, age groups, and personalities of the listening audiences.
  3. The student is asked to address whether the simultaneous emergence of such totally different musical philosophies seems ironic or understandable.
  4. Thesis Option One:
  5. The vastly contrasting genres of carpe diem surfing music and folksy social protest arose simultaneously in the sixties because of east/west differences in geography, economy, listener age groups, and/or... (The student can use the three subtopics here in the built-in preview as the supports for her/his journal's body paragraphs.)
  6. The student may also address what value the social consciousness of folk rock artists like Dylan added to the definition of the rock and roll genre. The student is asked to address whether the seeds of social concern and protest always been present, sort of ungerminated, in the genre, or whether the protest movement of the sixties added a whole novel dimension to the genre. The student is further asked to argue whether s/he sees social consciousness in the majority of rock and roll lyrics today and whether a social message a necessary ingredient of the best rock and roll lyrics.
  7. Thesis Option Two:
  8. The element of social
  9. consciousness emphasized by lyricists like Dylan enhanced rock
  10. and roll by _______________________. (First body paragraph)
  11. Today's lyrics do/do not show the same kind of consciousness because... (Second body paragraph)
  12. Some degree of social awareness and concern is/isn't necessary for the best lyrics
  13. because _______________ (Third body paragraph)
Course Methods of Evaluation
Opt Heading
Course Methods of Evaluation A student's evaluation will be based on a required final examination and multiple measures of performance including critical thinking. These methods may include, but are not limited to the following.
A student will be evaluated on written assignments (including three formal 1000-word documented essays, critical analyses, and journal entries); on collaborative projects; on participation in class discussion and exercises; and on a required 1000-word final examination essay. At least one method will be used which will require the student to demonstrate critical thinking as evidenced by writing and/or problem-solving.
Course Methods of Instruction
Opt Heading
Methods Lecture
Other Methods Group Discussion and Problem-Solving Panel Debates Individual Presentations
Course Distance Education
Delivery Methods E-Mail
Online Lectures
Telephone
Threaded Discussions
Other Methods
Quality Assurance
Evaluation Method
Additional Resources
Distance Ed - Contact Types
Distance Ed - Contact Types
Course Textbooks
Textbooks David P. Szatmary. Rockin' in Time: A Social History of Rock-And-Roll. Fifth or current edition Pearson/Prentice Hall , 2004
Manuals Anna Villegas, Editor. English 34 Handbook. Delta College
Periodicals
Course Supplies
Course Supplies
Course Resources
Course Resources Learning Resources
Optional Text: Current support adequate
Resources:
Computer Resources
Optional Text: Current support adequate
Resources:
Disabled Student Programs and Services
Optional Text: Current support adequate
Resources:
Other Resources
Optional Text: Current support adequate
Resources:
Entry Skills
Entry Skills Recommendation
Composition Level II
Course Requisites
Course Requisites
General Education Requirements
Proposed For Categories
District General Education CONTEMPORARY PERSPECTIVES
 
 
Transfer Types Course can be transferred to CSU
Course can be transferred to UC
Course Codes
CB00 State ID CCC000360940
SAM Code (CB09) E = Not Occupational
TOP Code (CB03) 1501.00 - English
Course Credit Status (CB04) Credit - Degree Applicable
Coop Educational Code N - N = Not Coop Education
Coop Work Code (CB10) Y - Y = Not Applicable
CAN Code (CB14)
Course Completion Assessment Level None
Instructional Code M - Intermediate
Classification Codes (CB11) A - Liberal Arts
Print Catalog YES
Print Class Schedule YES
Independent Studies NO
Open Entry NO
Work Experience NO
Special Topics NO
Appointment YES
Contract Course NO
Basic Skills (CB08) N Not Basic Skills
Organizational Unit Library, Learning Resources, & Language Arts Div
Prior Skills (CB21) Y = Not applicable
Originator Anna Villegas
Previous Course ENG 034 The Rock Lyric as Literature: Practical Literary Criticism
Proposal Type Course Revision (Minor)
Course Status Active
Admin Dates
Board of Trustees 02/21/2006
3000