UNDERSTANDING DRAMA - 2019/0

Module Overview

This module is designed to introduce students to the academic study of drama. Over the module students will develop an understanding of how drama is distinguished from printed forms of literature by the fact that it is performed on stage. Students will be encouraged to think about the relationship between texts and their immediate historical and political contexts. The module will introduce students to five broad currents that have persisted in modern drama: popular theatre, the comedy of manners, realism, theatre of the absurd, and political theatre. By grounding students in these five areas, this module will provide a foundation for the study of plays at degree level.

 

Module provider

School of Literature and Languages

Module Leader

PARVINI Neema (Lit & Langs)

Number of Credits: 15

ECTS Credits: 7.5

Framework: FHEQ Level 4

Module cap (Maximum number of students): 60

Module Availability

Semester 1

Prerequisites / Co-requisites

None.  This module has a capped number and may not be available to ERASMUS and other international exchange students. Please check with the departmental exchange coordinator.

Module content

Playwrights you will study may include: Wilde, Beckett, Churchill and others.

Assessment pattern

Alternative Assessment

N/A

Assessment Strategy

The assessment strategy is designed to provide students with the opportunity to demonstrate achieve-ment of the module learning outcomes.

Seminar discussion with ongoing tutor feedback is designed mainly to assess transferable skills in communicating ideas orally and in working individually and as part of a group. It also assesses subject knowledge in drama. Seminars also assess cognitive/ analytical skills in critical thinking and in analysis of literary form.

The essay assesses subject knowledge in drama. It also assesses research skills, cognitive/analytical skills in critical thinking and in analysis of literary form, and transferable skills in communicating ideas in writing. The essay further assesses professional/practical skills, namely the ability to plan and implement timetables for essay deadlines.

Thus, the summative assessment for this module consists of:

• 1500-word essay


• 500 word Performance Review

Formative assessment and feedback

Formative ‘feed forward’ is provided through seminar discussions and tutor feedback in seminars. Students receive detailed written and verbal feedback on their summative assement, the essay.

Module aims

• To equip students with the knowledge and critical skills needed to analyse plays at degree level
• To examine the key issues, terminologies, and contexts involved in the academic study of drama
• To train students to research and evaluate sources, debates, and ideas, and to communicate their conclusions clearly and accurately in writing
• To help students to think and learn independently, and to manage and organise their time efficiently
• To enable students to discuss, debate, and exchange complex ideas as part of a group  

Learning outcomes

Methods of Teaching / Learning

The learning and teaching strategy is designed to deliver subject knowledge, to develop cognitive/ analytical skills, and to develop in-depth transferable, practical, and professional skills. Specifically, the weekly lectures deliver subject knowledge relating to individual plays, approaches to them, and their historical contexts.. The weekly seminars involve student-led discussions that develop skills in communication and in working individually and as part of a group. The seminars also provide students with instruction on planning and implementing timetables for work and on presenting ideas coherently under time constraints.

This relates to the programme learning and teaching strategy, which, at FHEQ Level 4, is designed to introduce students to subject knowledge through the lectures. Further subject knowledge (e.g. web-links, critical reading, podcasts) is made available through SurreyLearn, which enables students to develop IT skills in accessing and utilising resources. Seminars, in which students are expected to have done core reading and to discuss this in class, serve to ground this subject knowledge further and to give students a reasonable level of attainment in the programme’s cognitive, practical and transferable skills. Discussions in seminars and workshops aim to give students further practical and transferable skills in working with others and in using rhetorical skills for argument. These are backed up by the formative assessment of class discussion, and summative assessment.

The learning and teaching methods include:

• 1-hour lecture per week x 11 weeks


• 1-hour seminar per week x 11 weeks

Indicated Lecture Hours (which may also include seminars, tutorials, workshops and other contact time) are approximate and may include in-class tests where one or more of these are an assessment on the module. In-class tests are scheduled/organised separately to taught content and will be published on to student personal timetables, where they apply to taken modules, as soon as they are finalised by central administration. This will usually be after the initial publication of the teaching timetable for the relevant semester.

Reading list

https://readinglists.surrey.ac.uk
Upon accessing the reading list, please search for the module using the module code: ELI1024

Programmes this module appears in

Please note that the information detailed within this record is accurate at the time of publishing and may be subject to change. This record contains information for the most up to date version of the programme / module for the 2019/0 academic year.