Home > Publications > Book Publications Program > New Approaches Volumes in Preparation > Survey for Approaches to Teaching Beowulf

Survey for Approaches to Teaching Beowulf, Second Edition

Edited by Howell D. Chickering, Jr., Allen J. Frantzen, and Robert F. Yeager

This survey is designed to gather information about instructors’ methods and materials for teaching Beowulf, for the purpose of developing a new volume on the work in the MLA series Approaches to Teaching World Literature. Respondents are encouraged to submit a proposal for a contribution to the volume (see item 13 below) as well as to answer the questions related to their teaching. Proposals and survey responses are due by 31 January 2010, after which date the survey will no longer be available online. All respondents will be acknowledged in the published volume.

Please answer the questions on the form below and click Submit when you are finished. Your responses will go directly to the volume’s editors. The editors welcome supplemental materials such as course descriptions, syllabi, assignments, and bibliographies. You may upload them (see the end of the form); send them by surface mail to Professor R. F. Yeager, University of West Florida, Department of English and Foreign Languages, Building 50, 11000 University Parkway, Pensacola, FL 32514; or e-mail them to any of the editors: hdchickering@amherst.edu; afrantz@luc.edu; or rfyeager@hotmail.com. You may also forward queries or comments to the editors at those addresses. Thank you for helping in the development of this important project.

Name:
Department:
Institution:
E-mail:
Address:
Telephone:

1. In what course(s) do you teach Beowulf in Old English? What edition do you use for each course? For each course, please specify level (graduate, undergraduate, mixed), format (e.g., seminar, introduction to Old English language), course title, and length of time spent on Beowulf.

2. In what course(s) do you teach Beowulf in translation? What translation(s) do you use for each course? For each course, please specify level (graduate, undergraduate, mixed), format (e.g., survey, seminar), course title, and length of time spent on Beowulf.

3. If you use other primary texts to develop contextualizing comparisons with Beowulf in the above-listed courses (e.g., the Heliand, other works in the Beowulf manuscript, other Old English poems or works in prose), please name them and explain briefly why you use them.

4. What secondary studies or supporting materials in printed form, if any, do you assign your students in the class(es) listed in numbers 1 and 2?

5. If you use other media in teaching Beowulf in any courses named in numbers 1 or 2 (e.g., films, DVDs, Internet or intranet discussion groups), please indicate their media type, title, and any other necessary information. Please include all Web sites in this answer unless they are databases; for databases, see number 6 below.

6. What electronic databases have been most helpful to you, either for your own preparation or for use in the class(es) in which you teach Beowulf?

7. Which secondary studies have you found most influential in shaping your approach to Beowulf? Please include online resources as well as printed studies. Please list no more than five resources.

8. What do your students find most difficult about Beowulf? What do they take up easily? Since answers will vary by level of the course(s) listed in number 1, please make your answers specific to course level if you list more than one course in number 1.

9. What teaching strategies have been most successful for you and why? Again, please specify the course level if you teach Beowulf in more than one course.

10. Are there specific historical questions (e.g., dating) or interpretive matters (e.g., themes) that, in your view, must always be covered when you teach Beowulf? What are they, and why do you feel they are indispensable? If your response varies by course level, please make your answers as specific as possible.

11. If you could select five content areas related to Beowulf that, if included in this volume, would make it especially valuable to you and your students, what would they be and why do you think they are indispensable?

12. How does Beowulf fit into the medieval course content in your department and university? Is it taught in surveys, required courses in the history of the English language, other kinds of courses? Is it taught in courses that are part of a medieval certificate program or other interdisciplinary certificate programs or majors?

13. If you would like to propose an essay for this volume, please submit an abstract in which you describe your approach or topic and explain its potential benefit for students and instructors alike. Please submit a brief curriculum vitae; you may use the Browse button(s) below for this purpose, as well as to forward any supplemental materials, such as syllabi.

To send supplemental materials with this form, click the button below and select a file or files from your hard drive.

Membership

Publications

Annual Convention

Professional Resources

Contact the MLA

Site Map

Refund Policy