English 3450a: Old English (Spring 2013)
English 3450 introduces students to Old English, the principal ancestor of our present day English, and the language of daily life in early medieval (Anglo-Saxon) England (from approximately the mid 400s to the mid 1100s).
Contents
- Times and location
- Office and Office Hours
- About this course
- Learning goals
- Texts
- Assessment
- Policies
- Schedule
Times and location
Mon/Wed/Fri, 13:00-13:50, B543
Office and Office Hours
My office is room B810B. My telephone numbers, a map, office hours, and other contact information is available on my Contact page.
About this course
English 3450 introduces students to Old English, the principal ancestor of our present day English, and the language of daily life in early medieval (Anglo-Saxon) England (from approximately the mid 400s to the mid 1100s).
The Calendar describes the course in this way:
The study of Old English language and literature. Instruction in basic Old English grammar and syntax, translation practice, and an introduction to the language’s literary and historical context.
As this suggests, our main goal will be to learn the Language. The English we speak today is derived largely from that spoken in the Anglo-Saxon period. Indeed, although the English language has borrowed a huge number of words from other languages, our core vocabulary, as much as 80% of the words we use in daily conversation, have their origins in Old English. The Anglo-Saxons often had different words for things we have since borrowed words to discuss—and of course we have developed many words for things the Anglo-Saxons had no knowledge of or reason to discuss! But they might well recognise many of the words we use to tie our sentences together and discuss every day activities.
The real difference will be in the grammar. Old English grammar is quite different from Modern English grammar, and, as a result, must be learned by most students as if it were a foreign language (students who know modern germanic languages such as High or Low German,Dutch, or the Nordic languages may find useful congruences to Old English).
In the course of the year, we will study and practice Old English grammar, phonology (the study of the sounds of a language), and script (how it is written). To provide us with a basis for comparison, we will also devote some attention to practicing and improving our knowledge of Modern English grammar and phonology. Our principal method of study, however, will be practical: most class and study time will be devoted to translation work from Old to Modern English.
Although it will not be the main focus of the course, students will complement their study of the Old English language with some study of its speakers and the culture in which it was used. We will discuss the range of Anglo-Saxon literature, learn about Anglo-Saxon culture and history, investigate the place of the Anglo-Saxons among their European contemporaries, and read some Anglo-Saxon literature in translation along side our readings in the original language.
Learning goals
By the end of the course students should have a basic reading knowledge of Old English and a sense of the period in which it was used. This involves being able to
- translate prepared texts comfortably without aids and selected sight passages with help of a glossary
- read Old English texts aloud with an appropriate pronunciation
- transcribe short passages from facsimiles of Old English manuscripts
- speak and write knowledgeably on major aspects of Anglo-Saxon history, literature, and culture.
Texts
Required
Blair, John. 2000. Anglo-Saxon England: A Very Short Introduction. Oxford: Oxford University Press.- Crossly-Holland, Kevin. 2009. The Anglo-Saxon World: An Anthology. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
- Mitchell, Bruce and Fred C. Robinson. 2007. A Guide to Old English. Seventh Edition. Cambridge: Blackwell. (Note: students considering using a copy of the sixth or fifth editions should check that all the texts covered in this syllabus are present).
- O’Donnell, Daniel Paul.
Assessment
This course uses two types of evaluation, formative (intended primarily to assist the student measure their progress and identify areas of improvement) and summative (intended primarily to assess a student’s success in accomplishing the course’s main learning goals.
Formative Assessment
Formative assignments are divided into two categories: exercises and reviews. Although grades will be assigned to most of these assignments, your final formative grade will consist of an equally weighted average of your best performance in each categories.
I will mark formative assignments handed in on the specific due date and will not mark work handed in late without a prior request for an extension or evidence of an emergency. While it is strongly recommended that students complete these projects on time, there is no specific penalty for failing to do so in any one instance. Students who do not receive a grade for at least one assignment in a formative category, however, will receive a grade of 0 for the entire category.
I reserve the right to add additional formative assignments to these categories throughout the semester in response to class interests and needs.
| Category | Assignment |
| Exercises | What I did/did not know about Anglo-Saxon England (Due 27 January) |
| Old English Pronunciation (To be assessed orally in late-February). |
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| Prospectus Poster and Presentation | |
| Reviews | Basic Paradigms and Translation (Moodle: early February) |
| Advanced Paradigms and Translation (Moodle: mid March) |
Summative Assessment
Summative Assignments are used to determine how well students have accomplished the course’s learning goals. In addition to an average of students’ best score in each formative category, these will include a final exam, a research project, a translation project, and an attendance mark.
| Assignment | Value |
| Attendance and translations [*] | 10% |
| Average of best score from each formative category | 20% |
| Research Prospectus | 10 % |
| Seminar Leadership | 10% |
| Independent Research Project. Due: End of Semester | 25% |
| Final Exam (Moodle) Exam Period | 25% |
The summative evaluation scheme presented here should be considered tentative and open to change until the beginning of the last class before the Add/Drop deadline. After this date, the version found on-line will be definitive.
Policies
The following policies will be followed in all my classes unless otherwise announced. You are expected to be familiar with the policies reproduced here and in the more general section on my website. These additional web pages are to be considered part of this syllabus for the purposes of this course. Failure to conform to any of these policies may result in your grade being lowered.
Grade scale
The University of Lethbridge keeps track of student performance using a letter and grade point system (See section 4 of the University Calendar). Instructors assign students a letter grade at the end of each course (the University does not issue or record mid-term grades). These letter grades are converted to a numerical value (a Grade Point) for assessing overall academic performance (a Grade Point Average or GPA). The University does not record percentage-type grades and does not have a fixed scale for conversion from percentage scores to letter grades and grade points. Each instructor is responsible for determining their own methodology for determining students’ final letter grade.
In my classes, I use the following letter-grade to percentage correspondences:
| Excellent | Good | Satisfactory | Poor | Minimal pass | Failing | |||||||
| Letter | A+ | A | A- | B+ | B | B- | C+ | C | C- | D+ | D | F |
| Percent range | 100-94 | 93-90 | 89-86 | 85-82 | 81-78 | 77-74 | 73-70 | 69-66 | 65-62 | 61-58 | 57-50 | 49-0 |
| Conventional value | 100 | 92 | 88 | 84 | 80 | 76 | 72 | 68 | 64 | 60 | 56 | 49-0 |
| Grade point | 4.0 | 3.7 | 3.3 | 3.0 | 2.7 | 2.3 | 2.0 | 1.7 | 1.3 | 1.0 | 0 | |
How your grade is determined depends on the type of work being assessed. Tests of specific skills or knowledge (such as identification questions in literature classes, or fact-oriented tests in my grammar and language classes) are usually assigned a numeric score which is easily converted to a percentage. Essays, presentations, and other performance-oriented tests are usually graded by letter. I convert letter grades to percentages by taking the median value in each grade-range, and rounding up to the nearest whole percent. The only exceptions are A+ (which is converted to 100%), and F (which is converted to an arbitrary percentage between 0% and 49% based on my estimation of the work’s quality). These scores can be found in the conventional value row of the above table.
In marking work I try to keep the University’s official description of these grades in mind (a description can be found in the University Calendar, Part IV.3.a). If you get an A it means your work is excellent; a B means your work is good; a C means it is satisfactory; a D that it is barely acceptable (minimal pass); and an F that it is failing to meet University-level standards.
I have prepared rubrics for most types of qualitative assignments (assignments that do not expect the student simply to provide a correct factual answer). These can be found in my Academic Policies section: http://people.uleth.ca/~daniel.odonnell/Academic-Policies/
Submitting Work
Tests, Exams, and Quizzes
Tests and Exams will be written in the University’s testing labs on Moodle. Quizzes may be presented on Moodle.
Essays and Reports
Essays and reports will normally be collected using Turnitin. Information on our account (URL, ID number, and Password) will be made available in our class space on Moodle: http://learning.uleth.ca/
Plagiarism
This course uses plagiarism detection software. Any plagiarism will be treated very seriously: you can expect to receive a grade of 0 on the assignment as well as other penalties depending on the seriousness of the offence.
Class schedule
OE Schedule
The following schedule is intended to help you plan your work for this course. The schedule is tentative and subject to change.
| Week | Date | Topic | Classwork | Background Reading |
| 1 | Mon. 7/1 | No class | ||
| Wed. 9/1 | Welcome | Syllabus and assessment | ||
| Fri. 11/1 | Spelling and Pronunciation |
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| 2 | Sun 13/1 | Please complete your profile on Moodle (with picture and statement of interests) by midnight tonight. | ||
| Mon. 14/1 |
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| Wed. 16/1 | Lecture: Inflected vs word order languages. | |||
| Fri. 18/1 | Grammar | Whole Class Tutorial: Old and Modern English Grammar |
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| 3 | Mon. 21/1 |
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| Wed. 23/1 | Whole Class Tutorial: Grammar Practice I | |||
| Fri. 25/1 | Whole Class Tutorial: Grammar Practice II | |||
| 4 | Sun. 27/1 | What I did not know about Anglo-Saxon England Due by 23:59) | ||
| Mon. 28/1 | Nouns: The Major Declensions 1) Strong Nouns |
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| Wed. 30/1 | Learning in Anglo-Saxon England | Read “Introduction,” from “The Life of King Alfred,” “Preface to Gregory,” and “Colloquy” in the section Example and Exhortation in The Anglo-Saxon World | ||
| Fri. 1/2 | 2) Weak Nouns |
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| 5 | Mon. 4/2 |
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| Wed. 6/2 | Sermons | Read “Sermon of the Wolf to the English” in The Anglo-Saxon World | ||
| Fri. 8/2 |
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| 6 | Basic Paradigms and Translation Review (Moodle) 12/10-18/10 | |||
| Mon. 11/2 | Whole Class Tutorial: Translation Techniques. Tips and Tricks. | |||
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| Fri. 15/2 |
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| Mon. 18/2-Friday 22/2: Reading Week (No classes) | ||||
| 7 | Mon. 25/2 | Verbs: The Major Declensions 1) Weak Verbs |
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| Wed. 27/2 | ||||
| Fri. 1/3 | 2) Strong Verbs |
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| 8 | Mon. 4/3 | 3) Irregular verbs |
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| Wed. 6/3 | History | Read “The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle” in The Anglo-Saxon World | ||
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| 9 | Mon. 11/3 | Adjectives: Declension and Syntax |
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| Wed. 13/3 |
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| Fri. 15/3 |
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| 10 | Advanced Paradigms and Translation Review 17/3-24/3 | |||
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| Wed. 20/3 | ||||
| Fri. 22/3 | Statuatory Holiday | |||
| 11 | Mon. 25/3 |
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| Wed. 27/3 | Introduction to Anglo-Saxon Metre |
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| Fri. 28/3 |
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| 12 | Mon. 1/4 |
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| Wed. 3/4 | Paleography Tutorial: Whole Class | |||
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| 13 | Mon. 8/4 |
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| Wed. 10/4 |
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| Fri. 12/4 |
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| 14 | Mon. 15/4 |
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| Wed. 17/4 |
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| Fri. 19/4 | Conclusion | |||
| Independent Research Project Due. | ||||
