UGC-NET ENGLISH CAPSULE COURSE

Module 1: Literary Theory and Criticism
 Classical Criticism: Key figures (Plato, Aristotle, Longinus) and their critical
concepts.
 Neoclassical Criticism: Dryden, Pope, Johnson’s contribution to English
criticism.
 Romantic Criticism: The role of imagination and emotions (Wordsworth,
Coleridge).
 Modern Criticism: New Criticism, Formalism, and Structuralism (Cleanth
Brooks, Roman Jakobson).
 Postmodern Criticism: Deconstruction (Jacques Derrida), Poststructuralism
(Michel Foucault), and Postcolonialism (Edward Said).
 Feminist, Marxist, and Psychoanalytic Criticism: Major theorists and
concepts.
Practice Sessions:
 Daily reading of critical essays from key theorists.
 Solving past UGC-NET papers focusing on literary theory.
Module 2: British Literature
 Old and Middle English: Key texts like Beowulf and works of Geoffrey
Chaucer (The Canterbury Tales).
 Renaissance to Neoclassical Period: Works of Shakespeare, Spenser, John
Milton, John Dryden, and Alexander Pope.
 Romantic and Victorian Period: Poets and novelists like Wordsworth,
Coleridge, Keats, Shelley, Tennyson, and Browning.
 Modern and Postmodern Literature: Writers like Virginia Woolf, James
Joyce, T.S. Eliot, George Orwell, and Samuel Beckett.
Practice Sessions:
 Read and analyze summaries of key British literary texts.
 Prepare short notes on major writers and their works.
Module 3: Indian Literature in English
 Indian English Poets: Analysis of poets like Nissim Ezekiel, Kamala Das, A.K.
Ramanujan.
 Indian English Novelists: Understanding works by R.K. Narayan, Mulk Raj
Anand, Raja Rao, Salman Rushdie, and Arundhati Roy.
 Postcolonial Themes: Identity, displacement, and hybridity in Indian English
literature.
Practice Sessions:
 Study summaries and critical reviews of major Indian English works.
 Focus on thematic analysis, particularly postcolonial readings.
Module 4: Literary Terms and Movements
 Key Literary Terms: Allegory, Metaphor, Simile, Irony, Paradox, Metonymy,
and Synecdoche.
 Literary Movements: Overview of movements like Romanticism, Realism,
Naturalism, Modernism, and Postmodernism.
Practice Sessions:
 Prepare flashcards for literary terms and their definitions.
 Regularly quiz yourself on the characteristics of literary movements.
Module 5: Linguistics and ELT (English Language Teaching
 Basic Linguistic Theories: Saussure’s Structuralism, Chomsky’s Generative
Grammar, Phonetics, Phonology, and Morphology.
 Language Acquisition and Learning: Behaviorism, Cognitivism, and
Constructivism.
 Approaches to Teaching English: Communicative Language Teaching (CLT),
Grammar-Translation Method, Direct Method, and Task-Based Learning.
 Testing and Evaluation in ELT: Principles of language testing, test
construction, and evaluation methods.
Practice Sessions:
 Solve previous UGC-NET questions on linguistics and ELT.
 Review key linguistic terms and their applications in teaching.
Module 6: American and European Literature
 American Literature: Focus on writers like Edgar Allan Poe, Emily Dickinson,
Walt Whitman, Ernest Hemingway, and Toni Morrison.
 European Literature: Major works of writers like Goethe, Kafka, Dostoevsky,
and Tolstoy.
 Modern American and European Drama: Study works of Tennessee
Williams, Arthur Miller, Ibsen, and Brecht.
Practice Sessions:
 Prepare brief synopses of key American and European works.
 Solve multiple-choice questions (MCQs) related to themes and critical
reception.
Module 7: World Literature
 African, Caribbean, and Latin American Literature: Works by Chinua
Achebe, Wole Soyinka, Derek Walcott, Gabriel Garcia Marquez.
 Asian Literature: Study works by Rabindranath Tagore, Haruki Murakami,
and other key figures.
Practice Sessions:
 Explore summaries and major themes of world literature texts.
 Focus on comparative literature questions (themes across different regions).
Module 8: Literary Criticism Post-1960s
 Poststructuralism: Foucault, Derrida, Barthes.
 Postcolonial Criticism: Homi Bhabha, Gayatri Spivak.
 Queer Theory, Ecocriticism, and Cultural Studies: Major theorists and their
contributions.
Practice Sessions:
 Write short notes on the contribution of each critic.
 Solve questions on the applicability of these theories to texts.
Module 9: Practice Papers and Mock Tests
 Previous Year Papers: Solving UGC-NET English papers to familiarize with
the question patterns.
 Mock Tests: Simulate exam conditions by solving full-length mock tests.
 Analysis and Revision: Review and analyze incorrect answers, focusing on
weak areas.
Practice Sessions:
 Weekly mock tests and detailed analysis.
 Revision of incorrect answers and topics that need improvement