Unit Synopsis
This unit charts a passage through the 20th century from modernism to post-modernism through its literature. It invites you to explore a selection of texts by a number of significant writers from the 20th century and from a range of national literatures. These texts address a range of issues including post-colonialism, the transition from the psyche to psychology, sexuality, the American Jazz age, Southern post-bellum agonistics, gender, magic realism, existentialism, slavery, racism, and identity. You will also explore the influences this literature has had on contemporary thought.
Details
| Level | Undergraduate |
|---|---|
| Unit Level | 3 |
| Credit Points | 6 |
| Student Contribution Band | SCA Band 1 |
| Fraction of Full-Time Student Load | 0.125 |
| Pre-requisites or Co-requisites |
Admission to CC10 or completion of 72 credit points in CA10, CB94, CC13, CG85 or CC43. Important note: Students enrolled in a subsequent unit who failed their pre-requisite unit, should drop the subsequent unit before the census date or within 10 working days of Fail grade notification. Students who do not drop the unit in this timeframe cannot later drop the unit without academic and financial liability. See details in the Assessment Policy and Procedure (Higher Education Coursework). |
| Class Timetable | View Unit Timetable |
| Residential School | No Residential School |
Unit Availabilities from Term 1 - 2026
Attendance Requirements
All on-campus students are expected to attend scheduled classes - in some units, these classes are identified as a mandatory (pass/fail) component and attendance is compulsory. International students, on a student visa, must maintain a full time study load and meet both attendance and academic progress requirements in each study period (satisfactory attendance for International students is defined as maintaining at least an 80% attendance record).
Recommended Student Time Commitment
Each 6-credit Undergraduate unit at CQUniversity requires an overall time commitment of an average of 12.5 hours of study per week, making a total of 150 hours for the unit.
Assessment Tasks
| Assessment Task | Weighting |
|---|---|
| 1. Written Assessment | 30% |
| 2. Written Assessment | 30% |
| 3. Essay | 40% |
This is a graded unit: your overall grade will be calculated from the marks or grades for each assessment task, based on the relative weightings shown in the table above. You must obtain an overall mark for the unit of at least 50%, or an overall grade of ‘pass’ in order to pass the unit. If any ‘pass/fail’ tasks are shown in the table above they must also be completed successfully (‘pass’ grade). You must also meet any minimum mark requirements specified for a particular assessment task, as detailed in the ‘assessment task’ section (note that in some instances, the minimum mark for a task may be greater than 50%).
Past Exams
All University policies are available on the Policy web site, however you may wish to directly view the following policies below.
This list is not an exhaustive list of all University policies. The full list of policies are available on the Policy web site.
Feedback, Recommendations and Responses
Every unit is reviewed for enhancement each year. At the most recent review, the following staff and student feedback items were identified and recommendations were made.
Source: SUTE feedback and UC reflection
Clarify assessment expectations and provide exemplars.
Develop and share assessment exemplars early in the term to support student understanding and confidence.
Assessment support worksheets were provided early in the term, and worked close-reading examples were incorporated into tutorials to clarify assessment expectations.
Source: SUTE feedback and UC reflection
Improve content delivery timing and transparency.
Ensure all weekly content is uploaded in advance of each week to support student planning and reduce anxiety.
Weekly content was made available ahead of schedule to support student planning and engagement.
Source: Student qualitative feedback
Address perceived overlap between Literature Studies units.
Conduct a curriculum mapping exercise to compare LITR13041 with LITR11043 “The Short Story” to ensure sufficient differentiation in content and assessment.
The reading list was reviewed and revised to strengthen the distinction between the two units, particularly in relation to the short fiction content.
Source: Student qualitative feedback
Enhance relevance for Education students.
Include clearer explanations of how the study of literature (particularly literature of the 20th century) translates to secondary teaching skills and real-world contexts; how these skills are useful in any career.
Connections to secondary English teaching were embedded throughout tutorials and learning materials, with particular attention given to how literary analysis, close reading, and textual interpretation support classroom practice.
Source: Student Performance Data, Unit Coordinator Reflection
Student Engagement with Reading and Assessment Preparation
Review the asynchronous learning experience to ensure students are adequately supported to engage with prescribed texts throughout the term. Particular attention should be given to balancing student choice with guided learning opportunities that reinforce close-reading practices, literary analysis skills, and assessment preparation.
In Progress
Source: Unit Coordinator Reflection
Reading List and Assessment Focus
Review the unit's current reading model and consider whether a more focused cohort-wide text list would better support student engagement and success. Aligning weekly materials, tutorials, and assessment activities around a smaller number of shared texts may provide more opportunities for guided close reading, reduce decision-making complexity, and strengthen students' engagement with the primary texts on which assessment is based.
In Progress
On successful completion of this unit, you will be able to:
- Analyse and synthesise literary texts through close reading of identified modern literature
- Analyse the historical, cultural and social contexts in which a range of modern texts were produced, and to which they respond
- Construct responses to issues raised by modern literature to demonstrate how literature and culture are interrelated
- Critically evaluate authorial choices in a range of modern texts and convey the effects of those choices through interpretive arguments
| Assessment Tasks | Learning Outcomes | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | |
| 1 - Written Assessment | • | • | • | |
| 2 - Written Assessment | • | • | ||
| 3 - Essay | • | • | • | |
| Graduate Attributes | Learning Outcomes | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | |
| 1 - Communication | • | • | • | • |
| 2 - Problem Solving | • | • | • | |
| 3 - Critical Thinking | • | • | • | |
| 4 - Information Literacy | • | |||
| 6 - Information Technology Competence | • | |||
| 7 - Cross Cultural Competence | • | • | ||
| 8 - Ethical practice | • | |||
| Assessment Tasks | Graduate Attributes | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 10 | |