Putting English to work: a qualitative study of students at American universities
<p>Employability has become a function of the university in recent decades following a shift in societal, economic, and political discourses. Employability’s importance has led the liberal arts to come under challenge because of their apparent lack of labor market utility. English, which has e...
| Main Author: | |
|---|---|
| Other Authors: | |
| Format: | Thesis |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
2019
|
| _version_ | 1797067816304640000 |
|---|---|
| author | Fenner, KJ |
| author2 | Keep, E |
| author_facet | Keep, E Fenner, KJ |
| author_sort | Fenner, KJ |
| collection | OXFORD |
| description | <p>Employability has become a function of the university in recent decades following a shift in societal, economic, and political discourses. Employability’s importance has led the liberal arts to come under challenge because of their apparent lack of labor market utility. English, which has experienced steep declines in graduate numbers, has been perceived as lacking labor market connections and utility. As employability has been studied from a variety of perspectives – including numerous studies on the liberal arts and employer perspectives – this study chose to look at a single academic major from the student perspective.</p>
<p>The aim of this study was to explore the how students understood the connection between their academic course and post-graduation plans. Using a constructivist case study, data was collected from nine English majors at two mid-sized American universities through semi-structured interviews.</p>
<p>Thematic analysis of the data revealed that participants understood their English degree as being clearly connected to their future career plans. Although students perceived this connection through aspects like passion, employable skills, and the availability of widespread opportunities, they were explicit in noting the challenges and complexities of connecting the English degree to the labor market. This was expressed as a perceived lack of institutional and career support and the belief that no clear path exists to link English to a specific occupational industry. </p>
<p>The findings highlight the link between the English degree and the labor market as well as revealing student perceptions that their degree will influence and support their future career plans. Findings of this study may have policy and programmatic implications for English departments and institutions as they work to produce employable English graduates with strong connections to an academic field.</p> |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-06T22:01:47Z |
| format | Thesis |
| id | oxford-uuid:4ed74172-143a-4057-855e-8b07e76b0400 |
| institution | University of Oxford |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-06T22:01:47Z |
| publishDate | 2019 |
| record_format | dspace |
| spelling | oxford-uuid:4ed74172-143a-4057-855e-8b07e76b04002022-03-26T16:03:35ZPutting English to work: a qualitative study of students at American universitiesThesishttp://purl.org/coar/resource_type/c_bdccuuid:4ed74172-143a-4057-855e-8b07e76b0400EnglishORA Deposit2019Fenner, KJKeep, E<p>Employability has become a function of the university in recent decades following a shift in societal, economic, and political discourses. Employability’s importance has led the liberal arts to come under challenge because of their apparent lack of labor market utility. English, which has experienced steep declines in graduate numbers, has been perceived as lacking labor market connections and utility. As employability has been studied from a variety of perspectives – including numerous studies on the liberal arts and employer perspectives – this study chose to look at a single academic major from the student perspective.</p> <p>The aim of this study was to explore the how students understood the connection between their academic course and post-graduation plans. Using a constructivist case study, data was collected from nine English majors at two mid-sized American universities through semi-structured interviews.</p> <p>Thematic analysis of the data revealed that participants understood their English degree as being clearly connected to their future career plans. Although students perceived this connection through aspects like passion, employable skills, and the availability of widespread opportunities, they were explicit in noting the challenges and complexities of connecting the English degree to the labor market. This was expressed as a perceived lack of institutional and career support and the belief that no clear path exists to link English to a specific occupational industry. </p> <p>The findings highlight the link between the English degree and the labor market as well as revealing student perceptions that their degree will influence and support their future career plans. Findings of this study may have policy and programmatic implications for English departments and institutions as they work to produce employable English graduates with strong connections to an academic field.</p> |
| spellingShingle | Fenner, KJ Putting English to work: a qualitative study of students at American universities |
| title | Putting English to work: a qualitative study of students at American universities |
| title_full | Putting English to work: a qualitative study of students at American universities |
| title_fullStr | Putting English to work: a qualitative study of students at American universities |
| title_full_unstemmed | Putting English to work: a qualitative study of students at American universities |
| title_short | Putting English to work: a qualitative study of students at American universities |
| title_sort | putting english to work a qualitative study of students at american universities |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT fennerkj puttingenglishtoworkaqualitativestudyofstudentsatamericanuniversities |