Brandon Bowling
Sr. Administrative Assistant
Division of Language and Literature
LL 08
850.872.3870
bbowling@gulfcoast.edu
Language and Literature
The Language and Literature Division offers courses in composition, literature, creative writing, journalism, speech, American Sign Language, Spanish, developmental English, and developmental reading. These courses fit into a variety of university programs for students who expect to transfer to a four-year college or university after the completion of their work at Gulf Coast State College. If you are a student who has not yet declared a concentration or who has declared a concentration in Communications, English, Spanish, or Journalism, you will be advised by professors from the Language and Literature Division.
Division Mission Statement
The Division of Language and Literature provides training in written and oral communication in English and Spanish languages in order to engage students as critical thinkers, effective communicators, and good citizens.
The purpose of the English transfer track is to prepare you for entry into upper‐division studies in English. A Bachelor of Arts in English will prepare you for further studies in English, writing, and literature as well as other graduate programs, including law and graduate business school. As Rachel Reiser, assistant dean at Boston University’s Questrom School of Business, observes, businesses want workers who have not only technical knowledge but also “the ability to think, the ability to write, the ability to understand the cultural or historical context of whatever business decision they’re making."
A Bachelor of Arts in English can also pave the way for careers in journalism, public relations, and other fields that require communications skills. The English transfer track also enables you to enter English education programs and become certified to teach English on the middle school and high school levels.
Spanish language study has many benefits, no matter what your career plans, including making you better at your own language, improving your decision-making, teaching you to be more perceptive, and even preventing dementia.
If you know what area you will concentrate in at the university level, you should use elective credits to meet the appropriate prerequisites for those programs. You are encouraged to be familiar with the admissions requirements at the university you plan to attend.
An Associate in Arts degree in journalism will prepare you for the production and evaluation of information disseminated through mass media. The track includes study and appreciation of the evolution of the context and technologies of mass media. You will develop fundamental skills in writing for newspapers, magazines, radio and television. You will gain practical skills in desktop publishing through production of the College's literary magazine.
You may continue your formal education toward a Bachelor of Arts or Bachelor of Science degree with a major in journalism or mass communication, these degrees may allow entry into newspaper and magazine production and information related fields.
Gulf Coast State College is here to help you build a solid foundation that will prepare you to continue your studies at a four-year institution. We offer the necessary prerequisites for the state of Florida university baccalaureate programs.
The purpose of this program is to prepare you for the art of public speaking. You will engage in critical thinking and apply principles of reasoning to your ideas, and to the ideas of others. The track includes the study and execution of significance to setting, audience and purpose.
Upon graduation you may work in communication-related fields. Earning your Associate in Arts degree in communication prepares you for professions in law, ministry, education, speech writing, management, lobbying and sales.