Students studying together at a library table with books, laptops, and notes.

English

Why Study English

Welcome to the English Department—where you read, write, and think critically about the world around you. At Foothill, you’ll explore texts from local to global perspectives and learn to express yourself with clarity, creativity, and confidence.

Studying English helps you sharpen your voice and expand your worldview. You’ll build skills that apply to any career or academic path:

Think critically and communicate clearly
Analyze diverse texts and media
Strengthen your writing for academic, creative, and professional goals
Gain cultural and historical insight through literature

Whether you're pursuing a degree or taking a single course, you’ll grow as a thinker, writer, and creator.

What you can do with a degree in English

Students working together on writing and editing assignments in a library.

A major in English can prepare you for a range of careers and disciplines such as:

Writing & Editing
Communications
Education
Content Strategy & Development
Law
Journalism
Nonprofits
Business Development

and so much more!

Students collaborating on assignments in a library study space.

Spring 2026 Featured Courses in Literature and Creative Writing

In addition to our core English 1A, English 1B, and English 1C courses in a range of modalities, we are offering a selection of compelling literature courses, all offered entirely online asynchronous, and creative writing courses, usually offered online with a hybrid, asynchronous one weekly meeting in Zoom.

Check out Literature courses offered this Spring

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Want to write for The Foothill Script?

Take a Journalism course or join the Journalism Club.

Read our Student Publication Online

Degrees & Certificates

Foothill offers two degree paths in English. Each program is designed to support your academic and career goals. Each degree includes a suggested schedule to help you meet program and college requirements. You can customize your plan with help from a counselor.

View list below for programs offered at Foothill. Then select program map for a possible schedule that fulfills program and college requirements.

For program requirements and full course listings, view English degrees and certificates information.

Associate in Arts for Transfer

English, AA-T Program Map

Associate in Arts

English, AA Program Map

Quick Look at English Courses

For complete course details, including units, hours and prerequisites, view course catalog. For when a course is offered, view class schedule.

ENGL 1A Composition & Reading
ENGL 1AH Honors Composition & Reading
ENGL 1B Composition, Critical Reading & Thinking Through Literature
ENGL 1BH Honors Composition, Critical Reading & Thinking Through Literature
ENGL 1C Argumentative Writing & Critical Thinking
ENGL 1CH Honors Argumentative Writing & Critical Thinking
ENGL 5 Loud & Queer: Literature of Sexual/Gender Identity
ENGL 7 Native American Literature
ENGL 8 Children's Literature
ENGL 10A Literature & the Environment
ENGL 11 Introduction to Poetry
ENGL 11H Honors Introduction to Poetry
ENGL 12 African American Literature
ENGL 12A All Power to the People: Literature of the Black Panther Party
ENGL 14 Traveling the World Through Contemporary Literature

Literature & Creative Writing Courses Offered this Spring

ENGL 7 Native American Literature, Fully Online, CRN 41144, Instructor Jordana Griffiths

In this course, you'll discover the depth and diversity of Native American literature — including oral creation narratives, protest speeches, autobiographies, poetry, and contemporary novels – by writers such as Zitkala-Sa, Luther Standing Bear, D’Arcy McNickle, Leslie Marmon Silko, Marcie R. Rendon, Mona Susan Power, David Heska Weiden, Tommy Orange, Natalie Diaz, and authors of indigenous horror and science fiction.

We will analyze these texts within their broader historical and cultural contexts, including how Native writers resist and reimagine colonialist policies and misrepresentations that were designed to eliminate and control Native American peoples. We will also compare stereotypical and realistic representations in a film or television series: either Wind River (Dir. Taylor Sheridan), Mekko or Reservation Dogs (Dir. Sterlin Harjo), or Fancy Dance (Dir. Erica Tremblay).

ENGL 12 African American Literature, Fully Online, CRN 41145, Instructor Kimberly Escamilla

This course explores literature by African Americans — beginning with slavery, and continuing through Reconstruction, into the 20th and 21st centuries. Study many of the current stereotypes in American cultural mythology about African Americans and the complex and varying forms of resistance and strategies for survival that African Americans have been forced to develop. Examine issues and strategies in writings from the 19th, 20th, and 21st centuries, including audience, identity (self), gender, family, culture, politics, spirituality, and language. Intended for students wishing to transfer and/or students interested in exploring African American literature.

ENGL 22 Women Writers, Fully Online, CRN 41148, Instructor Rachael Dworsky

In this course you'll examine the works of multicultural women poets, novelists, dramatists, and essayists and their aesthetic and sociopolitical contributions to American literature and literatures written in English. You''ll study literary analysis of the intersections between gender and race, ethnicity, socioeconomic class, sexual orientation, and other constructs of identity and power.

ENGL 24 Unmasking Comics: The Dawn of the Graphic Novel, Fully Online, CRN 41149, Instructor Brian Lewis

In this course you'll study the history of graphic communication, emphasizing the burgeoning and dynamic form of contemporary graphic narrative: from memoir writing, to crime fiction, to the superhero, to socio-political writing. Explore how the history and evolution of this distinct literary genre has made it a relevant form of expression for artists and writers across the world and how reading comics challenges traditional modes of reading. Because this form of storytelling is used by artists all over the world to express the human condition and specific socio-cultural insight, the course inspires world-wide cross-cultural awareness.

CRWR 25A: Poetry In Community, Meets in person MW 10 a.m.-12:15 p.m., CRN 41142, Instructor Suzy Quezada

This course includes explicit instruction and practice in writing poetry and short fiction for writers of all levels. Emphasis in integrated reading and writing for literary analysis of both poetry and fiction as a process for emulating poetic and fictional elements, with a focus on contemporary writers from diverse backgrounds and worldviews. Focus on the writing process with an emphasis in developing critical feedback for peers, reflecting on one's own work, and using the writing process to generate, revise, and edit poems and short fiction stories.

Reading and writing mean being aware of the writer's notions of risk and safety, the serene achievement of, or sweaty fight for, meaning and response-ability.

Toni Morrison

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English Placement Foothill Transfer Equivalency Guide Community Reading Project Honors Pass the Torch

Puente

Build a pathway to transfer, degree completion, and leadership through a dynamic learning community. Puente empowers students through culturally relevant coursework, mentorship, and academic support focused on Latino experiences.

Umoja

Experience a supportive, year-long community rooted in unity and cultural connection. Umoja empowers African American and other students through a curriculum that highlights the legacy of the African and African American diasporas and promotes academic success.

Humanities Scholars Work Experience

Gain real-world experience through paid internships with mission-driven nonprofit organizations. Build professional skills, connect coursework to careers, and work with community partners across the region.