I interviewed Matthew Taylor, an English professor at UNC, about what he considers to be the most important aspects of English studies. Below is a transcript of Professor Taylor’s responses to my questions:

1.)What do you think English majors should study and why?

English majors should study as much as possible, both within the field and beyond it. Telling majors to take a range of English courses is perhaps redundant, but I also would encourage them to explore the ways in which the ideas and methodologies of English intersect with those of other disciplines, whether in the humanities or outside of them.
This is particularly true for those students considering a career in literary study, which increasingly values inter-disciplinarity. Besides, you will never be given another
time in your life with so much freedom to learn so broadly; take advantage of it.

2.) What do you thing English majors should make (ie: inclusion of podcasts, videos,
other alternative assignments) and why (if any)?

English majors should produce work that reflects the diverse kinds of critical thinking that the field, ideally, promotes. For me, the parameters of the particular assignment should determine the appropriate medium: in some cases, "traditional" papers; in others, "alternative" forms such as videos. The increased availability of new technologies in the classroom, for both instruction and assessment, is excellent because it offers new possibilities for learning.

3.) What should we learn as English majors?

I hesitate to circumscribe the range of possibilities, but I believe that English majors should learn at least three things (in no particular order) before they graduate:
1.) the ways in which the field reads (or thinks about) texts (i.e., the different methodologies and theoretical paradigms that comprise the discipline); 2.) the ways in
which the field writes about texts; and 3.) at least some sense of the national and period-based categories within traditionally-conceived English studies.

4.) Do you have any general comments about the future of English studies and the best way to keep it afloat in a time that is seeing the decline of this discipline?

Despite all of the talk about the decline of English studies, I do not believe that the field is going away anytime soon. I am less certain about what the field will look like in the future. My sense is that the interdisciplinary approaches that I mentioned in
response to the first question will become increasingly significant, at least in the
short term.