Through careful course selection, the student may prepare for postgraduate work in literature and language; meet the English requirements for secondary teaching licensure; develop writing skills; or receive preparation for careers outside academia (including law and business). Within the major, a student may explore many areas of special interest, such as composition pedagogy, creative writing, gender studies, literature of the American south, film as text, folklore, postcolonial literature, and literature in English by Native American, African American, Arab American, and Latino/Latina American authors, as well as the more traditional historical fields of English and American literature. All of these areas help students develop the broad, deep, flexible understanding of human expression that will help them for the rest of their lives — both culturally and in practical terms.