English Language and Applied Linguistics

Module Descriptions 2018/19

Level I (i.e. 2nd Yr.) Modules

Please be aware that all modules are subject to availability.

If you have any questions about the modules, please contact

calincomingexchangemodules@contacts.bham.ac.uk.

For many of these modules, some experience of studying English Language and Applied Linguistics

may be required, and you should remember this when choosing your modules.

Please note that at the time this document has been prepared (March 2018) the following

information is provisional, and there may be minor changes between now and the beginning of

2018/19 academic year.

MODULE TITLE Discourse Analysis

MODULE CODE 27753

CREDIT VALUE 20

ASSESSMENT METHOD 2 x 2,000 word essays

TEACHING METHOD Lecture and Seminar

SEMESTER 2

DESCRIPTION

The module provides an overview of linguistic models useful for the analysis of a range of different

written and spoken text types. The aim is to learn how to characterise texts according to their

distinctive lexical, grammatical and text organisational properties, in order to relate these properties

to a text's context of use, and in order to develop arguments about how these properties may serve

communicative, aesthetic, rhetorical and ideological ends. More specifically, students will (a)

understand principles of the application of discourse analysis to a wide range of authentic texts, and

(b) be able to characterise and explain the communicative functionality of different texts by

reference to their register, genre and rhetorical properties.

MODULE TITLE Psycholinguistics

MODULE CODE 27523

CREDIT VALUE 20

ASSESSMENT METHOD 1 x 1000 word lab report 1 x 3000 word essay

TEACHING METHOD TBC

SEMESTER 1

DESCRIPTION

This module looks at how language is represented and processed in the human mind. We examine

experimental evidence and theoretical models of the different levels of language to understand how

we access words and concepts, how we process words visually and auditorily, how we understand

complex syntactic structures, how we plan and produce spoken language, and how we can

investigate the pragmatic aspects of language in use. The module focuses on an objective, data

driven approach where carefully designed language experiments are at the heart of our

understanding. To support this, we will spend time considering aspects of experimental design and

analysis, and students will take part in a lab session to experience a real language experiment for

themselves. Broader topics on language development and language in the brain will also be

introduced.

MODULE TITLE Semantics and Pragmatics

MODULE CODE 30668

CREDIT VALUE 20

ASSESSMENT METHOD 1 x 1000 word essay 1 x 3000 word essay

TEACHING METHOD Lecture and Seminar

SEMESTER 1

DESCRIPTION

This module introduces students to semantics, the study of meaning, and pragmatics, the study of

how context contributes to meaning. The module will cover such topics as reference, semantic

relations, frames, polysemy, connotation, speech acts, deixis, and historical semantic change . The

module will also review different theoretical approaches to the study of meaning, such as "amodal"

theories of meaning (which views meanings as combinations of abstract symbols) versus cognitive

semantics (which considers meaning in relation to perceptual experience, cognition, and world

knowledge). Towards the end, the module will move toward cutting-edge research in the domain of

lexical semantics and pragmatics, introducing computational approaches (LSA, vector-space models),

experimental pragmatics and mental simulation research.

MODULE TITLE English Phonetics and Phonology

MODULE CODE 28742

CREDIT VALUE 20

ASSESSMENT METHOD 1 x 1000 word written assessment 1 x 2hr examination

TEACHING METHOD TBC

SEMESTER 2

DESCRIPTION

The module expands students' core linguistic knowledge gained in first year in the areas of phonetics

and phonology. Topics covered will include pronunciation in continuous speech, the phoneme and

allophonic variation, the syllable, and morphophonology, ear training to enable narrow phonetic

transcription, stress and intonation, English accents and recent changes in them, accent prestige and

vilification, and the phonetic challenges facing EFL learners and their teachers.

By the end of the module the student will be able to: demonstrate secure knowledge of phonetic

and phonological categories; analyse examples; evaluate alternative analyses; support analysis and

arguments by reference to research literature and reference works; collect and present, both orally

and in writing, data which has been analysed linguistically.

MODULE TITLE The Language Poets Use

MODULE CODE 26678

CREDIT VALUE 20

ASSESSMENT METHOD 1 x 2000 word essay 2 hour summer examination

TEACHING METHOD TBC

SEMESTER 1

DESCRIPTION

This module is for students interested in looking closely and analytically at the verbal choices in a

range of important but challenging poetry, mostly twentieth century. We will read and analyse

individual poems by various poets, but concentrate on Bishop, Heaney, Jamie, and Oswald. A

principal aim is to demystify the intractable poems, and to understand better what it is that makes

the tractable ones powerful, in both cases thinking about the meanings of the verbal resources that

are being used. The module concentrates on the grammar and systems of the language of the

poems, and on how these shape readers’ responses.

MODULE TITLE Sociolinguistics

MODULE CODE 26680

CREDIT VALUE 20

ASSESSMENT METHOD 1 x 2500 word written assignment 1 x 1500 word written assignment

TEACHING METHOD TBC

SEMESTER 2

DESCRIPTION

This module explores the relationship between language and society, examining how variation in

sound, syntax, morphology and lexis distribute across different aspects of society - for example, the

correlation between the use of particular linguistic forms and social class groups, genders, age

groups and geographical areas. The module considers the associations that develop between aspects

of a speaker's identity and different linguistic forms, the role of prestige (overt and covert),

stigmatization and the significance of one's social networks and communities, and how these facets

of variation lead to large-scale changes in the English language.

MODULE TITLE Topics in English Language and Linguistics

MODULE CODE 18814

CREDIT VALUE 20

ASSESSMENT METHOD 2 x 2,000 word essays

TEACHING METHOD TBC NOTE: Can also be taken as a single semester 10 credit module in either semester (Semester 1: 28314, Semester 2: 28294). 10 credit versions are assessed by a single 2,000 word essay

SEMESTER 1 and 2

DESCRIPTION

The module provides a survey of topics in English Language and Linguistics for students enrolled on a

temporary basis. Topics will include Child Language Development, Variation in English by parameters

such as region, social class, gender and age, genre studies, text analysis and spoken discourse

analysis. Students on this module will attend the same lectures as FT students registered for

Development and Variation in English Discourse Analysis. In addition, the lectures will be supported

by web-based material.