English Language and Linguistics with Mandarin BA (Hons) module details

Year one

Block 1: Structure and Nature of Language

If you were a medical student, much of your early degree study would be in human anatomy; you need to know what the various parts of the human body are, and how they fit together, before going on to understand how the various organs function. This module is an introduction to the anatomy of language production, with a focus on English. It will equip you to understand the fundamental building blocks of language, universal and language-specific, and to apply tools of analysis to the material you examine. You will develop an awareness of language variation (differences) and universals (common features) in language/s.

Besides refining your linguistic skills, you will be also be trained in academic skills; learn how to research a topic, organise and reference your findings, and express your thoughts in written and oral form in a way that fits the requirements of the discipline.

Assessment: Class Test (40%) and Research Essay (60%).

Block 2: Journeys and Places

This module, with its focus on journeys and places, offers an opportunity for you to explore some of the key concepts underpinning your programme studies. You will take a post-disciplinary approach to English language and linguistics, using techniques from diverse areas to address key questions related to journeys and places.

You will attend interactive lectures with students from across the School of Humanities and Performing Arts. You will have opportunities to apply the concepts addressed in these lectures to your programme within subject-specific workshops and assessments.

The themes covered during the module may include journeys, spaces and the concept of welcome; (im)mobilities and journeys through time and space; representation and imaginative geographies; gender and placemaking; belonging and place attachment; journeys, places and identities; as well as themes related to sustainability and the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals.

Assessment: Subject-specific Coursework: 1 (30%) and 2 (70%).

Block 3: Beginner Mandarin

You will be introduced to Mandarin, learning introductory and basic words, phrases and structures about yourself, family, immediate surroundings and daily activities and routine. You will also be introduced to basic social, cultural, political, historical and artistic topics.

Assessment: Reading, Listening, Writing and Speaking Tests (100%).

Block 3: Post-Beginner Mandarin

This module will further develop your language skills. The focus is on enhancing basic and personal communication skills and moving to more topics including family, other people, living conditions, educational background and employment. You will engage in basic dialogues and social interactions, expressing feelings, actions and needs and responding with thanks, apology, agreement and disagreement in answer to questions. You will also be introduced to basic social, cultural, political, historical and artistic topics.

Assessment: Reading, Listening, Writing and Speaking Tests (100%).

Block 4: Words in Action

This module is designed to introduce the students to key concepts in the study of language and to instruct students in how to carry out forms of linguistic analysis. Taught in workshops, the emphasis is on putting theory into practice. Starting with the overall system of language, each week students will be introduced to an element of linguistics and taught how to apply appropriate and corresponding analytical skills in practical work and class exercises. The major areas of linguistics which are covered are: morphology, syntax, semantics, lexicology, and clause analysis.

Assessment: Linguistic Analysis (50%) and Group Project (50%).

Year two

Block 1: Language in Use

This module explores the nature of human communication, and the ways in which the meaning communicated by speakers go beyond the meaning of the words and sentences uttered. You will examine how hearers understand indirectly communicated meanings (conversational implicatures) and a variety of non-literal meanings (for example, metaphor, irony, metonymy), and compare how these meanings are conveyed in verbal communication versus in certain kinds of text (for example, literary texts). You will also look at children’s acquisition and comprehension of implicated and non- literal meanings and investigate the consequences for theories of our pragmatic abilities.

Assessment: Pragmatic Analysis (60%): Group Project (40%).

Block 2: Exploring Work and Society

This module is designed to prepare and support you towards the pursuit of post-degree pathways. You will focus on the specific skills, capabilities and knowledge needed to adapt and flourish in professional environments and contexts. There will be an emphasis on enhancement of core attributes, competencies and transferable skills as well as developing familiarity with the world and politics of work. The module will prepare you for diverse and dynamic working environments beyond university and support your long-term professional development.

You will be introduced to the UN Sustainable Development Goals and invited to engage critically around themes including race, gender, identity, and geopolitical issues, to conceptualize a more equitable society, and environmentally sustainable world, as relevant to your career aspirations.

You will engage with subject-specific workshops to gain greater understanding of worlds of work connected to English language and linguistics. You will take part in lectures, seminars, group discussion, independent learning, tutorial support and engagement with your peers.

Supported independent learning activities may include responding to real-world briefs, placements/shadowing, engagement with community projects or initiatives, creating proposals for projects or initiatives in a professional setting. These activities will be tailored to your programme.

Assessment: Written Portfolio or Recorded Presentation (100%).

Block 3: Post-Beginner Mandarin

Assessment: Reading, Listening, Writing and Speaking Tests (100%).

Block 3: Intermediate Mandarin

This module will build on the language skills you have already learned to develop these even further. You will use a wider range of vocabulary and more complex structures and various means of communication. You will develop your ability to respond appropriately in general conversations and learn to enter unprepared into a verbal conversation or communication in writing on topics that are familiar, of personal interest or pertinent to everyday life and society, explaining your viewpoint in a structured way. You will learn to understand, without difficulty, the most familiar topics and enhance your ability to discuss and comprehend general social, cultural, political, historical and artistic topics.

Assessment: Reading, Listening, Writing and Speaking Tests (100%).

Block 4: Language and Linguistic Diversity

The module examines the links between language and society and the issues that may arise from this. You will look into factors that can affect language use and attitudes, such as region, social class, race/ethnicity, and sex/gender. The consideration of variation at a regional level will broaden out to consider national and international variation, multilingualism and language choice. This will also involve the consideration of language in education and language planning, and the challenges posed by the role of English as a global language. The module includes both pure and applied linguistics, and students will consider how linguistic issues have real-world applications.

You will carry out group fieldwork as part of your assessment, developing your practical research skills in a way which offers a bridge to the final year dissertation. The module will also involve a trip to Bletchley Park, to examine the practical application of linguistic knowledge to cryptography.

Assessment: Phase Test (20%): Analytical Study (30%): Group Project (50%).

Year three

Blocks 1-4: Yearlong Dissertation

You will propose, refine, develop, research and write a dissertation on a topic supervised by a member of the English Language and Linguistics team. We will support you throughout the year with workshops on such topics as:

Designing a research project
Conducting an effective literature review
Quantitative versus qualitative research
Corpus linguistics
The principles of fieldwork
Questionnaire and survey design
The use of mixed and blended methodologies
Conducting research in an ethical manner
Writing up methodology and results

At the end of Block 1, all students will give a poster presentation of their work in progress and will field questions from their peers and members of the teaching team. The final dissertation will be submitted in June. It should be no more than 10, 000 words in length.

Assessment: Poster Presentation/Q+A (10%) and Dissertation (90%).

Block 2: Language, Identity, and Culture

How does language shape our sense of who we and who other people are? This module examines the complex role that language plays in the construction of individual and collective identities in contemporary society. You will consider key facets including gender, sexuality, ethnicity, and nationality, and critically examine the mechanisms of identity construction, such as performativity, enregisterment, as well as current issues in this area, such as linguistic reclamation, appropriation and intersectionality.

You will carry out their own research on a topic that relates to language and identity, developing their skills in data collection, analysis and evaluation.

Assessment: Report (40%) and Podcast (60%).

Block 3: Intermediate Mandarin

Assessment: Reading, Listening, Writing and Speaking Tests (100%).

Block 3: Advanced Mandarin

This module refines and perfects the learning of your chosen language to the highest advanced level. This level will require the use of a wider range of vocabulary and complex structures. You will develop an understanding of extended authentic speech and more complex factual and specialised texts, including on TV, radio and in films. You will learn to use language flexibly and effectively for social and professional purposes. You will lead a discussion with arguments and debate on a variety of familiar, unfamiliar and complex topics, using language flexibly and effectively with precision. You will develop a high level of understanding of specialised social, cultural, political, historical and artistic topics.

Assessment: Reading, Listening, Writing and Speaking Tests (100%).

Block 4: Hardware/Software: Language, Mind and Culture

You will learn about the origins of language and look into meaning-making mechanisms in language/s, before moving on to the extraordinary phenomenon of (first) language acquisition. You will look into how children acquire the sounds, words, and grammatical structures of their first language, and you will later consider the nature of bilingual and second language acquisition.

The second part of the module looks at the complex relationship between language, thought and culture. You will look at similarities and differences across languages, and consider whether the language we speak affects how we see the world (the linguistic relativity question), and how cultural differences can be reflected in language and in conceptualisation. These questions will lead you full circle to consider the nature of human language itself: how it differs from other communication systems, and whether linguistic knowledge is of fundamentally different kind from other kinds of knowledge.

Assessment: Report/Analysis (50%): Presentation (50%).

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