LING400-16SU2 (D) Summer Nov 2016 start (Distance)

English Structures

30 points

Details:
Start Date: Monday, 14 November 2016
End Date: Sunday, 12 February 2017
Withdrawal Dates
Last Day to withdraw from this course:
  • Without financial penalty (full fee refund): Sunday, 27 November 2016
  • Without academic penalty (including no fee refund): Sunday, 15 January 2017

Description

This course is an intensive introduction to the linguistic structures of English, covering pronunciation (phonetics & phonology) and grammar (syntax & semantics). A key feature of the course is one of comparison - in part one we compare pronunciation systems across varieties of English and other languages, and in part two we compare the sentence structure of English to that of other languages. This course will be valuable for anyone planning to teach English as an additional language, or those who want a detailed introduction to the analytical tools linguists use to study English and other languages.

LING400 English Structures is a postgraduate-level introduction to the linguistics of English. It is
intended for anyone who would like to understand more about the formal linguistic structures of
English, including its pronunciation and grammatical systems. The course will be valuable for
anyone who has a professional interest in the English language (e.g. English teachers, teachers of
other languages, speech and language therapists) and/or anyone who would like an introduction to
some of the techniques of linguistic analysis.

The course runs from November to February. The whole course is taught entirely online, so there is
no need to be present on campus at the University of Canterbury, but everyone who enrols in the
course will be expected to have reliable internet access.

The course content will be delivered by combinations of video lectures, slides with audio commentary, extended handouts, readings, and other materials. All materials will be accessible via
UC’s online platform, Learn. The course is taught asynchronously, which means that course
materials are uploaded to Learn for students to access in their own time, and there are no required
real time lectures or tutorials when you have to be available online. Of course, there will be regular
deadlines, by which given parts of the course need to be covered and assessments submitted.
There may be some real time interaction in text-based or chat-based tutorials, but these will be extra (e.g. as revision sessions) and timetabled to accommodate students’ availability, where possible.

Part 1 of the course (November-December) covers phonetics and phonology, and Part 2 (January-
February) covers syntax and semantics.

Prerequisites

Subject to approval of the Head of Department.

Course Coordinator

For further information see Language, Social and Political Sciences Head of Department

Assessment

Assessment Due Date Percentage  Description
Phonetic transcription and analysis 15% Due at mid-point of Part 1.
Report examining phonological variation 25% Due at end of Part 1.
Smaller tasks 10% Due throughout Part 1.
Syntax tree diagrams and semantic representations 10% syntax tree diagrams and semantic representations of English sentences: due in Weeks 8-12 (2% per week, which adds up to a total of 10%)
Reflective journal entries 10% Reflective journal entries on grammatical differences between English and other languages: due in weeks 8-12 (2% per week, which adds up to a total of 10%)
Detailed linguistic analysis 30% detailed linguistic analysis of an aspect of English sentence structure and discussion of the challenges it poses for ESOL learners: due in Week 12

Indicative Fees

Domestic fee $1,740.00

* All fees are inclusive of NZ GST or any equivalent overseas tax, and do not include any programme level discount or additional course-related expenses.

Minimum enrolments

This course will not be offered if fewer than 5 people apply to enrol.

For further information see Language, Social and Political Sciences .

All LING400 Occurrences

  • LING400-16SU2 (D) Summer Nov 2016 start (Distance)
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