English Language and Linguistics
- The study of language as a science, supported by logical argumentation and empirical evidence;
- Linguistic phenomena and the human biologically grounded capacities that underlie them;
- Basic concepts and terminology to analyze English grammar, vocabulary, pronunciation and meaning;
- Basic concepts and terminology to explain social, cultural and historical variation, with a focus on the situation in English-speaking countries.
KNOWLEDGE
Students that have participated fully in English Language and Linguistics will attain knowledge of the following:
- basic principles for describing and explaining speech sounds and sound systems and how these can be applied to the description of English;
- basic principles for analyzing the grammatical structure of words, phrases and sentences, and how these can be applied to the analysis of English;
- basic principles for analyzing the meanings of words, phrases and sentences, and how these can be applied to the analysis of English;
- basic principles for how we use language in context and how these can be used to understand communication in English;
- basic principles for and connections between language variation and change, and how English varies in space and time;
- basic claims about the nature of language, how it is acquired by children and processed in the human brain, and similarities and differences between human language and animal cognition and signaling;
- basic claims of the meaning of language for human existence, including its role in human biological and cultural development.
SKILLS
Students that have participated fully in English Language and Linguistics will develop the following practical skills:
- treat linguistic topics in English, orally and in writing, in a way that is functional and assured and utilizes relevant academic terms and mmodes of expression;
- transcribe utterances as they are pronounced using phonetic transcription;
- analyse meaning and sentence structure (with the help of dedicated software);
- format linguistic texts using the conventions of the field;
- find, critically evaluate and refer to refereed sources using the citation conventions of the field.
GENERAL COMPETENCIES
The activities and instruction methods aim to develop the student's ability to:
- maintain, reflect on and update their knowledge of English language and linguistics;
- have an understanding of the ethical dimensions of language use and attitudes to language;
- understand the relevance of English language and linguistics for professional life and society;
- collaborate with other students in planning and carrying out an oral presentation that communicates a research result from English language and linguistics.
Compound evaluation - all parts must be approved for the final grade in the course.
Obligatory participation (OD): Minimum 80 %. Approved / Not Approved
Assessment task (AK): presentation. Approved / Not Approved
Final Exam (MA): Final assessment as portfolio consisting of several elements, including a short essay on a self-chosen research topic. The portfolio counts as 100 % of the total grade, assessed A-F.
Participation on the course presupposes a high level of proficiency in English, both spoken and written, equivalent to the level attained on completing Norwegian high school education with a specialization in English, i.e. 5 hours per week including the second year with a grade of 4 or higher. Students are expected to have an understanding of basic grammatical concepts, in particular word classes such as verb, noun, preposition, adjective, and grammatical relations such as subject, direct object, indirect object and agreement.
Basic digital skills will be assumed. Students are expected to have, or acquire the ability to:
- format assignments using a word processing program to applicable style guidelines;
- convert documents to PDF format for submission;
- download, install and run dedicated (free) software as required.
Overlap refers to a similarity between courses with the same content. Therefore, you will receive the following reduction in credits if you have taken the courses listed below:
SP107L-001 - Written supervised examination - 10 credits
SP216L-001 - Language Acquisition, written exam - 5 credits
SP216L - Linguistics - Language Acquisition - 5 credits
SPR150L - English Language - 15 credits
SPR101L - English Language - 15 credits