EL7037 - Language: Structure and Use

The module will be delivered through weekly interactive sessions. Sessions will mainly be delivered face to face, with some blended learning where appropriate (where learning and teaching involves the interaction of online and face-to-face activities). Key themes and concepts will be introduced in presentations, supported by in-class group working, tasks, and discussion. All topics and tasks within the module will be supported by reference to relevant literature, which you will read outside of class to further develop your knowledge and understanding of the field.

In addition to learning during taught hours with the module tutor, you will be expected to undertake both directed and independent learning. Directed learning generally will take the form of preparation for interactive seminars where you will be expected to contribute to group work tasks and full class discussion. Independent learning generally will take the form of further reading and investigation, the consolidation of lecture notes, and revision/preparation for the assessment of the module.

All learning materials, tasks and readings will be posted on the eLP (e-learning portal) to facilitate full participation in the module. Additionally, you will receive formative feedback on your ideas and understandings throughout the module. The module’s final, summative assessment will also provide an opportunity for learning, the feedback from the assessment providing you with comment and ideas which you will be able to develop in Semester 2.

Interactive lectures will develop both your academic knowledge of key issues in the analysis of language structure and your ability to undertake cross-linguistic analyses. Your academic development is also facilitated through engagement with the weekly readings and tasks, and also discussing theoretical and practical concerns with your tutor and peers.

The module handbook provides details of weekly topics, reading lists and assessment criteria; lecture materials are available on the eLP (see above). Module tutors will be available in lectures in ‘Feedback and consultation hours’ (i.e. ‘office hours’) and by appointment, and on email, to discuss any queries or concerns you have regarding any aspect of the module. Formative feedback will be given in an on-going basis throughout in-class tasks and activities.

In addition, you have a designated Guidance Tutor throughout the entire duration of your studies. The academic side of the Guidance Tutor’s role includes monitoring your ongoing academic progress, helping you to develop self-reflection skills necessary for continuous academic development, and directing you to further available services which can help them with their academic skills (e.g. the Library’s Skills Plus). You are advised to see your Guidance Tutor at least twice each semester to review your academic progress. Additional language support is also available from the ESAP programme offered by the university’s Language Centre.

All modules at Northumbria include a range of reading materials that students are expected to engage with. The reading list for this module can be found at: http://readinglists.northumbria.ac.uk
(Reading List service online guide for academic staff this containing contact details for the Reading List team – http://library.northumbria.ac.uk/readinglists)

Knowledge & Understanding:

1. Demonstrate a systematic approach to language structure and an understanding of how theory underpins knowledge.
2. Describe and analyse a range of cross-linguistic data


Intellectual / Professional skills & abilities:

3. Demonstrate the ability to critically read the literature in terms of the suitability of their methods and the implications these methods have on the claims these papers make
4. Demonstrate and ability to produce advanced written analyses in line with academic conventions.


Personal Values Attributes (Global / Cultural awareness, Ethics, Curiosity) (PVA):

5. Demonstrate the ability to critically apply, interpret and present module knowledge, and critical reflections upon this knowledge, both orally and in writing.

Formative assessment

You will present your ideas during interactive lectures and will receive formative feedback from the module tutor and peers on the pre- and in-class tasks you undertake, and any perspectives you share. Such formative will enable you to test and form your own understanding of key issues in the description and analysis of linguistic structure.

Formative assessments address MLOs in ‘Knowledge and Understanding’, ‘Intellectual/Professional skills & abilities’, and ‘Personal Values Attributes’.

Summative (graded) assessment

1. Structural Analyses
You will complete 2 2000 word linguistics analyses. These may focus on particular structural features or a specific language (or language family).

The tasks will enable you to demonstrate your knowledge of cross-linguistic structural analysis, in line with the module content and addressing all of the module’s learning outcomes.

Feedback will be provided via comments on the assessment scripts.

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During this 20 credit module, you will develop your knowledge and understanding of your knowledge of the structure of language – phonology, morphology syntax and semantics – while consolidating your knowledge of, and ability to analyse, cross-linguistic data. You will become familiar with a number of phonological, morphological, syntactic and semantic features of languages that contrast with the structure of English, and be able to explain these in descriptive and theoretical terms. Specifically you will revise and extend your understanding of key concepts in analysing cross-linguistic topics possibly including, but not limited to, autosegmental phonology and vowel harmony, reduplication, argument structure and valency alternation.

On successful completion of this module, therefore, you will therefore be able to: demonstrate a systematic approach to linguistic structure and an understanding of how theory underpins knowledge; critically evaluate arguments in the typological classification of languages and describe and analyse in depth a range of cross-linguistic data. You will additionally develop the skills needed to work autonomously in researching variation in linguistic structure across languages