General Information

School	School of Humanities	Course Length	3 years full-time
Contact	Academic Director Telephone: 0030 2810 264480 Fax: 0030 2810 264489 E-mail: info@global.edu.gr	Number of Places	20
		Entry Requirements	Admission Requirements for Bachelor Degree
Introduction
The degree in English Language builds on staff strengths in this area and allows you to specialise in language studies across a range of modules. No previous knowledge is assumed although those with an A or AS level in English Language may find the course particularly suitable.
Course Structure
Year 1 provides a descriptive and theoretical basis from which students can progress to higher-level work. You will be introduced to description of English from sound to sentence; you will consider the history of the language and its development and will start to consider the use of English in different contexts. In addition, you will take modules in Information Technology, academic and creative writing and introductory courses in literature. These will give students a perspective on the wider field of English Studies, but will also allow for higher-level language study using IT or focusing on literary texts. Year 2 consists of more descriptive study of English phonology and grammar; investigations into English dialects and other variations in the language; and a range of topic-based modules currently including Conversation Analysis, Child Language Acquisition, The Language of Narrative and the Language of Contemporary Poetry. In Year 3 you will prepare a final year project on a topic of your choice, and study further modules in English Language, currently including Metaphor, Language and Power, Language in Education, Feminism and Linguistic Theory and Language of Humour.
Teaching and Assessment		Career Opportunities
Teaching in language and literature modules is by lecture and seminar in core modules and by seminar in optional modules. All teaching is supported by opportunities for individual feedback and consultation with staff. Students are encouraged to participate in classes by a variety of teaching methods, including group and pair work and by the use of presentations. Assessment varies across a range of types, including a small number of formal examinations, essays and projects, log books and commentaries, oral presentations and writing portfolios. All foundation work is moderated and advanced work is subject to second marking and external examining.		Students will be well prepared for further training as a teacher of English; schools are increasingly looking for teachers who can teach language syllabuses. In addition, you will be well placed to enter a career as an EFL or ESL teacher, providing you with opportunities to travel. Students would normally take a short vocational course in EFL after graduating, but our graduates would be extremely well prepared for such an option. Many of our graduates enter other graduate careers every year, including PR, marketing, management and other business-based jobs. All of these careers require high levels of communication skills, which are developed by undergraduate studies in English Language.
Special Features		Other Information
Staff involved in this degree course is actively engaged in publishing, research and text books in the subject.		English is a highly successful and fast growing discipline at GLOBAL, with five new full-time staff appointments in 2005 alone.

Modules Short Description

An Introduction to Language Style & the Structure of English

This module will introduce the study of human communication. You will be asked to consider the range of human activity, which could be called communication, and to reflect on the similarities and differences between human and animal communication. You will also be given the theoretical background to a structural approach to language analysis, and an overview of this approach as applied to English. You will acquire basic knowledge of the phonology, grammar and semantics of English as well as an ability to acquire further knowledge through your own research and reading.

Creative Language Awareness

The aims of this module are to develop your critical linguistic skills and stylistic awareness of both literary and non-literary texts. In doing this we will be examining texts ranging from poems and prose fiction to news reports, song lyrics and spoken conversation. We will look at issues such as style, genre and point of view, concentrating particularly on the relationship between textual form, interpretation and meaning. Much of the course will involve you intervening in texts and reflecting on these interventions in order to see better how meaning and stylistic effects are created in language.

English in Context

The aim of this module is to introduce you to issues concerning the relationship between English (both spoke and written) and context. Unlike many of the other modules you will be taking in Language this year, in this one you will be given the chance to analyse a range of examples: these might include adverts, newspaper articles, leaflets and telephone conversations. As well as thinking about the relationship between these texts and their contexts, you will also be introduced to a range of specific features that relate to this relationship (such as deictic words like “here”, “there”, “yesterday”, etc) These terms/features allow us to analyse texts in detail and to discover what it is that distinguishes them from other kinds of texts in slightly different contexts.

Theory and Method in Language Study

This module will introduce you to basic theoretical and methodological aspects of language study. We will begin with an overview of the history of the English language from its roots, which will be followed by an introduction to the study of dialects of English, including associated terminology. The development of descriptive models of language will be introduced with reference to structuralism, and then the debate between generative and functionalist approaches will be explored using a range of practical exploratory exercises. Finally, the module will introduce the principles of scientific methodology such as hypothesis construction and testing, data collection and analysis and empirical methods, as applied to language study.

Language Development and Change

This module introduces the changing nature of languages around the world. It looks at which aspects of language are susceptible to change, explores some linguistic changes which have already taken place, and looks at ways of spotting and charting linguistic changes that are taking place currently. We will study linguistic and social motivations for language change, and look at the processes that lead to the development of new languages and to language decay and death.

Variety, Representation and Interaction in Language

This module focuses on how the type of language we use can vary according to such factors as the geographical or social background of the speaker, the formality or informality of the speech situation and the purpose of the speech event. In addition, we will consider how the identity of a speaker is represented in part by the way in which they use language, and how speakers interact with others in order to achieve particular conversational goals. The course will introduce you to relevant research and theories within the field and provide you with the necessary knowledge and skills to be able to carry out your own research in this area of language study.

Advanced Description of English

This module builds on first year modules in English Language by taking the study of the structures and description of English further as well as reflecting on the theories and methods that are being used to do so. The module introduces theoretical and descriptive aspects of language study, enabling the student to draw on different approaches in taking the description of language to advanced levels.

Child Language Acquisition

Conversational Analysis

The aim of this module is to introduce you to the methods and findings of Conversation Analysis. You may have already learned about some of the fundamental features of conversation in English in Context, but this module gives you the opportunity to learn about these and other features in greater depth. It also gives you more opportunity to analyse conversation and to arrive at your own findings about patterns, which underlie the way we interact. In seminars we will do two main activities: 1. we will examine particular features (such as turn-taking, greetings, closings) in detail, learning about existing research findings and examining data; 2. we will study naturally occurring interaction in order to allow you to apply existing research and to make your own original observations. We will mainly concentrate on informal conversation in seminars, but you can also study more formal interaction such as radio phone-ins.

Language of Narrative

A stylistics module. Stylistics is a systematic way of exploring (primarily literary) texts. It looks at the language of texts and attempts to explain how that language creates meaning, style and effect. Students will be given an introduction to theories and methods of stylistic analysis and the questions which it generates, for example, the extent to which reader response is influenced by belief in a text’s factuality or fictionality, and the degree to which certain constructions facilitate the making of these distinctions.

Language of Contemporary Poetry

This module will enable students to appreciate and analyse the relationship between style and poetry, using the methods and theories of stylistics. Students will be introduced to a number of themes relating language and poetry and will learn to apply linguistic analytical techniques to poetic texts of the period. Students will learn how to apply a range of methods of analysis, as well as understanding where they came from. The material to be studied will include the poetry of the later part of the twentieth century as well as the emergent poetry of the 21st century. Students will also debate themes connected to the relationship between language and poetry, which remain the subject of controversy, such as which language poetry 'should' be written in, what registers and/or styles are available to poets, and whether poetry is a 'high' art or may be accessible to all.

Dissertation in English Language

This honours level module aims to enable you to progress to work which is more independent of formal teaching than other modules, requires a longer and more sustained effort and has a single larger product than other modules. This module, furthermore, enables you to study one area of English Language in depth, using research and working methods appropriate to your subject chosen. You will produce an extended piece of work supervised by a member of staff. There will be a regular schedule of supervisions and you will be expected to submit evidence of their progress (outlines, drafts, etc.) at regular intervals. The precise syllabus for your progress will depend on the individual project and will be guided by your supervisor. However, it will necessarily involve considerable engagement with the relevant secondary material as well as detailed analysis of primary sources.

Language and Power

In this module we will explore the issues relating language to power and learn to apply the techniques of critical discourse analysis to example texts ranging from popular journalism to political speechmaking. Techniques to be studied will include the analysis of transitivity, modality, speech and thought representation, presupposition and implicature, deixis. We will also read and discuss extracts of the most important work in this field.

Language in Education

Although this module will be useful for anyone contemplating a teaching career, it should also be generally useful in promoting self-awareness of your place as a student in an education system which is constantly shifting policy in line with political and popular demands. Language is at the centre of this system, not only in the role of the major medium of assessment but also in the expression of ideologies, and you should be prepared to engage with some of the more complex theories and arguments involved.

Feminism and Linguistic Theory

The Language of Humour

This module examines a range of theories concerning the language of humour. These theories come from a variety of approaches including sociology and psychology. Initially we will read and critically assess the work of authors who have considered theories of humour itself: those who have tried to identify what makes humorous discourse different from serious discourse. Later on we will examine research that has looked at humour in context such as in conversation and in the workplace. We will also take a look at the debate that considers the relationship between humour and gender.

Pragmatics

This Honours level module aims to introduce students to the study of Pragmatics, those aspects of language use that are crucial to an understanding of language as a system of communication, especially as a system of meaning. Beginning with an exploration of the symbiotic relationship between language and context, the module then introduces and critically assesses the major areas of Pragmatics – deixis, speech act theory, implicature, and presupposition – before expanding into the wider areas of speech events, politeness and impoliteness phenomena and the distinction between emic and etic varieties, conversation, conducivity and metapragmatics.

Bilingualism

This module will look at general issues such as the nature of bilingualism and bilingual communities and theoretical approaches to the study of bilingualism. We will also study some topics in more detail, including bilingual language use (e.g. code-switching) and models of bilingual education. Through a special focus on UK bilingual communities, we will also consider the ideological underpinnings of both academic and lay perceptions of bilingualism.

Metaphor

This module covers two main approaches to the study of metaphor: 1. we explore theories of metaphor (considering what metaphor is, how metaphoric language differs from literal language, how metaphor relates to reality and thought); 2. we explore the use of metaphor in context (such as conversation, adverts, political speeches).