MA TESOL & Applied Linguistics (Distance Learning)

Module ED7504: Language, Discourse and Society

The Planning Unit

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Please read the Planning Unit carefully and refer to it for advice about the module

content, reading and assignment. You should also refer to the Course Handbook for

further information about the programme. Your course tutor will support your

module studies and you should make contact with her/him immediately after starting

the module.

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CONTENTS

1. Module Outline 3

1.1 Module aims and objectives 3

1.2 Module content and structure 4

2. Recommended Reading 6

2.1 General Reading List (Parts A & B) 6

2.2 Useful Journals 12

2.3 Other Resources 12

3. Module Assessment 13

3.1 Assessment requirements 13

3.2 E-tivities 13

3.3 Producing your Portfolio 13

3.4 The Assignment Brief 13

3.5 Examples of possible topics 15

3.6 Keys Dates 16

4. Icons used in the units 17

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1. MODULE OUTLINE

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The purpose of this section is to provide a detailed account specifically of Module

ED7504: Language, Discourse and Society. More general information is available in

the MA Handbook. However, please do not hesitate to contact us if you require more

information or clarification.

1.1 Module aims and objectives

This module has two complementary parts: sociolinguistics and discourse analysis.

Its central aim is to explore the ways in which language, discourse and society are

interrelated, as well as to develop students investigative and analytical skills. It will address such issues as:

how and why the way we use English varies according to social, regional and

other dimensions

how and why standardizing processes occur in language use over time and

how they influence attitudes to different varieties or dialects

how the role of English as a global language has been, and continues to be,

both described and theorised

how our identities and communicative intentions affect our linguistic choices;

and how we recognise and exploit distinctive kinds and styles of language in

different situations and across different media, whether spoken, written or

multimodal

Part A of the module (units 1-7) is devoted to Sociolinguistics while Part B (units 8-

15) focuses on Discourse Analysis. Each unit comprises an introduction to a key topic

area with Activities and guidance on how further study can be undertaken. Your own

additional reading and reflection are critical to overall success in the module. Ideally,

you should aim not merely to understand the main theories and methods of analysis

covered in Parts A and B but to be able to apply them to language issues, varieties

and discourses which you yourself find interesting and worthy of study. In this

module we want to encourage you to be a more perceptive and systematic analyst of

language in real world contexts.

Although each Part can stand alone as an introduction to the field, numerous

intersections link them. For this reason the way we assess the module allows you, if

you wish, to do an extended assignment combining both parts, as an alternative to

writing a separate assignment for each part (see further details on assessment in

section 3.2 below).

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Learning Outcomes:

By the end of this module participants should be able to:

1. demonstrate an understanding of key concepts in sociolinguistics, such as

language variation and standardisation

2. critique the role of English as a global language within a multilingual and

multi-literate world

3. examine critically issues of language policy and planning in national,

educational and other social contexts

4. analyse variation in language use within specific communities and social

networks

5. understand key concepts and approaches in the study of discourse

6. collect and analyse critically a variety of authentic spoken and written

discourse types

7. investigate speaker meanings through pragmatic analysis

8. appreciate the relationship between discourse, power and ideology

1.2 Module content and structure

PART A: SOCIOLINGUISTICS

1. Language change and variation

2. Standard English

3. World Englishes

4. Bilingualism and language choice

5. Language policy and planning

6. Language and gender

7. Field methods in sociolinguistic study

PART B: DISCOURSE ANALYSIS

8. Introduction to spoken and written discourse

9. Discourse and genre

10. Discourse and pragmatics

11. Analysing talk

12. Register and style

13. Analysing multimodal texts

14. Critical discourse analysis

Each Unit has the following structure:

Overview (contents)

Preliminary Activity

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Introduction and main text

Comprehension Check /Summary

Follow-up Activities

References

Key to Self-Assessed Activities

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2. RECOMMENDED READING

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In this section you will find a bibliography and particular recommendations for

reading for both Parts A and B of the module. Several good introductions to

sociolinguistics and discourse analysis are included in the combined General

Reading List below so that you may be able to draw on locally available texts rather

than depend on a limited choice of prescribed works. These and other texts that we

consider to be particularly helpful are shown with an asterisk.

2.1 General Reading List (for Parts A and B)

This list is regularly updated so may contain publications not incorporated into the

units. Some books may be available in new editions, so you should use the most up-

to-date if you have a choice. Where possible, other editions are indicated below by a

second or third date. Occasionally, individual chapters are mentioned as being of

particular interest. You may be able to obtain a copy of an individual chapter

through the Distance Learning Support offered by the David Wilson Library.

Aitchison, J. (1997) The Language Web: The Power and Problem of Words.

Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Aitchison, J. and Lewis, D. M. (2003) New Media Language. London and New York:

Routledge.

Bauer, L. (1994) An Introduction to International Varieties of English. Edinburgh:

Edinburgh University Press.

*Bex, T. and Watts, R.J. (eds.) (1999) Standard English: The Widening Debate.

London: Routledge.

Beal, J. (2006) Language and Region. London: Routledge.

Biber, D., Finegan, E. and Leech, G. (1999) The Longman Grammar of Spoken and

Written English. Harlow: Pearson.

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Bragg, M. (2003) The Adventure of English: The Biography of a Language. London:

Hodder and Stoughton.

Burns, A. and Coffin, C. (eds.) (2001) Analysing English in a Global Context: A

Reader. London: Routledge.

*Cameron, D. (2001) Working with Spoken Discourse. London: Sage.

Cameron, D. and Kulick, D. (2003) Language and Sexuality. Cambridge: Cambridge

University Press.

Clark, U. (2007) Studying Language: English in Action. Basingstoke: Palgrave

Macmillan.

Coates, J. (1996) Women Talk. Oxford: Basil Blackwell.

Coates, J. and Cameron, D. (eds.) (1986) Women in their Speech Communities.

Harlow: Longman.

Conboy M. (2007) The Language of the News. London and New York: Routledge.

Coupland, N. (2001)Language, situation, and the relational self: theorizing dialect-style in sociolinguistics, in Eckert and Rickford, 185-210.

Coupland, N., Coupland, J., and Giles, H. (1991) Language, Society and the Elderly:

Discourse, Identity and Ageing. Oxford: Blackwell.

Crystal, D. (2001) Language and the Internet. Cambridge: Cambridge University

Press.

Crystal, D. (2003 [1997]), English as a Global Language. 2nd edn. Cambridge:

Cambridge University Press.

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Crystal, D. (2004) The Stories of English. London: Allen Lane.

Cutting, J. (2002) Pragmatics and Discourse: A Resource Book for Students.

London: Routledge.

*Davies, D. (2005) Varieties of Modern English: An Introduction. Harlow: Pearson

Education.

Delin, J. (2000) The Language of Everyday Life. London: Sage.

Eckert, P. and Rickford, J.R. (eds.) (2001), Style and Sociolinguistic Variation.

Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Edwards, D. (1997) Multilingualism. Harmondsworth: Penguin.

Edwards, V. (2004) Multilingualism in the English-Speaking World. Oxford: Blackwell.

Fairclough, N. (2001[1989]), Language and Power. London: Longman.

Fairclough, N. (1992) Discourse and Social Change. Cambridge: Polity Press.

Fairclough, N. (2003) Analysing Discourse: Textual Analysis for Social Research.

London: Routledge.

Fennell, B. (2001), A History of English: A Sociolinguistic Approach. Oxford:

Blackwell.

Freeborn, D. (1992) From Old English to Standard English. 2nd edn. Basingstoke:

Macmillan.

*Graddol, D., Leith, D. and Swann, S. (eds) (1996) English History, Diversity and

Change. London: Routledge.

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*Graddol, D., Leith, D., Swann, J., Rhys, M. and Gillen, J. (eds) (2007) Changing

English. Abingdon: Routledge/The Open University.

Gumperz, J.J. (1982) Discourse Strategies. New York: Cambridge University Press.

*Holmes, J. (2001 [1992]) An Introduction to Sociolinguistics, 2nd edn. London:

Longman.

Holmes, J. and Meyerhoff, M. (2004) The Handbook of Language and Gender.

Oxford: Blackwell.

Jenkins, J. (2004) ELF at the gate: the position of English as a lingua franca, The European English Messenger 13, 2: 63-9.

Kachru, B.B. (1992) The Other Tongue: English across Cultures, 2nd edn. Urbana and

Chicago: University of Illinois Press.

Kerswill, P. (1996) Children, adolescents and language change, Language Variation and Change 8: 177-202.

Labov, W. (1966) The Social Stratification of English in New York City Washington,

DC: Center for Applied Linguistics.

*Llamas, C., Mullany, L. and Stockwell, P. eds. (2007) The Routledge Companion to

Sociolinguistics. London and New York: Routledge.

McArthur, T. (ed.) (1992) The Oxford Companion to the English Language. Oxford:

Oxford University Press.

McArthur, T. (1998), The English Languages. Cambridge: Cambridge University

Press.

McCarthy, M. (1991) Discourse Analysis for Language Teachers. Cambridge:

Cambridge University Press.

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Mills, S. (1997) Discourse. London and New York: Routledge.

Milroy, J. and Milroy, L. (1999) Authority in Language: Investigating Standard

English. London: Routledge.

Mhlhusler, P. (1997) Pidgin and Creole Linguistics. London: University of

Westminster Press.

*Paltridge, B. (2006) Discourse Analysis: An Introduction. London: Continuum.

Pennycook, A. (1994) The Cultural Politics of English as an International Language.

London: Longman.

Phillipson, R. (1992) Linguistic Imperialism. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Quirk, R. (1990) Language varieties and standard language, English Today, 6/1: 3-10.

*Romaine, S. (1994) Language in Society: An Introduction to Sociolinguistics.

Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Saville-Troike, M. (1989) The Ethnography of Communication. Oxford: Basil

Blackwell.

*Schiffrin, D. et al (2001) The Handbook of Discourse Analysis. Oxford: Blackwell.

*Schmitt, N. ed. (2002) An Introduction to Applied Linguistics. London: Arnold. [See

esp. chpts 4,5 and 9]

Short, M. (1996) Exploring the Language of Poems, Plays and Prose. Harlow:

Addison Wesley Longman.

*Spolsky, B. (1998) Sociolinguistics. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

*Stockwell, P. (2002) Sociolinguistics: A Resource Book for Students. London:

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Routledge.

*Svartvik, J. and Leech, G. (2006) English: One Tongue, Many Voices. Basingstoke:

Palgrave Macmillan.

Todd, L. (1974) Pidgins and Creoles. London: Routledge.

Tottie, G. (2002) An Introduction to American English. Oxford: Blackwell.

Trudgill, P. (ed.) (1984) Language in the British Isles. Cambridge: Cambridge

University Press.

Trudgill, P. (1999) The Dialects of England. Oxford: Blackwell. (2nd ed.)

Trudgill, P. and Hannah, J. (2002) International English: A Guide to Varieties of

Standard English, 4th edn. London: Arnold.

*Wardhaugh, R. (2002 [1986]) An Introduction to Sociolinguistics, 4th edn. Oxford:

Blackwell.

Wells, J. C. (1982) Accents of English. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Wells, J. C. (2004) Longman Pronunciation Dictionary. London: Longman.

Winchester, S. (2003) The Meaning of Everything: The Story of the Oxford English

Dictionary. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Wolfram, W. and Schilling-Estes, N. (1998) American English: Dialects and Variation.

Malden, MA: Blackwell.

*Wood, A.L. and Kroger, R. (2000) Doing Discourse Analysis. London: Sage.

Yule, G. (1996) The Study of Language, 2nd edn. Cambridge: Cambridge University

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Press.

Yule, G (1996) Pragmatics. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press

2.2 Useful journals

The following journals are useful for sociolinguistic studies. Those with an asterisk

are accessible through Leicester e-link:

English Today; World Englishes*; Language in Society; Journal of Sociolinguistics*;

Language Variation and Change; Language and Communication*; International

Journal of Bilingualism*; International Journal of Bilingual Education and

Bilingualism*; Changing English: An International Journal of English Teaching*

The following journals focus on discourse studies:

Discourse and Society*; Discourse Studies*; Critical Discourse Studies*; Discourse

and Communication*; Discourse Processes*

2.3 Other resources

The Distance Learning Service of the David Wilson Library provides a range of useful

links and portals for research. As well as making numerous journals accessible

through E-Link, its E-Newspapers link gives access to a wide range of international, national and regional papers, major magazines and official publications such as

Hansard (the printed record of British parliamentary debates). E-Newspapers and other resources provide you with access to publications you may well wish to

investigate at some point, e.g. if looking for media texts to analyse.

Also remember the E-Reference link too, which takes you to dictionaries (e.g. of Australian English) and other reference books that you could need. An hour or two

spent browsing the various resources offered by the Digital Library would be time

well spent.

In addition to the Librarys resources, there are also a number of useful websites on sociolinguistics, especially on accents and regional speech. For example, The BBC

Voices website at www.bbc.co.uk/voices allows you to listen to regional speech from all over the UK and has interesting interviews about regional dialect, e.g.

Leicestershire dialect. Another good resource is the Routes of English website based on a BBC Radio 4 radio series, which you can find at

www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/routesofenglish . An Open University website called Word for Word is also worth exploring (www.open2.net/word4word). This has a wealth of material on language variation, history of English and global English.

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3. MODULE ASSESSMENT

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3.1 Assessment Requirements

You are required to complete:

Task Submit to due

Two e-tivities

Module e-

moderator

At various points

throughout the duration of

the module. See schedule

on online MA Blackboard

website

A portfolio of one combined 6000

word paper to two separate 3000

word papers:

TESOL office At the end of the module.

3.2 E-tivities

In addition to the portfolio, you are required to submit two online activities (called e-tivities) which are available on the online MA Blackboard website. For more information and to access these e-tivities go to the Blackboard website and course materials modules Language, Discourse and Society module material.

3.3 Producing Your Portfolio

Your tutor will wish to see the proposed title and the plan for your extended piece(s)

of writing, or for the combined assignment if you choose to do one. Tutors should

see the plans by the module end date (see Key Dates section on Blackboard site), which is around one month before the final submission date. The tutor will consider

the title and plan to make sure that the chosen focus fits the aims of the module.

S/he will also advise you of possible readings or activities that may help.

3.4 The Assignment Brief

You are required to submit:

Either:

a) an essay on an area of sociolinguistics (3000 words) and a separate

(unconnected) piece of discourse/textual analysis (3000 words)

OR :

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b) a combined assignment = a sociolinguistic essay including related

discourse/textual analysis (6000 words), i.e. on one topic

The assignment(s) should be submitted together by the module submission date (see

Key Dates section on Blackboard site).

(There is a 10% tolerance on the word limit, above or below. If your work is outside

this limit, the assignment(s) will be returned to you for editing.)

More detailed guidance:

a) The Essay (3,000 words)

Investigate one area of sociolinguistics that is of particular interest to you (e.g. a

specific dialect or variety of English, a language contact issue, attitudes to usage,

area of language policy etc). Please note that you are NOT REQUIRED to relate

your topic to a learning or teaching context in this module, though you can do so

if you wish (e.g. by linking bilingualism with education). See examples of possible

topics below.

Separate Discourse/Textual Analysis (3000 words)

For this part you should analyze the discourse of at least ONE spoken or written (or

multimodal) English text of your own choice. A comparative analysis is also possible,

and the text can be in any variety of English. Examples of possible texts might be:

an advertisement; an institutional document; an item of broadcast or print news; a

sports commentary; a newspaper report; a political speech; a short conversation; an

extract from online discourse, e.g. comments on a blog. See further suggestions

below.

You should supply the original text(s) analyzed in an Appendix (if recorded speech,

provide a clear recording and transcript), and this material will not be included in the

word count. However, we advise you to choose for analysis texts of manageable

length: a written text should be roughly no more than one side of an A4 page. Please

be aware that even a few minutes of conversation will generate a large quantity of

transcription. As a rough guide, any transcription should preferably be no longer than

one side of an A4 page.

You should clarify and justify the theoretical perspective you adopt in analyzing the

text(s) chosen (e.g. conversation analysis, genre/register analysis, critical discourse

analysis). In addition, if you make use of transcription notation, you should add a

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key to the symbols you have used.

OR:

b) Combined assignment (6000 words)

If you choose to do a combined assignment instead, you should write your

assignment on an aspect of language, discourse and society that is of particular

interest to you and it should include some discourse/textual analysis related to your

chosen topic. Many of the sociolinguistic and discourse-related topics listed below are

also suitable for this assignment, but they could need some adjustment to suit the

required word length (you might want to compare two or three texts rather than

focus on just one, for instance).

The important thing to remember is that your combined assignment should, as far as

possible, be seen to be integrating two areas of the module, one from Part A and the

other from Part B, for a clear and coherent purpose. For example, lets say you are interested in the use of non-standard grammar in teenagers conversation. To investigate this topic further you will need to draw both on what you know from Part

A about non-standard English, and from Part B about conversation analysis. Thus the

topic is well suited to the combined assignment option.

3.5 Examples of possible topics

Analyse the language of tourist brochures (or other genre) for different target

audiences (you could compare two brochures aimed at different audiences)

Explore the meanings constructed through language and style in different

university or school prospectuses.

Record a few people telling a favourite story or joke. Compare the recordings

from the point of view of the structural and stylistic features of oral

narratives.

Provide a conversational and/or pragmatic analysis of an authentic spoken

interaction (which should be recorded and orthographically transcribed).

Explore the language of TV weather forecasts (e.g. from the point of view of

idiomaticity, conversationalisation )

Compare a radio news story for adults (e.g. on Radio 4) with one for children

(e.g. from CBBCs Newsround). What are the main stylistic/discoursal differences?

Use the BBC World Service to collect spoken data on world Englishes (narrow

this down, of course, and find a focus).

Analyse written and spoken sports commentary, preferably on the same

sporting event. What are the main structural and stylistic differences?

Investigate local attitudes to different regional accents of English. Try to

establish what factors shape peoples attitudes to an accent. Explore the linguistic representation of a particular celebrity/event/theme in

the media you will need to narrow this down to a selection of representative texts.

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Compare the accents and speaking styles of older and younger British royals, or compare early and more recent recordings of the Queen. How has her

accent and/or other aspects of her language changed over the years?

Compare two or three versions of the same news report in different print

media use transitivity analysis, for example, to establish differences of viewpoint.

Explore the language of message boards/online forums/blogs. Find an

interesting angle, e.g. relating communicative style to the online medium in

some way.

Investigate the orthographic representation (i.e. spelling) of non-standard

English dialect in one or more literary works (e.g. two poems by different

poets). What does the representation of the dialect add to our

reading/interpretation of the work?

Explore any professional and/or gendered discourse (e.g. workplace/training

discourse) and analyse how social meanings are constructed in it.

Analyse political/educational debates about varieties of English in a particular

area of the world (e.g. Singapore).

Explore code-switching among a particular group of bilingual speakers. What

type of code-switching takes place in their interactions and what

social/cultural meanings are attached to it?

Analyse the features of a particular kind of spoken interaction (i.e. in a

specific type of communicative event, such as a phone interaction; interview;

service encounter).

Give a critical account of language policy and planning issues in a chosen

context (e.g. in Canada).

These are only examples of the wide range of possible topics you could consider. As

you work through the module make notes on the areas that interest you most, read

more about them, and consider what aspects you might wish to explore further. This

will give you several possible areas to consider when you make your decision on a

topic for the assignment(s).

3.6 Key Dates

See Key Dates section on the Blackboard site.

4. ICONS USED IN THE UNITS

The following icons are used throughout the module units:

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Activities for reflection with no formal feedback.

See the Key to Self-Assessed Activities for feedback.

This downward arrow indicates that feedback is given to the Activity

immediately in the text. You should make sure that you do the Activity

before proceeding with your reading of the text.

This book icon indicates that you are advised to consult a particular

text in the field. Guidance is given with each reading activity.

This icon indicates a link to an audio recording.

This icon indicates a link to a video recording.