Postgraduate Course: Languages, Education and Society (EDUA11411)
Course Outline
| School | Moray House School of Education and Sport |
College | College of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences |
| Credit level (Normal year taken) | SCQF Level 11 (Postgraduate) |
Availability | Available to all students |
| SCQF Credits | 10 |
ECTS Credits | 5 |
| Summary | This course addresses one of the three aims of the MSc Language Education, which is to discuss and analyse how we use languages. Drawing mainly on sociolinguistics and socio-political approaches, it introduces students to various views on how language, education and society interact. Course students will explore the concepts of language, power, identity and ideology in language education, both at the micro-level (e.g. classroom talk, teachers' attitudes) and macro-level (e.g. language in education policy and planning) of the field of language education. Discussions in this course are grounded in the recognition of our global and multilingual world, and will address current related issues, such as the hybridity of language practices in our superdiverse schools. Students will also consider the best quantitative and qualitative approaches to investigate issues related to language, education and society. |
| Course description |
This course recognises the need to develop a critical approach to our understanding of language learning and teaching. It sees language, education and society as being shaped by globalisation, multilingualism and power. Over five weeks, course students will consider the following themes in relation to language education:
- Language choice, multilingualism and superdiversity (e.g. multilingual society and education, translanguaging, linguistics landscape)
- Language variation and change (e.g. lingua francas, gender and age, regional and social dialects, standard versus vernacular languages)
- Language in education policy and planning (e.g. national and official languages, top-down versus bottom-up language education policies, linguistic rights)
- Language attitudes and identity (e.g. attitudes to language and language learning, language and power, language and discourse)
- Language maintenance and shift (e.g. the role of language education in language shift, loss, maintenance and revival)
This course will offer a variety of research-led input and student-led discussions, supported by real-life examples of text and discourses. An overview of research methods related to the investigation of the above five topics will also be introduced on a weekly basis.
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Entry Requirements (not applicable to Visiting Students)
| Pre-requisites |
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Co-requisites | |
| Prohibited Combinations | |
Other requirements | None |
Information for Visiting Students
| Pre-requisites | None |
| High Demand Course? |
Yes |
Course Delivery Information
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| Academic year 2019/20, Available to all students (SV1)
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Quota: None |
| Course Start |
Semester 1 |
Timetable |
Timetable |
| Learning and Teaching activities (Further Info) |
Total Hours:
100
(
Lecture Hours 5,
Seminar/Tutorial Hours 7.5,
Summative Assessment Hours 48,
Programme Level Learning and Teaching Hours 2,
Directed Learning and Independent Learning Hours
37 )
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| Assessment (Further Info) |
Written Exam
0 %,
Coursework
100 %,
Practical Exam
0 %
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| Additional Information (Assessment) |
Formative«br /»
Students will be asked to engage in a data collection task to document a sociolinguistic issue of their choice relevant to language education. This formative assessment will not be marked.«br /»
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Summative«br /»
Students will be required to produce a 2000-word essay (100% weight) on a given topic related to sociolinguistics and language education, preferably using the data collected during the formative assessment. The essay will be marked in line with the common post-graduate marking scheme as detailed in the Taught Masters Generic Handbook, which students receive at the start of their studies.
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| Feedback |
Not entered |
| No Exam Information |
Learning Outcomes
On completion of this course, the student will be able to:
- 1. Demonstrate a critical understanding of the main theories, principles and concepts underpinning sociolinguistics and language education.
- 2. Demonstrate extensive, detailed and critical knowledge of current issues related to language, education and society, such as language policy, translanguaging, and lingua francas.
- 3. Apply critically and in a context-sensitive manner the main theoretical strands and concepts underpinning sociolinguistics to their future professional practice and research in the field of language education.
- 4. Develop appropriate, creative and original research skills to investigate sociolinguistics-related issues in a given language educational context, based on key principles and theories as well as developments at the forefront of the field.
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Reading List
Indicative reading
Coupland, N. 2016. Sociolinguistics: Theoretical debates. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Creese, A. and Blackledge, A. 2010. Multilingualism. A critical perspective. London: Continuum.
García, O., Ibarra-Johnson, S., & Seltzer, K. 2016. The translanguaging classroom. Philadelphia: Caslon.
Hornberger, H. N. and Lee McKay S. 2010. Sociolinguistics and Language Education. Bristol: Multilingual Matters.
Jaspers, J. & Madsen, L. 2016. Sociolinguistics in a languagised world: introduction. Applied Linguistics Review, 7 (3): 235-258.
Johnstone, B. 2000. Qualitative Methods in Sociolinguistics. New York: Oxford.
Macaulay, R. 2009. Quantitative Methods in Sociolinguistics. St. Martin¿s Press (Palgrave).
Meyerhoff, M. 2011. Introduction to Sociolinguistics. 2nd Edition. New York/London: Routledge/Taylor and Francis.
Norton, B. 2000. Identity and Language Learning: Gender, Ethnicity and Educational change. Harlow, England: Longman/Pearson.
Siiner, M., Hult, F. M., Kupisch, T. 2018. Language Policy and Language Acquisition Planning. Cham: Springer.
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Additional Information
| Graduate Attributes and Skills |
Not entered |
| Keywords | Sociolinguistics,Language Education,Language and Society |
Contacts
| Course organiser | Mr Michael Lynch
Tel: (0131 6)51 6422
Email: Michael.Lynch@ed.ac.uk |
Course secretary | Miss Charlotte Stoppard
Tel: (0131 6)51 6265
Email: charlotte.stoppard@ed.ac.uk |
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