Undergraduate Course: Sociolinguistics (LASC10002)
Course Outline
| School | School of Philosophy, Psychology and Language Sciences |
College | College of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences |
| Credit level (Normal year taken) | SCQF Level 10 (Year 3 Undergraduate) |
Availability | Available to all students |
| SCQF Credits | 20 |
ECTS Credits | 10 |
| Summary | Honours Sociolinguistics builds on introductory sociolinguistics and phonetics work undertaken in LEL1 and LEL2B (see Course Prerequisites). LEL2B introduced skills in acoustic phonetics and the empirical methods used in studying naturally occurring linguistic variation. This included collecting, organising, and analysing quantitative data. Sociolinguistics develops those skills at an advanced level. |
| Course description |
Students on this course will pursue a guided research project, conducting a detailed analysis of social and linguistic factors influencing the realisation of a particular linguistic variable in a corpus of spontaneous speech. The analysis of this variation constitutes the final project. Students will also read widely from the primary literature covering key issues and debates in the field of sociolinguistics. The readings explore major aspects of the theory of language variation and change, including language change in a community and an individual, and the relationship between social identities like gender, social networks, communities of practice or social class and variation in language use.
The course consists of lab work (one of two lab sessions on Mondays) and lectures / class discussions (one each on Tuesday and Wednesday). The first half of the course will be an introduction to sociolinguistic concepts and theory, plus an introduction to research methods. The second half of the course will be an advanced look at those same concepts, with research-led teaching focusing on a collaborative group project. There is an emphasis on collaborative learning. You are expected to participate fully in discussions in the class, and occasionally to present material to the class as a whole.
Assessment is by combination of a take-home exam and a final project write-up.
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Information for Visiting Students
| Pre-requisites | Visiting student must have completed at least 3 Linguistics/Language Sciences courses at grade B or above. We will only consider University/College level courses. Visiting students must have prior training in basic statistics and empirical methods. |
| 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: 0 |
| Course Start |
Semester 1 |
Timetable |
Timetable |
| Learning and Teaching activities (Further Info) |
Total Hours:
200
(
Lecture Hours 27,
Programme Level Learning and Teaching Hours 4,
Directed Learning and Independent Learning Hours
169 )
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| Assessment (Further Info) |
Written Exam
0 %,
Coursework
100 %,
Practical Exam
0 %
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| Additional Information (Assessment) |
Assessment is by: take-home exam (40%) and final project(60%). |
| Feedback |
Not entered |
| No Exam Information |
Learning Outcomes
At the end of the course, all participants will be able to:
- analyse and interpret primary data
- critically evaluate the reasoning behind data interpretation
- critically evaluate the rationale for using particular methods for analysing data
- identify the major theoretical issues addressed in a sociolinguistics article
- report on their own research showing a synthesis of the above
- relate academic sociolinguistic research to their own experiences
- provide and ask for peer-support, e.g. in data collection, tutoring.
In addition, students may have developed skills in:
- quantitative analysis of data using Excel and R
- advanced statistical methods using R
- face-to-face interviewing
- fieldwork in the wider community
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Additional Information
| Graduate Attributes and Skills |
Not entered |
| Additional Class Delivery Information |
Teaching Contact Time: 9 weeks out of 11 at 3 hours/week = 27 hours |
| Keywords | Not entered |
Contacts
| Course organiser | Dr Lauren Hall-Lew
Tel: (0131 6)51 1836
Email: Lauren.Hall-Lew@ed.ac.uk |
Course secretary | Ms Lynne Robertson
Tel: (0131 6)50 9870
Email: Lynne.Robertson@ed.ac.uk |
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