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DEGREE REGULATIONS & PROGRAMMES OF STUDY 2024/2025

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DRPS : Course Catalogue : School of Philosophy, Psychology and Language Sciences : Language Sciences

Undergraduate Course: Linguistics and English Language 1A (LASC08022)

Course Outline
SchoolSchool of Philosophy, Psychology and Language Sciences CollegeCollege of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences
Credit level (Normal year taken)SCQF Level 8 (Year 1 Undergraduate) AvailabilityAvailable to all students
SCQF Credits20 ECTS Credits10
SummaryThis course offers a brief introduction to the study of language in general and of English in particular. The course covers a range of topics in language structure and language variation and change, in addition to the relationship between linguistics and the other human and cognitive sciences. It gives students the opportunity to learn more about accents and dialects of English and Scots and hands-on experience of analysing a wide range of other languages.
Course description The course introduces students to the idea of language as an object of enquiry in general and the study of the English language in particular, and provides them with an introduction to the use of appropriate analytical tools. The course covers a range of topics in linguistic structure (sound systems, the structure of words, sentences, and texts), history (language change in general and the development of English and Scots in particular) and variation (accents and dialects, social variation, language in society and language ideologies), in addition to related issues from a wide range of subfields. Students receive training in a range of analysis and argumentation skills, including hands-on analysis of data from a wide range of familiar and unfamiliar languages.
Entry Requirements (not applicable to Visiting Students)
Pre-requisites Co-requisites
Prohibited Combinations Other requirements Priority will be given to Year 1 students, in particular those who need to take this course as a requirement of their degree programme.
Information for Visiting Students
Pre-requisitesNone
High Demand Course? Yes
Course Delivery Information
Academic year 2024/25, Available to all students (SV1) Quota:  0
Course Start Semester 1
Timetable Timetable
Learning and Teaching activities (Further Info) Total Hours: 200 ( Lecture Hours 33, Seminar/Tutorial Hours 11, Programme Level Learning and Teaching Hours 4, Directed Learning and Independent Learning Hours 152 )
Assessment (Further Info) Written Exam 0 %, Coursework 100 %, Practical Exam 0 %
Additional Information (Assessment) Writing assignment portfolio worth 60%
Data analysis: individual submission worth 30%
Data analysis: group submission worth 10%
Feedback Feedforward events (study skills, essay writing, data analysis) in timetabled lecture hours
Puzzle workshops to support working on the data analysis component of the course
Students will be able to use feedback on their initial essay submission in working on the final essay
Tutorials will explicitly focus on developing assessment-relevant skills throughout the course.
No Exam Information
Learning Outcomes
On completion of this course, the student will be able to:
  1. Demonstrate an understanding of the difference between prescriptive and descriptive approaches to language and critically apply this notion in the analysis of linguistic and social phenomena.
  2. Demonstrate a knowledge of the basic features of speech sounds and the structure of words and sentences, as well as of key notions relevant to the historical development and social and geographical variation within English and Scots, and apply this knowledge in analysing data from English and other languages
  3. Demonstrate an understanding of the standards of communication and argumentation in linguistics and critically evaluate linguistic arguments
  4. Demonstrate an awareness of the function of language as a vehicle of communication and key links between linguistics and the wider context of the human and cognitive sciences
Reading List
None
Additional Information
Graduate Attributes and Skills Not entered
KeywordsLEL1A,Linguistics,English Language
Contacts
Course organiserDr Pavel Iosad
Tel: (0131 6)50 3948
Email: Pavel.Iosad@ed.ac.uk
Course secretaryMiss Kayla Johnson-McCraw
Tel: (0131 6)50 3440
Email: Kayla.Johnson@ed.ac.uk
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