Sociolinguistics of Work

Code

ENGL4095

School

English

Level

4

Credits

20

Semesters

Spring UK

Summary

This module is intended to familiarise students with theories and applications of discourse-based sociolinguistics in relation to the context of work. It will cover a range of sociolinguistic, workplace topics, including a focus upon the following: workplace cultures; language and identity, including power, ethnicity, age; miscommunication; intercultural communication; critical discourse anaylsis and multimodal critical discourse analysis; and interactional sociolinguistics. The module will emphasise the crucial relationship between power and communication in the workplace, and demonstrate how recourse to discourse-inflected sociolinguistic analysis can illuminate and enhance communication in a range of workplaces and institutional settings.

Target Students

MSc in Communication and Entrepreneurship, MA Literary Linguistics, MA Applied Linguistics, MA Applied Linguistics & English Language Teaching, MA Sociolinguistics. Open to students on other JH MSc Entrepreneurship programmes.

Classes

• One 2-hour seminar each week for 11 weeks

Assessment

• 100% Assignment: 4,000 word project. Failure to comply with ethics requirements will result in a maximum possible mark of 40% for the module

Assessed by end of spring semester

Educational Aims

Learning Outcomes

Knowledge and Understanding

• Of methodological design and application in producing sets of sociolinguistic data
• Of theoretical sociolinguistic frameworks and approaches and their application to the sociolinguistic study of the workplace
• Of a wide range of sociolinguistic data analytical techniques

Intellectual Skills

• The ability to seek out, assimilate and critically evaluate published research relating to the sociolinguistics of work
• The ability to understand, compare and contrast different approaches, methodologies and theoretical frameworks in sociolinguistics
• The ability to undertake sociolinguistic analysis independently and relate this to existing research and theory
• The ability to understand the strengths and weaknesses of their own work and draw appropriate conclusions

Intellectual Skills

• The ability to seek out, assimilate and critically evaluate published research relating to the sociolinguistics of work
• The ability to understand, compare and contrast different approaches, methodologies and theoretical frameworks in sociolinguistics
• The ability to undertake sociolinguistic analysis independently and relate this to existing research and theory
• The ability to understand the strengths and weaknesses of their own work and draw appropriate conclusions

Transferable Skills

• The ability to produce systematic and rigorous descriptive and discursive writing
• The ability to undertake independent investigations of the sociolinguistics of work
• The use of information technology to aid the research and data analysis process

Conveners

• Dr Kevin Harvey