Language and Social Media in Germany and beyond
| Code | School | Level | Credits | Semesters |
| MLAC3193 | Modern Languages and Cultures | 3 | 20 | Full Year UK |
- Code
- MLAC3193
- School
- Modern Languages and Cultures
- Level
- 3
- Credits
- 20
- Semesters
- Full Year UK
Summary
In this module we will investigate how German (and other languages) are used in social media, especially by young German speakers. It is sometimes said that people don’t write “properly” online. Is that true? You will be introduced to frameworks for analysing language use in digital contexts, and we will explore an online corpus (i.e. a very large collection) of German social media, in order to investigate themes such as the use of emoji, non-standard grammar, linguistic creativity, borrowings from other languages, and multilingualism, and you will learn to apply basic quantitative analysis to make sense of your data. We will also consider the role of Artificial Intelligence in influencing how people interact through digital social media.
Target Students
Final-year students of German.
Classes
Rotating 1hr lecture and 2hr seminar over a fortnight
Assessment
- 40% Coursework 1: Essay 2,000-2,500 words.
- 60% Coursework 2: Essay 3,000-3,500 words.
Assessed in both autumn & spring semest
Educational Aims
To introduce students to theoretical approaches to language in social media, and to current themes in German linguistics and sociolinguistics, as well as to questions concerning the role of Artificial Intelligence in online media useTo introduce students to an online corpus of YouTube language and to equip them with the skills to use a concordance, to gather data using it, and to apply basic quantitative analysis to data.Learning Outcomes
Knowledge and understanding: Students will develop their knowledge of language use (German) in social media and of the way in which language use varies according to the register in which it is used, and will learn to apply this to their own German language use (A1, A3). Implicit in the module will be comparisons between German and English (A2).
Intellectual skills: Students will develop their ability to gather, process and evaluate information from linguistic sources and from data (D2), they will learn to reflect critically on what they read and judge in the light of evidence and argument (B5), to understand concepts and ideas in linguistic theory and relate them to specific problems (D3). Students will develop their ability to apply techniques and concepts appropriate for the linguistic analysis of the language used on social media by speakers of German (A3).
Professional skills: Via the German sources and the linguistic texts, students will develop their ability to read German in different registers (including transcribed speech) (C3). Work independently with written and spoken source materials in both English and the target languages and evaluate and process the results of research (C7). Present work in conformity with academic conventions (C8).
Transferable skills: In the essays, students will develop their ability to communicate information, ideas and arguments in English, as well as orally in the presentation (D1), to work independently (D4) and in groups (D5). Throughout the course, students will develop their ability to assess their own progress, strengths and weaknesses (D9), and to work under pressure (D6) and to organise and manage their working time, to schedule tasks and to meet deadlines (D7). Throughout the module, students will be expected to use IT effectively both as a means of communication, a means of accessing and gathering data, and as an aid to learning (D8).