Välkommen till kursen Engelska 61-90 hp (distans)

Course information

This course is our 61 to 90 cr. course in the English Studies Section. The first ten weeks of the semester you will study “Sociolinguistics and Second Language Acquisition” and “Literature and Literary Theory”. You will write the C-essay for the remainder of the term. Class meetings are online and literature module meetings will be held on Mondays from 14-16 while linguistics module meetings will be held on Wednesdays from 10-12. The course coordinator is Kavita Thomas (Kavita.Thomas@hig.se). You should register for the course well before the start of the course which is in week 3 on Monday 16 January. Once you register, you will be automatically enrolled on Canvas, our learning platform.

The linguistics module presents central concepts in two central areas of applied linguistics: second language acquisition and sociolinguistics. You will learn about and discuss the implications of the central concepts in these fields, exploring how they apply to your own observations. Furthermore, you will explore research involving these concepts and see how linguists study language phenomena in these two fields. In the second language acquisition part, you will learn about different theories of second language acquisition and about factors that can affect learning a foreign language. In the sociolinguistics part of the module you will learn about how social factors like gender and class can affect language and about how language can be used to define and express identity. The required textbooks are:
Wardhaugh, Ronald, An Introduction to Sociolinguistics, 7th edition, Blackwell, 2015. (Older editions are also fine). Available as an ebook from the University of Gävle library.
Coates, Jennifer, Women, Men and Language, 3rd ed, Routledge, 2016. (Older editions are also fine).
Mitchell, Rosamond, Myles, Florence and Marsden, Emma, Second Language Learning Theories, 4th edition, Routledge, 2019.
Gass, Susan M., Behney, Jennifer, Plonsky, Larry, Second Language Acquisition, an Introductory Course, 5th edition, Routledge, 2020.
The module will be taught through 10 seminars which students are expected to attend and participate actively in. There are a number of assessed written assignments which come to a total of 15-18 pages (4700-5700 words).
The Literature module serves as an introduction to some of the most influential developments in critical thinking. Peter Barry’s Beginning Theory: An Introduction to Literary and Cultural Theory, Fourth Edition (2017) (older editions are also fine) provides helpful starting points regarding the current breadth and complexity of literary and cultural studies. We will read five novels from a cultural and theoretical perspective. These texts are:
Crome Yellow by Aldous Huxley, Crossing the River by Caryl Phillips, Death of a Salesman by Arthur Miller, Love Medicine by Louise Erdrich, Beloved by Toni Morrison
These works differ in narrative strategies, thematic emphases, and political orientation. Different critical “schools” will be presented and discussed in the seminars and, as a means of illustration, particular interpretive perspectives will be employed when examining fictional texts during the seminars. There will be five written assignments for the Literature course, one for each book we discuss in class. The timetable will follow the following pattern: first, there will be an introduction lecture on the literary work as well as on theory. At the following meeting, students will have their written assignment with them in class. These papers will be discussed and turned in at that meeting. The essays should be between 1000 and 1200 words, and deal directly with some aspect of the assignment topic posted by the instructors. The purpose of these written tasks is to cultivate skills in critical reflection and academic writing, and to allow instructors to offer feedback on your writing.

Students attending courses in English at the University of Gävle are required to attend class in order to receive a passing grade. Studying English at our college does not only involve obtaining subject knowledge, but also improving one’s ability to speak and write in English, and this can only take place if students meet their teachers and actively participate in the instruction. Furthermore, the first two modules feature live, face-to-face, student-teacher and student-student interaction, and these live sessions are examination seminars according to the syllabus (kursplan). For these reasons, we require attendance, with only minor exceptions. To pass the course, students must attend and actively participate in at least eight meetings in each of the two modules, “Sociolinguistics and Second Language Acquisition” and “Literature and Literary Theory”.
On Canvas, you will find specific information, such as detailed course descriptions, class timetable, teaching materials, course requirements, discussion forums, and assignments. A great part of your work will be carried out via Canvas, too. It is therefore essential that you register, which will enroll you in the course on Canvas before the semester starts. Course registration opens two weeks before course start, in week 1. See the link to register at the start of this welcome information. Once the module has started, you should check the course site on Canvas on a daily basis. Important information will be posted by your instructors on the first page of the course site (as “Announcements”).
All the meetings for this course are online, in "digital classrooms" via the web conferencing system Zoom. Access to the digital classrooms will be provided through links posted in the course site on Canvas. Please note that you need to have a headset, a microphone and a webcam so as to be able to fully participate in our Zoom sessions. You will find a user guide to Zoom and information about the software at .https://www.hig.se/Ext/En/University-of-Gavle/Library/Learning-Center/Web-meetings-with-Zoom.html

Your first meeting in literature will be on Monday 16 January 14:00-16:00 online at the following zoom classroom: https://hig-se.zoom.us/j/435983226
Prior to that meeting you should read Crome Yellow and have read the chapter on Marxism in Barry. If you have any questions, please get in touch with the literature instructor directly, Marko.Modiano@hig.se.
Subsequent seminar reading and instructors will be posted on Canvas. For the seminars taught by Fredrik Svensson you will meet at https://hig-se.zoom.us/j/6914805372
Your first meeting in linguistics will be on Wednesday 18 January 10:30-12:30. The reading and zoom link will be sent to you by email from the first instructor Henrik.Kaatari@hig.se who will teach the sociolinguistics half of the module. Kavita Thomas will teach the second half of the module on second language acquisition. Please contact Henrik if you have questions on the sociolinguistics first half of the module and contact Kavita if you have questions on the second half of the module. Once you have registered, you will find the reading and due dates in the syllabus in the Canvas course page, along with assignments etc.

While studying the first two modules, you should think about the kind of research paper you want to write in the last 15-credit module. By the end of the first two modules, your course coordinator (Kavita Thomas) should know if you are going to write your paper in literature or in language studies. You will then be assigned an essay advisor who will work with you for the remainder of the course. Bear in mind that this is a full time course of study and you should expect to put in about 40 hours a week on the course. Please contact the course coordinator with questions on the course itself. You will find answers to your questions on the individual modules on the Canvas course site.

Cheating and plagiarizing are serious academic offences, which result in failing the module in question and being reported to the university’s disciplinary board. To learn about plagiarism and get basic information on how to avoid it, please read this material in Swedish or English.

You will also be asked to take a plagiarism test on Canvas before you can access any of the course material.

Plagiarism Pdf, 384 kB.

The course is given by the Faculty of Education and Business Studies.