LLAS Centre for Languages, Linguistics and Area Studies

Learning and teaching discourse analysis
Learning and teaching discourse analysis engages students and tutors in the exploration of texts and talk. Analysis of discourse data encourages students to reflect upon and critically evaluate knowledge acquired in the study of, for example, syntax and semantics as well as naturally drawing students to the investigation of socially-situated language use. Such study provides students with the opportunity to examine how meaning is constructed and negotiated in discourse and to reflect on the role that language plays in social life. Teaching discourse analysis involves introducing students to relevant theories and guiding them in the application of these theories to real life language use. Learning is grounded in students' own experience and in the questions they ask about problems in the humanities and social sciences.

Semantics and pragmatics
This contribution sets out how the study of linguistic meaning and interpretation (Semantics) and the study of language use and communication (Pragmatics) are inter-dependent. Three areas are covered: (i) Methodology (ii) Context and Content and (iii) Content and Inference. As well as sketching key ideas, the contribution also points to ongoing debates. Classic texts and recent contributions are mentioned in relation to both.

Politeness
Politeness theory is currently attracting a great interest amongst scholars and is developing at breakneck speed. Notions of politeness are perhaps best taught using a pincer movement combining intellectual understanding (through linguistics lectures) and practical exercises (in language classes).

Discourse analysis
In its broadest sense discourse analysis provides a framework of general communicative behaviour within which syntax, semantics and pragmatics can be situated. In its narrower sense it takes in the organisation of text and information: ordering old and new information, focusing on or making salient particular pieces of information and the constituents that carry them, shifts of event or scene, changes of text-type. These topics relate directly to matters such as the function of syntactic structures, choice of different types of referring expression and function of intonation patterns.

'English for Excellence': An innovative, comprehensive, web-based and tutor-supported programme of study in Academic English
This paper is a presentation of 'English for Excellence' (EfE): a web-based and tutor-supported programme of study in Academic English. The EfE is a project initiative jointly funded by the University of Luton and the Higher Education European Social Fund (HE ESF) programme, under the theme of Widening Participation. The paper discusses the research base of the teaching materials, their content and presentation, followed by interim evaluation results of its beneficiary effects on learners.

Applied Linguistics and the teaching of English and Modern Languages (19 Jan 05)
Event date: 19 January, 2005
Location: Abden House, Pollock Halls, University of Edinburgh

New methods in literary linguistics (26 Nov 2004)
Event date: 26 November, 2004
Location: Brunei Gallery, School of Oriental and African Studies, London

Discourse in the teaching of Linguistics
Event date: 17 May, 2002
Location: University of Edinburgh

Linguistics: Linguistic description: Above the sentence - weekly task sheets
At the University of Portsmouth, first year modern languages students have a course in Linguistic Description. The materials here are a complementary set to those we use in phonetics/phonology/prosody, morphology, semantics and syntax, and cover above the sentence phenomena, such as text, discourse and conversation analysis, as well as stylistics and pragmatics. The lectures are built on the analysis of English and in the tutorials students carry out comparative analyses of other languages. The assessment for the unit consists of a portfolio of weekly tasks. Students are required to find out about a language of their choice from a native speaker informant. Students have traditionally investigated their chosen language of study (French, Spanish, Italian, German, Russian), but some students have done their projects on more exotic languages such as Thai, Arabic, Cantonese, Japanese, Finnish, Swedish, Malay, Korean or Greek. We have found that the project encourages initiative, a strong sense of involvement, an attitude of enquiry, and a scholarly approach to linguistic analysis in the students. It prepares them for independent and systematic study of languages in the knowledge of the principles of organisation and use underlying them.