Monash University Handbook 2010 Undergraduate - Unit

Synopsis

This is a communicative unit that provides a study of some of the diverse language features of communication in English. Students will be able to increase their own language skills, particularly those related to essay writing and presentation, as they study the adaptability and flexibility of choice and variety which the English language produces. The focus of the unit is to study English as a language that facilitates communication in a range of different situations and genres. Students investigate how meaning is created to carry out a wide range of functions in a series of socially and culturally specific genres. They also look at the significance of this for them as multilingual speakers.

Objectives

At the completion of this unit it is expected that students, as multilingual speakers, will be able to:

1. Demonstrate a deeper understanding of how the English language functions as a unique code of communication.
2. Understand how communication is a shared process involving all participants within the language situation.
3. Apply some of the theoretical and associated practical characteristics of English as a language of communication to their own language practices.
4. Understand how individuals can participate in many discourse communities.
5. Demonstrate the link between the academic discourse community and their own texts, particularly the essay.
6. Understand how the shared relationship of the writer and the reader influences the creation of meaning in text.
7. Create their own writer's voice within the texts which they produce.
8. Explain how cultural and social expectations are important features in the creation of meaning in text.
9. Identify the cultural level of language that acts as a hidden influence within the communicative function of English.
10. Identify and explain the importance of 'world view' in both the texts they create and the text of others.

Assessment

Written work: 60%
Test: 20%
Oral Presentation: 10%
Class Participation: 10%

Chief examiner(s)

Roby Marlina

Contact hours

3 hours (1 x lecture and 1 x 2 hour seminar) per week

This unit applies to the following area(s) of study

English as an international language