Undergraduate - UnitATS2678 - Language and identity

This unit entry is for students who completed this unit in 2015 only. For students planning to study the unit, please refer to the unit indexes in the the current edition of the Handbook. If you have any queries contact the managing faculty for your course or area of study.

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6 points, SCA Band 1, 0.125 EFTSL

Refer to the specific census and withdrawal dates for the semester(s) in which this unit is offered.

Level	Undergraduate
Faculty	Faculty of Arts
Organisational Unit	Linguistics
Offered	Not offered in 2015
Coordinator(s)	Dr Simon Musgrave

Synopsis

This unit examines the role of language in the construction of identity or identities, with a particular focus on gender identity. In addition the linguistic contribution to presentation and construction of ethnic and other identities will be examined. The examination of differences in the language use and communication patterns of the sexes focuses on:

a variety of languages
written and spoken texts
public and private contexts including patient/doctor interaction, computer mediated interaction, interpersonal communication and educational settings.

The unit will also examine the cultural and social framing of identity, style shifting and acts of identity, and identity formation in language contact and second language learning.

Outcomes

On successful completion of this unit, a student will be able to:

Summarize key theoretical debates in relation to identity and language
Compare the approaches of theorists from different discipline backgrounds
Reflect on gender differences across languages in the light of theoretical and empirical studies
Evaluate major methodological approaches to the study of identity and language
Work in teams to apply at least one methodology to a selected context
Use data thus collected to support an argument in relation to theoretical debates
Present a coherent oral and written account of research thus conducted.

Assessment

Within semester assessment: 100%

Workload requirements

Minimum total expected workload to achieve the learning outcomes for this unit is 144 hours per semester typically comprising a mixture of scheduled learning activities and independent study. A unit requires on average three/four hours of scheduled activities per week. Scheduled activities may include a combination of teacher directed learning, peer directed learning and online engagement.