Authorised by Academic Registrar, April 1996
Synopsis In this subject students examine the complex relationship between language and culture. When students from a non-English-speaking background study within the target culture, they are expected to master much more than a body of information expressed in a different language; they meet, in addition, a whole world of cultural presuppositions. In our different cultures we learn to interpret the world differently from each other, to adopt different patterns of thinking and to reflect all of these in our language in a variety of ways. The subject explores how the English language embodies the attitudes and behaviours which reflect its culture, in speech and in writing. As this subject is the study of the interaction of the English language and culture it is of particular importance to second language speakers as they function within the target language culture.
Assessment Written (3000 words): 25% + Examination (3 hours): 30% + Seminar participation: 5% + Research paper: 15% + Seminar paper: 20% + First exercise: 5%