EIU1010

Introduction to English-in-use: communication

Lorraine Bullock

6 points
* 4 hours per week
* First semester
* Clayton
* Prerequisites: Faculty of Arts second language entry criteria

Objectives To provide speakers from a second language background with the opportunity to study many of the different communicative characteristics of English that operate at the functional, creative and cultural levels of language use.

Synopsis This is a communicative subject that allows students to study some of the diverse contexts, forms and language features of communication in English. Students will have the opportunity to increase their own language skills as they study the adaptability and flexibility of choice and variety which the English language produces at all levels of use. The course provides an opportunity for students from a second language background to study many of the different facets of communication in English, from the functional level, where the message is the most important feature of the text, to the creative level, where the individual perspective of the writer or speaker is often as important as the message itself. The focus of the subject is to study English as a language that facilitates communication, and to examine some of the many ways the message is created in a text. Students are encouraged to see themselves as being members of various English discourse communities and the importance of this for them as second language users.

Assessment Written (1500 words): 35%
* Examinations (3 hours): 40%
* Seminar participation: 5%
* Seminar paper: 20%

Prescribed texts

Set texts and supplementary references are provided in the course handbook available from the Department of English.