A very warm welcome to all our new AS English Language students!
We hope you've found Introduction Day useful and that you've had a chance to get a feel for what AS English Language is going to be like. Obviously with only 25 minutes to talk to you about English Language we've barely been able to scratch the surface of the course, but we'd like to think that we've given you a flavour of the range of fascinating areas of investigation and analysis in which you'll be engaging when you begin studying AS English Language in September.
If you'd like to find out more about some of the issues on which you'll be focusing in the course, then make sure you log on to this blog over the summer holidays, as we'll be updating it whenever we come across anything that we think our students will find interesting and useful for your studies.
As we mentioned at Introduction Day, you will also find it very useful to buy or borrow a copy of Language: the Basics by Larry Trask and dip into some of the recommended chapters before you start the course in September. This book is available at the click of a mouse from Amazon or play.com. You'll find chapters 1, 2, 3 6, 7 and 8 the most useful. You might also find English Language Revision Express helpful as an indication of the key areas of study on the AS English Language course (again available from Amazon or play.com). This revision guide makes it very clear which topics are relevant for which exam board (we do AQA Specification A at Strode's - click here if you want to have a look at the detailed specification).
The other thing you can be doing to prepare yourself for the course is to READ anything and everything. Whilst there are no set texts for this course (as there are with AS English Literature and AS English Language and Literature), we will be studying a wide range of short texts covering a multitude of genres with a view to identifying linguistic patterns within them, so you can give yourself a headstart now by immersing yourself in a variety of texts. As a student of English Language you will need to become familiar with a range of linguistic styles, so get reading everything from newspapers (both broadsheet and tabloid) to magazines to websites to horoscopes to adverts to the back of Cornflakes packets etc etc. All types of language are fair game on this course!
Finally, if you have any questions about the course, then please do contact either Jason Jones at jjones@strodes.ac.uk or Nicky Whillans at nwhillans@strodes.ac.uk.
Have a great summer, and we look forward to seeing you in September!
Monday, 30 June 2008
Relatively Speaking
A number of interesting articles appeared in the world media last week about some of the consequences of being bilingual. Whilst the study of second language acquisition and use is not part of your AS/A2 course, the issue of language and representation is, and as you know, one of the key theories that helps us to think about the relationship between language and thought is the Sapir-Whorf Hypothesis.
If you remember, there are two strands to Edward Sapir and Benjamin Lee Whorf's thinking: the theory of linguistic determinism suggests that language determines thought, while the theory of linguistic relativity proposes that if language determines thought, then different languages determine thought in different ways. You might recall that Ed 'n' Ben (as I like to think their respective mothers would have called them) cited the Hopi language as an illustration of their theory: Hopi lacks tense constructions, and so Sapir and Whorf argued that Hopi speakers conceived of the notion of time in very different ways from speakers of European languages.
Many linguists have since discredited the Sapir-Whorf Hypothesis, but this article would seem to offer compelling evidence in support of the theory of linguistic relativity. The article reports on a recent study of bilingual speakers, the results of which suggest that fluent speakers of more than one language have different personalities depending on the language they are using. The academics who carried out the study say that
If you remember, there are two strands to Edward Sapir and Benjamin Lee Whorf's thinking: the theory of linguistic determinism suggests that language determines thought, while the theory of linguistic relativity proposes that if language determines thought, then different languages determine thought in different ways. You might recall that Ed 'n' Ben (as I like to think their respective mothers would have called them) cited the Hopi language as an illustration of their theory: Hopi lacks tense constructions, and so Sapir and Whorf argued that Hopi speakers conceived of the notion of time in very different ways from speakers of European languages.
Many linguists have since discredited the Sapir-Whorf Hypothesis, but this article would seem to offer compelling evidence in support of the theory of linguistic relativity. The article reports on a recent study of bilingual speakers, the results of which suggest that fluent speakers of more than one language have different personalities depending on the language they are using. The academics who carried out the study say that
language can be a cue that activates different culture-specific frames,which is pretty much the point that Sapir and Whorf were making all those years ago. Interesting stuff...
Friday, 27 June 2008
Yoof slang sucks. End of.
This week's copy of the Huddersfield Daily Examiner (everyone's No.1 local paper) features a letter from a rather disgruntled Mr Dennis R Fisher, who makes some heart-felt observations on the 'state' of modern youth slang.
On the one hand Mr Fisher acknowledges that "language naturally changes and evolves over time", but at the same time he observes that "we are now beginning to sound like a nation of infantile losers and potato heads". At the heart of Mr Fisher's argument, it seems, is his view that the English language is being 'eroded' by a generation of speakers whose desire to be just like their favourite celebreties extends to mimicking their linguistic behaviour.
Have a look at the letter and let us know your views - is the English language being damaged beyond repair, or is this just another stage in its natural evolution? If you have something you'd like to say about this topic, why not post a thread on the VLE discussion forum?
On the one hand Mr Fisher acknowledges that "language naturally changes and evolves over time", but at the same time he observes that "we are now beginning to sound like a nation of infantile losers and potato heads". At the heart of Mr Fisher's argument, it seems, is his view that the English language is being 'eroded' by a generation of speakers whose desire to be just like their favourite celebreties extends to mimicking their linguistic behaviour.
Have a look at the letter and let us know your views - is the English language being damaged beyond repair, or is this just another stage in its natural evolution? If you have something you'd like to say about this topic, why not post a thread on the VLE discussion forum?
Welcome to the new AS/A2 English Language Blog!!
Greetings English Language students, and welcome to the very first posting on this brand new English Language Blog. The idea of the blog is that we will post up current news articles, websites and other resources that focus on aspects of English Language and that will support your learning.
The blog will be updated on a regular basis, so please do log in as frequently as possible. Similarly, if you happen to come across an interesting language-related resource/website/news item somewhere and you think other students would benefit from accessing it, then please email me the details at jjones@strodes.ac.uk and I'll post it up.
Remember, the wider your knowledge of English Language issues, the better you are likely to do in your exams and coursework. Whilst it would be unscientific and a tad immoral to assert that there will be a direct correlation between the number of times you log into this blog and the grades you ultimately achieve in your English Language course, you'll definitely learn a lot by accessing the links we post up. So go on... get blogging!
The blog will be updated on a regular basis, so please do log in as frequently as possible. Similarly, if you happen to come across an interesting language-related resource/website/news item somewhere and you think other students would benefit from accessing it, then please email me the details at jjones@strodes.ac.uk and I'll post it up.
Remember, the wider your knowledge of English Language issues, the better you are likely to do in your exams and coursework. Whilst it would be unscientific and a tad immoral to assert that there will be a direct correlation between the number of times you log into this blog and the grades you ultimately achieve in your English Language course, you'll definitely learn a lot by accessing the links we post up. So go on... get blogging!
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