This version of the course guide is provisional until the period for editing the new course guides ends.

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Language, Inequality and Globalisation

Code: 45370 ECTS Credits: 5
2024/2025
Degree Type Year
3500084 English Studies: Linguistic, Literary and Sociocultural Perspectives OT 1

Contact

Name:
Melissa Moyer Greer
Email:
melissa.moyer@uab.cat

Teachers

Eva Codó Olsina

Teaching groups languages

You can view this information at the end of this document.


Prerequisites

Students must have an advanced level of spoken and written English (between CEFR levels C1-C2) in order to successfully meet the course requirements.


Objectives and Contextualisation

1. To acquire strategies of critical thinking on language and inequality in a global world context from a qualitative sociolinguistic perspective.

2. To learn about current topics and debates in the field of societal bilingualism and multilingualism.

3. To acquire a familiarty with theoretical frameworks for students to be able to formulate their own questions on the topic of language, inequality and globalization.

4. To acquire practical experience through assigned class exercises and assignments that enable students to apply knowledge acquired to the analysis of specific cases.


Learning Outcomes

  1. CA23 (Competence) Formulate research proposals that aim to ensure a more equitable management of language diversity in institutional or professional contexts.
  2. CA24 (Competence) Design original research proposals that involve the analysis of minority multilingual and multicultural contexts and/or little studied contexts in sociolinguistic literature.
  3. CA25 (Competence) Write up projects as part of a team that critically examines its own linguistic and cultural diversity.
  4. KA25 (Knowledge) Describe the principles of critical sociolinguistics and its application to the study of language in society.
  5. KA26 (Knowledge) Identify plurilingual practices and processes of inequality related to the use of English as a global lingua franca.
  6. KA27 (Knowledge) Describe the epistemological principles of ethnography as a research method and its contribution to the contextualised study of language use.
  7. SA33 (Skill) Interpret sociolinguistic data taken from institutional contexts, the world of work or leisure practices in a situated, complex, and intersectional way.
  8. SA34 (Skill) Apply sociolinguistic theory to the analysis of the impact language has on the construction of social inequality.

Content

Part 1: Linguistic practices in institutional contexts: an introduction (September 26 - October 29, 2024)

Dra. Eva Codó

1. Introduction to qualitative sociolinguistics

2. A critical and social constructivist approach and methodologies of language in a global world context

3. Globalization, inequality and linguistic diversity

4. Analysis of bilingualism and multilingualism in institutional contexts: bureaucratic contexts

5. Language policies in educational contexts

 

Part 2: Perspectives on inequality in a global world (November 12 - December 17, 2024)

Dra. Melissa Moyer

1. Language and identity

2. Language, gender and agency

3. Language, power and ideology

4. Linguistic commodification and the economy.

5. Language in work contexts


Activities and Methodology

Title Hours ECTS Learning Outcomes
Type: Directed      
Assigned readings 17 0.68 KA26, KA27, SA33, SA34
Discussion of assigned readings 10 0.4 CA23, KA25, KA26, KA27, SA33, SA34
In class exercises 20 0.8 CA23, CA24, CA25, KA25, KA26, SA33, SA34
Two final assignments 22 0.88 CA23, CA24, SA33, SA34
Type: Supervised      
Task preparation and completion of exercises 11 0.44 KA25, KA26, SA34
Type: Autonomous      
Analysis of sociolinguistic data 10 0.4 SA33, SA34

Each topic in the syllabus will be presented along with the key theoretical notions and concepts that each student will need to know.

Presentations and discussion of assigned readings

Analysis of practical examples from various social contexts

Correction in class of exercises and assignments

 

NOTE: 15 minutes will be reserved within the academic calendar established by the center for the completion by students of the evaluation surveys of the teachers' performance and the evaluation of the subject.

Annotation: Within the schedule set by the centre or degree programme, 15 minutes of one class will be reserved for students to evaluate their lecturers and their courses or modules through questionnaires.


Assessment

Continous Assessment Activities

Title Weighting Hours ECTS Learning Outcomes
Assigned exercises 15 per cent 10 0.4 CA23, CA24, CA25, SA33, SA34
Engagement with assigned readings and class participation 15 per cent 10 0.4 CA23, KA25, KA26, KA27, SA33, SA34
Two final assignments 70 per cent 15 0.6 KA25, KA26, KA27, SA33, SA34

  • Two final final assignments which will count 35% each.
  • Critical engagement with readings (in class and forum) 15%
  • In class and assigned exercises  15%

All exercises and assignments that do not reach a minimum grade of 4/10 cannot be redone. All grades of 4 or higher will be included in the final grade according to the weight established.

The maximum grade for recuperated assignments and exercises is a 6.

If a student fails a recuperation assignment he/she can pass as long as the average grade is a 5 or above.

 

VERY IMPORTANT: Partial or total plagiarism will immediately result in a (0) for the ENTIRE SUBJECT. Plagiarism consists of copying text from unrecognized sources, either part of a sentence or the entire text, with the intention of passing it off as the student's own production. It includes cutting and pasting from Internet sources, which are presented unmodified in the student's own text. Plagiarism is a serious offense. Students must respect the intellectual property of the authors, always identifying the sources they can use; They must also be responsible for the originality and authenticity of their own text. Students are required to use non-sexist language in their written and oral productions. For guidelines on how to do this, they are encouraged to visit the Linguistic Society of America (LSA) website: https://www.linguisticsociety.org/resource/lsa-guidelines-nonsexist-usage. The appropriate use of language will be part of the evaluation criteria.

Procedure for reviewing the grades obtained. When carrying out each assessment activity, teachers will inform students (in Moodle) of the procedures to follow to review all grades awarded and the date on which this review will take place. Assessment activities excluded from reassessment. Weekly tasks and participation in classes where activities are not eligible for reassessment.

The conditions for the “Not Assessable” qualification: Students will receive the grade of Not Assessable as long as they have not delivered more than 30% of the assessment activities.

 NON-CONTINUOUS  EVALUATION
It is possible to request a single assessment for this subject. For more information you can access the link: https://www.uab.cat/web/estudis/grau/informacio-academica/avavaluacio/avavaluacio-unica-1345885008033.html

 

The non-continuous assessment consists of:


· Two Final assignments 70%

- Written examination of the content of both parts of the course  30%


The review of the final grade follows the same procedure as for students registered for continuous assessment
It is necessary to take into account the dates for requesting this type of evaluation stipulated by the Facultat de Filosofia i Lletres


Bibliography

Anderson, Benedict. 1983. Imagined Communities. London: Verso, 224Pp.


Appadurai, Arjun. 1996. Modernity at Large. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 229 Pp.

Bex, Tony & Richard J. Watts (eds.). 1999. Standard English. The Widening Debate. London: Routledge, 312 Pp.

Billig, Michael. 1995. Banal Nationalism. London:Sage, 197 Pp.

Blommaert, Jan. 2003. Commentary: A sociolinguistics of globalization. Journal of Sociolinguistics 7/4: 607-623.

Blommaert, Jan and Jef Verschueren. 1998. The "migrant" problem. In Jan Blommaert and Jef Verschueren Debating Diversity. London: Routledge.

Brutt-Griffler, Janina. 2002. World English. Clevedon: Multilingual Matters, 216 Pp.

Cameron, Deborah. 2000. Good to Talk? London: Sage Publications, 213Pp.

Cameron, Deborah. 2000. Styling the worker: Gender and the commodification of language in the globalized service economy. Journal of Sociolinguistics 4/3:323-347.

Coupland, Nikolas, Srikant Sarangi, & Cristopher Candlin (eds.). 2001. Sociolinguistics and Social Theory. London: Longman.

Gellner, E. 1983. Nations and Nationalism. Oxford:Blackwell.
Giddens, Anthony. 1991. Modernity and Self Identity. Stanford: Stanford University Press, Pp. 256 Pp.

Hill, Jane. Published on the web pages http://languageculture.binghamton.edu/symposia/2/part1/index.html and to see the pictures in the article consult the address below: http://www.deaflibrary.org/nakamura/courses/linguisticanthro/hill1995slides/

Hobsbawm, E. J. 1992. Nations and Nationalism since 1780. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Hutchinson, John& Anthony D. Smith (eds.). 1994. Nationalism. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 378Pp.

Inda, Jonathan Xavier & Renato Rosaldo (eds.).2002. The Anthropology of Globalization. Oxford: Blackwell, 498 Pp.

Joseph, John E. Language and Identity. National, Ethnic and Religious. 2004. London: Palgrave, 268 Pp. Lippi Green, Rosina. 1997. English withan Accent. London: Routledge, 286 Pp.

Milroy, James. 1999. The Consequences of Standardization in Discriptive Linguistics. In Bex, Tony & Richard J. Watts (eds.). Standard English. The Widening Debate. London: Routledge, Pp. 13-39.

Moyer, Melissa & Luisa Martin Rojo. 2007. Language, Migration and Citizenship: New Challenges in the Regulation of Bilingualism. In Monica Heller (ed.) Bilingualism. Social Approaches. London: Palgrave, 36 Pp.

Muehlmann, Shaylih & Alexandre Duchêne. 2007. Beyond the nation-state: international agencies as new sites of discourses on bilingualism. In Monica

Heller (ed.) Bilingualism. Social Approaches. London: Palgrave, 13Pp.
Pennycook, Alastair. 1998. English and the Discourses of Colonialism. London: Routledge, 239 Pp.

Pujolar, Joan. 2007. Bilingualism and the Nation-State in the Post-national Era. In Monica Heller (ed.) Bilingualism. Social Approaches. London: Palgrave,

Stroud, Cristopher. 2007. Bilingualism: Colonialism and postcolonialism. In Monica Heller (ed.) Bilingualism. Social Approaches. London: Palgrave, 36 Pp.

Sutton, John. 2006. Globalization: A European perspective. In Anthony Giddens, Patrick Diamond and Roger Liddle (eds.) Global Europe, Social Europe.Cambridge: Polity Press, 37-51Pp..

Urciuoli, Bonnie. 1996. Exposing Prejudice. Puerto Rican Experiences of Language, Race and Class. Boulder, Co.: Westview Press, 222 Pp.

Woolard, Kathryn. Language ideology as a field of inquiry. In Schieffelin, Bambi, Kathryn Woolard & Paul Kroskrity (eds.). 1998. Language Ideologies. Practice and Theory. Oxford:Oxford University Press, Pp. 3-27.

Zentella, Ana Celia. 1997. Growing up Bilingual. Oxford: Blackwell, 322 Pp.

 


Software

A detailed syllabus will be distributed in class.


Language list

Name Group Language Semester Turn
(TEm) Theory (master) 1 English first semester morning-mixed