Universität Wien

124090 VK BEd 09.2: VK Linguistics for Language Teachers (2021W)

Language History for Teachers and Pupils

5.00 ECTS (2.00 SWS), SPL 12 - Anglistik
Continuous assessment of course work
ON-SITE
Moodle

Registration/Deregistration

Note: The time of your registration within the registration period has no effect on the allocation of places (no first come, first served).

Details

max. 18 participants
Language: English

Lecturers

Classes (iCal) - next class is marked with N

Since I'll be teaching abroad until October 15th, our first session will take place on the 19th of October. We'll find extra slots to make up for the ones we miss at the beginning. - NR

  • Tuesday 05.10. 10:15 - 11:45 Raum 5 Anglistik UniCampus Hof 8 3E-O1-17
  • Tuesday 12.10. 10:15 - 11:45 Raum 5 Anglistik UniCampus Hof 8 3E-O1-17
  • Tuesday 19.10. 10:15 - 11:45 Raum 5 Anglistik UniCampus Hof 8 3E-O1-17
  • Tuesday 09.11. 10:15 - 11:45 Raum 5 Anglistik UniCampus Hof 8 3E-O1-17
  • Tuesday 16.11. 10:15 - 11:45 Raum 5 Anglistik UniCampus Hof 8 3E-O1-17
  • Tuesday 23.11. 10:15 - 11:45 Raum 5 Anglistik UniCampus Hof 8 3E-O1-17
  • Tuesday 30.11. 10:15 - 11:45 Raum 5 Anglistik UniCampus Hof 8 3E-O1-17
  • Tuesday 07.12. 10:15 - 11:45 Raum 5 Anglistik UniCampus Hof 8 3E-O1-17
  • Tuesday 14.12. 10:15 - 11:45 Raum 5 Anglistik UniCampus Hof 8 3E-O1-17
  • Tuesday 11.01. 10:15 - 11:45 Raum 5 Anglistik UniCampus Hof 8 3E-O1-17
  • Tuesday 18.01. 10:15 - 11:45 Raum 5 Anglistik UniCampus Hof 8 3E-O1-17
  • Tuesday 25.01. 10:15 - 11:45 Raum 5 Anglistik UniCampus Hof 8 3E-O1-17

Information

Aims, contents and method of the course

In this course, we explore aspects of the History of English that may help us understand some of its present properties. We ask questions like the following: Why is English spelling so weird? Why are there hardly any inflections in English? Why are some verbs and nouns irregular? Why is English word order so rigid? Were English and German really one and the same language in the past? How does one know if German and English words are related? How have they come to differ in form and in meaning?
The course is organized as follows. The first couple of sessions will be dedicated to a brief overview of the history of English and some of the more spectacular changes it has undergone. We learn about the Online Oxford English Dictionary, which not only contains the present forms and meanings of English words, but also all the forms and meanings they have had in their past (to the extent that it is recoverable); we learn to think about sound changes, changes in morpho-syntax (i.e. word order and inflections), and semantic changes (i.e. changes in the meanings of words); and we learn how online tools such as the Google Ngram Viewer can be used to explore the (recent) history of words and phrases. During that phase participants will be given short assignments to practice some skills in historical thinking.
At the end - or soon after - the introductory phase, participants choose topics they would like to explore further. Since these topics should be of potential interest of pupils learning English as well, we discuss to what extent and in what way that might be the case.
With the help of literature and possibly some research of their own, participants then investigate aspects of the topic areas they have chosen and develop ideas about how their insights might be made relevant for classroom work and what teaching materials one might have to develop for the purpose. The results of this work are then presented orally in class and in written form (either as a project report or as a research paper, which would count as a Bachelor Thesis).

Assessment and permitted materials

Continuous assessment

Minimum requirements and assessment criteria

Course evaluation is based on:
(A) class participation, assignments and presentation (cut off point 60%)
(B) project report or research paper (cut-off point 60%)

The minimum requirements for passing the course are:
(a) regular class attendance (max. 2 missed sessions)
(b) preparing weekly exercises and submitting all assignments (on time)
(c) active engagement in project work and presentation
(d) handing in the project report or research paper (on time)
(d) attaining pass levels on both A and B (see above)

Examination topics

on- & offline assignments
individual research
presentation
final written paper (either term paper or BA-thesis).

Reading list

Singh, Ishtla. 2013. _The History of English. A Student's Guide_. Hoboken: Taylor and Francis.
McWhorter, John H. 2008. _Our magnificent bastard tongue: The untold history of English_. New York: Gotham Books.
More to be announced

Association in the course directory

Studium: BEd 046/407
Code/Modul: BEd 09.2
Lehrinhalt: 12-4692

Last modified: Mo 18.10.2021 13:48