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Certificate of Achievement
has completed the following course:
Week 1 covered gesture theory, the concept of arbitrariness, sign languages, and animal communication. Week 2 covered linguistic methods such as experiments, eye-tracking, and corpus dialectology. Week 3 covered applications of linguistic ideas such as metaphor and discourse to the study of classroom, media, and literary language. Throughout, learners participated in discussions and reflected on their own linguistic experience and expertise.
3 weeks, 3 hours per week
Dr Joe Bennett
Lecturer in Applied Linguistics
University of Birmingham
Transcript
Learning outcomes
- Understand and apply fundamental concepts in language and communication such as ‘arbitrariness’ and ‘iconicity’.
- Appreciate the linguistic complexity of sign languages.
- Recognise some of the similarities and differences between human languages. and other animal communication.
- Discuss some of the key methods that linguists use to explore language.
- Reflect on the use of metaphor in everyday communication, and in educational contexts.
- Apply linguistic frameworks to social and literary questions and problems.
- Experience working with a language corpus.
- Debate your own linguistic experiences with a wide community of language-users.
Syllabus
Week 1
This week is about how human beings (and some other animals) make meaning with our voices and with our hands. We cover:
- Some fundamental concepts in the study of language and communication;
- Language and gesture;
- Sign languages;
- Relations between human languages and other animal communication.
Week 2
This week is about methods used in the contemporary study of language. We cover:
- The use of grammar experiments to investigate language learning;
- The use of eye-tracking technology to investigate language processing;
- Big data dialectology.
Week 3
This week is about how linguistic concepts and methods can be applied to a range of problems. We cover:
- How metaphor and metonymy can shed light on communication in everyday and educational contexts;
- The stories we tell about social and political events;
- The language of literature.
Issued on 22nd July 2019
The person named on this certificate has completed the activities in the transcript above. For more information about Certificates of Achievement and the effort required to become eligible, visit futurelearn.com/proof-of-learning/certificate-of-achievement.
This certificate represents proof of learning. It is not a formal qualification, degree, or part of a degree.