Postgraduate Course: Special Topics in Sociolinguistics (LASC11001)

Course Outline
School	School of Philosophy, Psychology and Language Sciences	College	College of Humanities and Social Science
Credit level (Normal year taken)	SCQF Level 11 (Postgraduate)	Availability	Available to all students
SCQF Credits	20	ECTS Credits	10
Summary	This course covers topics and methods for the advanced study of variationist sociolinguistics. Through advanced readings and an independent research project proposal, students will examine the theories and practices associated with data collection and data analysis in sociolinguistics. This option complements and develops ideas and materials that were introduced in the core courses in sociolinguistics and text analysis. The course will include readings and discussion of some of the principles, issues and problems that underlie special topics such as language and identity, sociophonetics, and methodological issues in fieldwork and quantitative data analysis. The course develops foundational issues in sociolinguistics through a survey of cutting edge research in the field. Each year the focus will be on a different special topic that is highly relevant to the on-going research of the course organisers and likely participants.
Course description	Not entered

Information for Visiting Students
Pre-requisites	None
High Demand Course?	Yes

Course Delivery Information

Academic year 2015/16, Available to all students (SV1)		Quota: None
Course Start	Semester 2
Timetable	Timetable
Learning and Teaching activities (Further Info)	Total Hours: 200 ( Lecture Hours 18, Feedback/Feedforward Hours 10, Programme Level Learning and Teaching Hours 4, Directed Learning and Independent Learning Hours 168 )
Assessment (Further Info)	Written Exam 0 %, Coursework 100 %, Practical Exam 0 %
Additional Information (Assessment)	Two assignments: 2000 words (40%) and 3000 words (60%) Assignment 1: 2000 words (40%). Literature review Maximum Word Count: 2000 words Assignment Deadline: 12:00 noon on Monday, 22rd February 2016 Return Date: 15th March 2016 Assignment 2: 3000 words (60%). Research essay Maximum Word count: 3000 words Assignment Deadline: 12:00 noon on Monday, 4th April 2016 Return Date: 26th April 2016
Feedback	One-on-one 30-minutes meetings with each student regarding the assessment. Comments provided on submitted assessments
No Exam Information

Learning Outcomes
On completion of this course, the student will be able to: understand optimal data-collection methods and goals understand what benefits and costs are associated with experiential modes of data collection, such as ethnography understand what benefits and costs are associated with experimental modes of data collection, such as elicitation tasks understand how we can measure success of a given method of data collection