INSTITUTE OF LANGUAGE, LITERATURE AND CULTURE

Department of English

University of Aarhus
Nobelparken
Building 1463
Jens Chr. Skous Vej 5
DK- 8000 Aarhus C

Phone: +45 8942 6501
Fax: +45 8942 6540
E-mail: englvk@remove-this.hum.au.dk
Website:

Board of Studies: studienaevn.slk@remove-this.hum.au.dk
Student Guidance: studievejleder.slk@remove-this.hum.au.dk

For further information about courses, application deadlines etc, kindly contact Ann Caroll-Bøgh: engacb@remove-this.hum.au.dk

For course registration, please contact Jane Lücke Didriksen, +45 8942 6501

The Department of English, Institute of Language, Literature and Culture, will offer the following courses taught in English during the Spring 2009 semester. Details of course titles and ECTS credits are given below, as well as information about what exam forms will apply.

An advanced level of both written and spoken English is required.

Details of contents and which optional and elective courses are to be taught will be posted on the Department of English website as soon as this information is available. Staff picture gallery and staff e-mail addresses are also posted on the website.

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Teaching starts Monday February 2, 2009. Click here to download the course plan in Word format

CORE COURSES:

MORPHOLOGY AND SYNTAX 2

This course aims to provide a basic introduction to two central topics in the study of the English language: word structure (morphology) and sentence structure (syntax). Descriptive and data-driven, it nevertheless draws upon a range of contemporary theoretical notions and techniques. The large number of examples helps students develop a hands-on approach towards syntactic and morphological analysis.

• Level : BA
• Lecturer : Ken Ramshøj Christensen, e-mail: engkrc@remove-this.hum.au.dk
• Course credits : 5 ECTS
• Examination method: A 3-hour written exam
• Course start: Week 6
• Time and place : To be announced later

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SEMANTICS AND PRAGMATICS

The primary purpose of language is to communicate our ideas and beliefs about the world to each other. Linguistic communication succeeds, in part, because we understand both the fundamental meanings of linguistic expressions as well as the rules and principles which govern how people use linguistic expressions to express these meanings in conversation. But what exactly is the meaning of a linguistic expression like The boat sank , this tree , blue , don't , or always ? What kinds of meaning can be expressed in a language like English? What principles apply when we try to communicate to each other using English? This course reviews central topics in linguistic semantics and pragmatics, including the meaning of lexical items, tense, aspect, and negation, and how literal and implied meanings are communicated in conversation to convey information.

• Level : BA
• Lecturer : Kenneth Drozd, e-mail: engkd@remove-this.hum.au.dk
• Course credits : 5 ECTS
• Examination method: Active participation in class or a 3-hour written exam
• Course start: Week 6
• Time and place : To be announced later

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LITERATURES IN ENGLISH 1800-1950

This course is the second part of the Department's three-part Literatures in English programme. The course makes reference to British and American Literatures as well as to writing emanating from colonial and postcolonial contexts. It seeks to highlight the ways in which different literatures in English, at the same time as constituting distinct traditions, have nevertheless intersected with and influenced each other. Like the other parts of the programme, this course balances the need to establish cultural/national/ historical characteristics in the literatures of different English-speaking countries with the need to recognise the global dimension of the English language imagination. The course focuses on literatures in English from the 19th through the first half of the 20th centuries, paying particular attention to movements such as Romanticism and Modernism; to topics such as African-American and colonial writing; and to individual writers including Wordsworth, Charlotte Bronte, Edgar Allan Poe and Chinua Achebe.

• Level : BA
• Lecturers : To be announced later
• Course credits : 10 ECTS
• Examination method: Oral exam
• Course start: Week 6
• Time and place : To be announced later

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AMERICAN HISTORY AND SOCIETY

This course introduces both the history and contemporary society of the United States of America as an independent field of study, in the process locating the Department's linguistic and literary studies within a social, cultural and historical context. The objective of the course is to enable students to work independently on political, social and general cultural materials and problems, both historically and specifically. The course addresses both domestic and foreign policies, including such historical topics as the creation, physical expansion, peopling, and rise to world power of the United States; the development of the American welfare state, and the question of racial and ethnic relations, past and present.

• Level : BA
• Lecturer : Dale Carter, e-mail: engdc@remove-this.hum.au.dk
• Course credits : 5 ECTS
• Examination method: A 6-page essay in connection with active participation in class on a topic of the candidate's own choice or a 4-hour written exam
• Course start: Week 6
• Time and place : To be announced later

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NATION, STATE AND GLOBALISATION 2

This course is designed to introduce major themes, institutions, structures, processes and events that have characterized the development of Anglo-American global influence, particularly in the modern era. It reviews political, social, economic and cultural dimensions of globalisation in relation to the English-speaking world, and enables students to explain, interpret and evaluate the process within a variety of interpretive frameworks. Students are introduced to such subjects as global governance, the British Empire and Commonwealth (including Canada), settlement and migration, economic integration, global media and the growth of English as a world language, as well as to critiques of globalisation.

• Level: BA
• Lecturers : To be announced later
• Course credits : 5 ECTS
• Examination method: Active participation in class or a 3-hour written exam
• Course start: Week 6
• Time and place : To be announced later

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MEDIA AND CULTURAL STUDIES

This subject introduces students to the study of English language media. It concentrates especially on audio-visual media such as film, television, and IT-based media, including a broad introduction to the technological and cultural developments within these media. The goal of this course is to provide the student with both a theoretical and a practical methodology for analyzing and interpreting various forms of audio-visual communication in the English-speaking world.

• Level : BA
• Course credits : 5 ECTS
• Examination method: Active participation in class or a 4-hour written exam
• Course start: Week 6
• Time and place : To be announced later

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THE HISTORY AND DEVELOPMENT OF THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE

This course studies the development of present-day English through its internal and external history. It builds on the knowledge and skills acquired in linguistics in the first year, and applies those skills to the study of language variation and change. The module also draws on the knowledge that students acquire in the first year courses in history and society. The course involves an introduction to linguistic variation and change in English on the phonetic, phonological, syntactic, morphological, lexical, and semantic levels; describes how the English language varies over time, space, and in society and explains the language internal and external (socio-cultural) forces that have shapes this variation.

• Level : BA
• Lecturer : Johanna Wood, e-mail: engjw@remove-this.hum.au.dk
• Course credits : 10 ECTS
• Examination method: A 3-hour written exam
• Course start: Week 6
• Time and place : To be announced later

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WRITTEN ACADEMIC ENGLISH

This course is aimed at improving students’ familiarity with and use of the particular language register that typifies academic English. In part there is a focus on improving students’ linguistic proficiency in relation to written academic English by means of relevant exercises, but the course also works with skills necessary for producing academic papers such as structuring papers, summarizing, citing references, etc. In particular, it is intended to assist students in completing their Bachelor project in English. In addition, it is expected that there will be time in class to work with other related academic skills such as researching sources, oral presentations, intercultural communication, and general language proficiency, according to the needs of the course participants in relation to their course in International Communication in English.

• Level : BA
• Course credits : 5 ECTS
• Examination method: A portfolio of brief written assignments
• Course start: Week 6
• Time and place : To be announced later

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ELECTIVE COURSES

LOWER LEVEL ELECTIVES (5/10 ECTS):

2 ^nd and 3 ^rd year BA courses

The following courses will be offered:

1. Two courses in History and Society
2. Two courses in Linguistics
3. Two courses in Literature

Assessments:

• Active participation in class (5 ECTS)
• OR a 10-page essay (10 ECTS)
• OR an oral exam (5 ECTS). NB: oral proficiency is assessed in connection with the oral exam (5 ECTS)

UPPER LEVEL ELECTIVES (10/15 ECTS):

MA-level courses

The following courses will be offered:

1. Three courses in History and Society
2. Two courses in Linguistics
3. Three courses in Literature

Assessments:

• An oral exam (10 ECTS) (NB: oral proficiency is assessed in connection with this exam (5 ECTS)).
• Or a 5-hour written exam (10 ECTS) (NB: written proficiency is assessed in connection with this exam (5 ECTS)).
• Or a 15-page essay (10 ECTS).
• Or a "communication" exam (10 ECTS) which can take many different forms.
• Or active participation in class (10 ECTS).