Language is powerful. The way we use language is one way of establishing our social identity, both in terms of how we perceive ourselves and in how we portray ourselves (for example, through social media). It shapes what others think about us (for example, in job interviews) and how we judge others, often without even noticing. Language is also used in areas such as politics, advertising and the media to persuade, inform and shape our behaviour. In this module we will explore the ways in which language is used for the purposes of communication in everyday life.

The course will be presented as a series of teaching sessions, each consisting of lecture and discussion.  Session notes will be available online and learning of each topic will be supported by online resources available via Moodle.

The aims are:

To introduce students to major theoretical approaches and analytical methods that can be applied to language use in real life situations
 To explore the relationship between language and identity
 To challenge everyday assumptions about what language use can communicate about the speaker
 To examine whether and how language can be used to persuade people of particular points of view
 To deepen students’ understanding of the language science subfields relevant to understanding language in use, in particular phonetics, semantics, grammar and pragmatics.
 To demonstrate how linguistic knowledge and skills can be applied in settings such as the courtroom and in technology
Knowledge and understanding 

At the end of the module students will be able to demonstrate knowledge and understanding of:

major theoretical approaches that can illuminate language use in everyday situations
 analytical methods that are applied to language use in these settings
 fundamental concepts of sociolinguistics such as language variation and attitudes, identity, and the political and cultural effects of language
 research findings exploring the use of language to persuade, inform and shape behaviour
Skills

By the end of this module, students will be able to demonstrate that they can:

apply a range of linguistic analyses to understand language use in a variety of social contexts
 evaluate everyday assumptions about language and its speakers using research evidence
 communicate knowledge and understanding of relevant concepts effectively to specialist and non-specialist audiences