This module has several aims. In the first instance, the module seeks to introduce students to the study of literary linguistics (also known as stylistics). Secondly, it aims to familiarise students with several key ideas in language study. Thirdly, it equips students to understand and explain how language works in a wide range of texts. The fourth and final aim of the module is to provide students with the tools to analyse literary texts (in the broadest sense of the phrase) in a precise and rigorous manner.

(LO1) Students will acquire analytical skills and vocabulary appropriate to university-level work and be able to use them appropriately in relation to a range of sources from different historical periods and social contexts.

(LO2) Students will have the ability to construct and support argument in written or spoken forms suitable for academic work and be able to participate constructively in group discussions.

(LO3) Students will have an awareness of cultural, theoretical and historical contexts of literature and language use.

(S1) Students will have the ability to analyse and interpret sophisticated texts closely and critically

(S2) Students will have the ability to construct and support argument in both written and spoken forms

(S3) Students will have the ability to write with appropriate subject knowledge, using appropriate approaches and terminology

Each week students will focus on a different key idea from stylistics. Lectures will introduce students to the relevant concepts and terminology; seminars will (i) offer them an opportunity to apply what they have learned in the lecture to short extracts provided on a seminar worksheet (ii) offer them an opportunity to participate in a group presentation on a given topic and to give/receive feedback from their peers.

A typical syllabus may include topics such as the following:

Foregrounding
Grammar
Narrative
Speech and Thought Presentation
Point of View
Speech Acts
Inferencing
Metaphor
Register and Dialect

Teaching method: Workshop
Description: 1 hr workshop
Schedule directed student hours: 11
Unscheduled directed student hours: 0
Attendance recorded: Yes

Teaching method: Tutorial
Description: 1 hr tutorial
Schedule directed student hours: 11
Unscheduled directed student hours: 0
Attendance recorded: No

Notes: tutorial work may typically focus on a worksheet, part or all of which students may be asked to complete before the tutorial.