Researching Language, Culture and Communication in the Global World

Module overview

This module will introduce you to solving real world problems in the area of Language, Culture and Communication with research methods including forms of discourse analysis, questionnaires, interviews and narrative inquiry. You will reflect on some key issues such as the nature of knowledge, theory and data. This will allow you to critically evaluate studies and their research methods, and to design your own study or intervention. You will also discuss practical challenges of designing and conducting research such as defining research questions, identifying appropriate methods, research management and problem solving, writing up research, ethical issues, presenting research and thinking reflexively about research. You will also be introduced to the option of producing a professional project as an alternative to the traditional dissertation.

Aims and Objectives

Learning Outcomes

Transferable and Generic Skills

Having successfully completed this module you will be able to:

Communicate research in a variety of written formats
Identify, select and draw upon a wide range of primary and secondary sources, printed and electronic
Develop and maintain a personal bibliography
Use information technology appropriately to present your research
Take appropriate ethical issues into account in research design

Subject Specific Intellectual and Research Skills

Having successfully completed this module you will be able to:

Critically review research literature and identify gaps in research
Work with research participants
Plan a small-scale research investigation
Formulate researchable problems in the area of language, culture and communication and choose among alternative methodologies;
Develop skills to identify forms of data
Recognise the significance of alternative epistemological positions in applied linguistics, the social sciences and cultural studies

Knowledge and Understanding

Having successfully completed this module, you will be able to demonstrate knowledge and understanding of:

Different approaches to knowledge, truth and the nature of research
How to challenge professional practice, and undertake improvement-orientated enquiry
Methods to research language, culture and communication

Learning and Teaching

Teaching and learning methods

There will be a lecture and a seminar each week. The lectures will introduce the key elements of each research method and the seminars will cement this knowledge through group discussions, readings and practical tasks. Learning activities include: - Completing specified preparatory reading tasks; - Individual and collaborative critique of research design in published studies of language and communication - Written and oral presentation of findings; - Practical exercises, group discussions and class debates on selected topics; - Written critical reviews of research papers and design of research projects (assessed).

Study time
Type	Hours
Seminar	24
Independent Study	126
Total study time	150

Resources & Reading list

Textbooks

Moses, J.W., Knutsen, T.L. (2012). . Ways of knowing: competing methodologies in social and political research. Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire : New York: Palgrave Macmillan.

Bhatia, V.K., Flowerdew, J., Jones, R.H. (Eds.) (2008). Advances in discourse studies. London [u.a.]: Routledge.

Hua, Z. (Ed.), (2016). Research methods in intercultural communication: a practical guide. Chichester: Wiley Blackwell.

Copland, F., Creese, A., Rock, F., Shaw, S., (2015). Linguistic ethnography. Los Angeles: Sage.

Barker, C (2016). Cultural studies: theory and practice. Los Angeles: Sage.

Wodak, R., Meyer, M. (Eds.) (2016). Methods of critical discourse studies. Los Angeles: Sage.

Hult, F.M., Johnson, D.C. (Eds.) (2015). . Research methods in language policy and planning: a practical guide. Chichester: Wiley-Blackwell.

Rowell, L.L. (Ed.), (2017). The Palgrave international handbook of action research. New York: Palgrave Macmillan.

Norris, S. (2019). Systematically working with multimodal data: research methods in multimodal discourse analysis.. Hoboken, NJ.: Wiley Blackwell.

Bhatia, V.K., Bremner, S. (Eds.) (2014). The Routledge handbook of language and professional communication, Routledge handbooks. Milton Park: Routledge.

Treadwell, D.F., Davis, A., (2020). Introducing communication research: paths of inquiry. Los Angeles: Sage.

Rose, G., (2016). Visual methodologies: an introduction to researching with visual materials. London: Sage.

Costa, C., Condie, J (Eds.) (2019). Doing research in and on the digital: research methods across fields of enquiry, Routledge advances in research methods. London: Routledge.

Scannell, P., (2007). Media and communication. Sage, Los Angeles.. Los Angeles: Sage.

Assessment

Summative

This is how we’ll formally assess what you have learned in this module.

Breakdown
Method	Percentage contribution
Research proposal	70%
Research review	30%

Referral

This is how we’ll assess you if you don’t meet the criteria to pass this module.

Breakdown
Method	Percentage contribution
Research review	30%
Research proposal	70%

Repeat

An internal repeat is where you take all of your modules again, including any you passed. An external repeat is where you only re-take the modules you failed.

Breakdown
Method	Percentage contribution
Research proposal	70%
Research review	30%

Repeat Information

Repeat type: Internal & External