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
Subject Specific Intellectual and Research Skills
Having successfully completed this module you will be able to:
- Work with research participants
- Formulate researchable problems in the area of language, culture and communication and choose among alternative methodologies;
- Develop skills to identify forms of data
- Critically review research literature and identify gaps in research
- Recognise the significance of alternative epistemological positions in applied linguistics, the social sciences and cultural studies
- Plan a small-scale research investigation
Transferable and Generic Skills
Having successfully completed this module you will be able to:
- Identify, select and draw upon a wide range of primary and secondary sources, printed and electronic
- Use information technology appropriately to present your research
- Take appropriate ethical issues into account in research design
- Communicate research in a variety of written formats
- Develop and maintain a personal bibliography
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
- Methods to research language, culture and communication
- How to challenge professional practice, and undertake improvement-orientated enquiry
Syllabus
The modules will prepare you for a dissertation or professional project by introducing you to research methods, relevant case studies and key issues of research in 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).
Type | Hours |
---|---|
Independent Study | 126 |
Seminar | 24 |
Total study time | 150 |
Resources & Reading list
Textbooks
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.
Bhatia, V.K., Flowerdew, J., Jones, R.H. (Eds.) (2008). Advances in discourse studies. London [u.a.]: Routledge.
Wodak, R., Meyer, M. (Eds.) (2016). Methods of critical discourse studies. Los Angeles: Sage.
Copland, F., Creese, A., Rock, F., Shaw, S., (2015). Linguistic ethnography. Los Angeles: Sage.
Hua, Z. (Ed.), (2016). Research methods in intercultural communication: a practical guide. Chichester: Wiley Blackwell.
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.
Barker, C (2016). Cultural studies: theory and practice. Los Angeles: Sage.
Hult, F.M., Johnson, D.C. (Eds.) (2015). . Research methods in language policy and planning: a practical guide. Chichester: Wiley-Blackwell.
Moses, J.W., Knutsen, T.L. (2012). . Ways of knowing: competing methodologies in social and political research. Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire : New York: Palgrave Macmillan.
Scannell, P., (2007). Media and communication. Sage, Los Angeles.. Los Angeles: Sage.
Bhatia, V.K., Bremner, S. (Eds.) (2014). The Routledge handbook of language and professional communication, Routledge handbooks. Milton Park: Routledge.
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.
Assessment
Summative
This is how we’ll formally assess what you have learned in this module.
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.
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.
Method | Percentage contribution |
---|---|
Research proposal | 70% |
Research review | 30% |
Repeat Information
Repeat type: Internal & External