Structure of English

Learning Outcomes

Subject Specific Intellectual and Research Skills

Having successfully completed this module you will be able to:

• Define, present and exemplify concepts in English grammar;
• Analyse empirical (linguistic) data, including providing your own examples, and present the results of the analysis clearly and cogently.
• Select, synthesise and focus information and data from a range of sources on the English language;
• Apply knowledge, understanding and analysis critically to different topics; formulate and clarify key critical questions in the area of English language and structure;

Transferable and Generic Skills

Having successfully completed this module you will be able to:

• Engage with subject matter and opinion in both breadth and depth;
• Work effectively alone and in collaboration with others to solve problems and/or carry out a task;
• Analyse and question assumptions and received opinion, proposing alternatives where appropriate.
• Plan and organise your learning through self-management; exercise independence and initiative;
• Set and monitor goals, reflect on your own learning, and learn from feedback.
• Formulate and defend personal judgements clearly and persuasively on the basis of evidence;

Knowledge and Understanding

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

• Gain an understanding of the structure of the phonological system of English;
• Gain an understanding of the way that words are structured in English;
• Gain an understanding of the syntactic structure and semantic interpretation of major constructions in English and the foundations of syntactic and semantic analysis;
• Learn to objectively analyse grammatical phenomena in English in comparison with other languages.
• Conceptualize your native or learner intuitions into explicit knowledge of English structure;

The presentation of the material follows the natural description of any human language: from general ideas about language, on to the sounds of English, word parts and word structure, structure of simple and complex phrases and sentences, and finally structure of discourse and speech acts. We will also pay special attention to the important grammatical categories of tense, mood, aspect, and definiteness, and what the means of their expression in English are. We will always keep in mind not just linguistic structure, but how adult native speakers of other languages may acquire that English structure, and where specific difficulties in that acquisition process may lie.

Topics are likely to include:

– Grammar and our knowledge of language

– The sounds of English

– The shape of English words: processes of word formation.

– Grammatical categories and word classes

– Lexical Semantics

– Phrasal structure and verb complements

– Adverbials, auxiliaries and sentence types

– The tense-aspect-modality system in discourse

– English articles in discourse

– Finite clauses

– Non-finite clauses

– Sentence semantics

– Information structure and speech acts

– Linguistics in language teaching.

Teaching and learning methods

Teaching methods include

– 1 lecture per week

– 1 seminar per week

– independent reading, thinking and writing.

The lectures will serve to introduce, analyse and investigate key aspects of the structure of English. The weekly seminar will be used to discuss and consolidate key themes through discussion of various activities prepared individually and in groups.

Resources & Reading list

Textbooks

Crystal, David (1995). The Cambridge Encyclopedia of the English Language. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Lobeck, Anne and Kristine Denham (2014). Navigating English Grammar: A Guide to analysing real language.. Wiley-Blackwell.

Hurford, James R. (1994). Grammar: A Student’s Guide. Cambridge: CAmbridge University Press.

Huddleston, Rodney and Geoffrey Pullum (2005). A Student’s Introduction to English. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Laurel Brinton and Donna Brinton. (2010). The Linguistic Structure of Modern English. Amsterdam: John Benjamins Publishing Co.

Laurie Bauer & Peter Trudgill (1998). Language Myths. London: Penguin Books.

Celce-Murcia, Marianne and Diane Larsen-Freeman (1999). The Grammar Book: An ESL/EFL Teacher's course. Boston: Heinle & Heinle.

Naomi Baron (2001). Alphabet to Email: How written Engish Evolved and Where It's Heading. Taylor & Francis.

Formative

This is how we’ll give you feedback as you are learning. It is not a formal test or exam.

Summative

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

Referral

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

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.

Repeat Information

Repeat type: Internal & External