Multilingualism

Learning Outcomes

Knowledge and Understanding

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

• how multilinguals acquire and process their languages
• how multilinguals interact and use multilingual practices to construct/articulate their cultural identities
• the relationship between multilingualism and migration
• how language policy influences multilingual contexts
• how multilinguals interact in global contexts – eg virtual communication
• the role of education in maintaining and fostering multilingualism

Subject Specific Practical Skills

Having successfully completed this module you will be able to:

• Use an awareness of issues in multilingualism theory to benefit learning and using the language(s) studied in your degree course.

Transferable and Generic Skills

Having successfully completed this module you will be able to:

• demonstrate understanding of elements of psycholinguistic and sociolinguistic theory which can be applied to the study of other languages;
• apply critical thinking and problem-solving techniques in order to address new issues and new data;
• present findings and ideas in a structured, coherent manner.
• work effectively in different modes: carrying out individual research and using this as input to collaborations with partners in seminars;

Subject Specific Intellectual and Research Skills

Having successfully completed this module you will be able to:

• appreciate and engage with key theoretical concepts in multilingualism;
• critically assess key issues and approaches to the study of multilingualism
• organise and present information in an academically appropriate way.

This module will introduce you to the notion of ‘Multilingualism’, how this is understood and represented in different ways, and why it matters to you. You will explore this subject within a psycholinguistic and sociolinguistic framework. From a psycholinguistic perspective you will investigate how people become multilingual and how they develop cognitively, and whether it makes a difference if multilinguals are exposed to two languages at the same time or one after the other.

From a sociolinguistic perspective, you will explore how multilinguals behave socially, how they interact (both face-to-face and virtually), how they construct/articulate their cultural identities, how they maintain their multilingualism and the crucial role of education and language policy in obstructing or facilitating multilingualism.

Teaching and learning methods

Teaching methods include

 a weekly lecture outlining a body of knowledge and concepts

 a weekly seminar in which the issues presented in the lecture will be applied to the critical analysis of empirical evidence

Ideas, concepts and theories will be introduced in the lectures. Seminars will provide the opportunity to explore particular topics in greater depth. Seminars will also encourage you to explore multilingualism on the basis of different kinds of data—linguistic, audio and visual—and will provide an occasion for you to engage with specific areas in more detail, through investigation and collaboration.

Individual reading, collaborative research, practical exercises and reflection

 Developing presentation skills through seminar preparation

Resources & Reading list

Textbooks

Myers-Scotton, C (2006). Multiple Voices. An Introduction to Bilingualism. Blackwell Publishing.

Auer, P. and Li Wei (2007). Handbook of Multilingualism and Multilingual Communication.

Bhatia, T K and Ritchie, William, C (2004). The handbook of Bilingualism. Blackwell Publishing.

Danet, B. and S. Herring (2007). The Multilingual Internet. OUP.

Makoni, S. and A. Pennycook (2007). Disinventing and Reconstituting Languages. Multilingual Matters.

Edwards, J. (1994). Multilingualism. Routledge.

Assessment strategy

Assessments designed to provide informal, on-module feedback

 guidance on topic choice and related literature

 discussion of written assignments (in advance and after completion)

Summative

Summative assessment description

Referral

Referral assessment description

Repeat Information

Repeat type: Internal & External