Students of this course will use this site as the primary source of information about the course including overall scheduling, assignment descriptions, additional resources and day-to-day business. You should check this site daily for announcements.
At the top of each page, under the header photograph, you will find links to the various categories of information. On each page, you will find documents that you can download.
Designed to introduce students to the English Language as an object of study, this course will emphasize the role of language in shaping our reality as social beings. We will address the following issues: the development of the language; the general principles of its structural aspects (the lexicon, etymology); and its relationship to political, colonial, historical, creative and intellectual forces. This is not a linguistics or composition course; however, we will be building a critical and analytical vocabulary, and will conduct studies that will demonstrate the ways in which this metalanguage can illuminate both literary works and the social uses of language in general. Students round out the course with a presentation of their “Curiosity” research projects. Because language is a deeply social phenomenon, we will be placing strong emphasis on collaboration in the creation of knowledge.
Course Texts
Cran, McCrum and MacNeil. The Story of English (Penguin).
Harmon and Wilson, Beyond Grammar: Language, Power, and the Classroom (Resources for Teachers) (Routledge)
Open-Access readings available on the Readings and Assignments List