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ED60279: Language, culture and education

Follow this link for further information on academic years Academic Year: 2015/6
Further information on owning departmentsOwning Department/School: Department of Education
Further information on credits Credits: 18
Further information on unit levels Level: Doctoral (FHEQ level 8)
Further information on teaching periods Period: Modular (no specific semester)
Further information on unit assessment Assessment Summary: CW 100%
Further information on unit assessment Assessment Detail:
  • Assignment (CW 100%)
Further information on supplementary assessment Supplementary Assessment: Like-for-like reassessment (where allowed by programme regulations)
Further information on requisites Requisites:
Further information on descriptions Description: Aims:
The unit aims to provide a critical understanding of:
* philosophical perspectives on language and discourse
* analysis of language and discourse
* analysis of culture
* the relationship of language and culture
* the interfacing of language and culture in different educational environments, including classrooms
* the cultural politics of international language education.

Learning Outcomes:
As a result of the development of such a critical understanding, participants will be able to:
* use appropriate research methods to describe and analyse education as cultural and linguistic practice
* critically evaluate linguistic and cultural assumptions underpinning educational policy and practice
* identify linguistic and cultural variables affecting educational policy and practice.

Skills:
(i) Apply a systematic and coherent approach to critical analysis, evaluation and synthesis of ideas, information and issues that is well-grounded in existing educational research and literature on the interaction between language, culture and education (intellectual skill)
(ii) Identify and address complex and/or emerging issues in the interaction between language, culture and education and make informed judgements in the absence of complete or consistent information (professional/ practical skill)
(iii) Continually develop and enhance participants' own practice through critical reflection and practical action with the aim of improving conditions for the development of all involved in the educational enterprise (professional/ practical skill)
(iv) Continually develop and enhance participants¿ own practice and influence the practice of others through critical reflection and practical action with the aim of improving conditions for the development of all involved in the educational enterprise (professional/ practical skill)
(v) Use networked learning technologies as a means of developing one's own professional practice and scholarship (transferable skill).

Content:
The Nature of Language:
* Changing assumptions about the nature of language: Saussurean and post-Saussurean linguistics; semiotics, structuralism and poststructuralism
* Language and dialogue: internal dialogue and social interaction
* Language and identity: how discourse communities identify themselves by language behaviours; inclusion/exclusion, access and language as group semiotics
* Education as language games: Wittgenstein, Lyotard, Foucault and genre theory
The Construction of Culture:
* Semiotics and the analysis of education as cultural practice
* Languages and cultures: how lexis can embody world views (Whorf, Wierzbicka) and how language is validated differently in different cultures
* Culture and dialogue: cross-cultural understanding and misunderstanding
* Cultural hegemony and resistance in education: critical theory in education
Language and Culture:
* The interface between language and culture: how language polices culture; Habermas and the cultural implications of linguistic interaction
* Literacies: the proliferation of 'literacies' in education; functional, cultural and critical literacy
* Narrative and life-history research: personal narrative and reconstructed experience; research approaches and problems
* The language and culture of academic subjects: genre and ground rules; the Two Cultures debate
The Cultural Politics of Language Education:
* The globalization of language teaching
* Discourses of international language education
* The linguistic and ideological struggles which take place in relation to foreign/second languages and the teaching of foreign/second languages
* English language education as a form of neo-colonialism: discourses of resistance and appropriation.
* Language Teacher Cognition:
* Language teacher beliefs
* Teacher Language Awareness.
Further information on programme availabilityProgramme availability:

ED60279 is Optional on the following programmes:

Department of Education
Notes:
* This unit catalogue is applicable for the 2015/16 academic year only. Students continuing their studies into 2016/17 and beyond should not assume that this unit will be available in future years in the format displayed here for 2015/16.
* Programmes and units are subject to change at any time, in accordance with normal University procedures.
* Availability of units will be subject to constraints such as staff availability, minimum and maximum group sizes, and timetabling factors as well as a student's ability to meet any pre-requisite rules.