English Language and Literary Studies MA - 2020 Entry

Course Structure

You will study a range of modules as part of your course, some examples of which are listed below.

Core

• Postgraduate Academic Study Skills

  This course provides a structured programme of support through lectures and small group work as you develop your academic writing and study practices and skills.

Optional

• Bilingualism

  About half the world’s population are bilingual, but what does this actually mean? This module provides an introduction to the subject of bilingualism and multilingualism, viewed from the perspectives of the individual (for example, how bilinguals code-switch or mix their languages in conversation), the community (what causes a group to give up their ancestral language and change to a new one, and what is the process for this) and the state (issues of language planning, policies and education). This module is designed to provide an introduction to the most important issues, methods and theoretical developments in the study of bilingual/multilingual societies. It aims to introduce different research approaches and to enable you to take a critical view of research in this field, drawing on examples from around the world.

  In teaching we will draw on students’ own experiences of bilingualism and multilingual societies (even ‘monolingual’ societies are very often multilingual in reality) as well as looking at multilingual urban landscapes and multilingualism on the internet.

• Cognitive Linguistics

  The module will cover the field of Cognitive Linguistics. In particular, it will introduce the foundational principles of Cognitive Linguistics locating it in opposition to the more dominant model of Generative Linguistics. Hereafter, a central concern of the module will be the relationship between language and more general cognitive processes in the creation of meaning, as well as the relationship between language, body, and mind. You will therefore be introduced to a number of fundamental cognitive processes understood to support language, including categorisation, metaphor and Gestalt principles of organisation. The module aims to show how such processes underpin the semantics of various domains of cultural as well as physical experience.

• Contemporary British Fiction

  This module examines the range and variety of contemporary British fiction. Discussion will focus on representations of c21st crises, such as the financial crash and Brexit; on competing views of the past; on the poetry of everyday life; and on the futuristic and dystopian qualities of speculative fiction.

• Contemporary Gothic: Text and Screen

  This module addresses the ways that contemporary literature, film and television engage with the Gothic literary tradition. Focusing specifically on texts produced since 2000, it explores the continuing relevance of Gothic in contemporary culture. The module aims to demonstrate the diversity and increasing hybridity of contemporary Gothic and with this in mind, enquires what happens when Gothic cross-fertilises a range of other modes and genres including musical, soap opera, noir, documentary, comedy, science fiction and the historical novel. Indicative themes include: how traditional Gothic personae from vampires and ghosts to guilty fathers and disturbed children may find new life in the twenty-first century; how traditional Gothic spaces from the haunted house to the fairground may be refigured in postmodern British and American culture; what critics mean when they talk about Gothic and the ways in which the term is put to work in both popular media and in academic criticism.

  Each seminar will be based around two parallel strands, covering literature and television/film from 2000 to the present day. Typically, screenings of the relevant films/programmes will be timetabled during the week preceding the seminar. You may find it useful to have some prior knowledge of Gothic literature and/or film, but this is not essential.

• Corpus Linguistics

  Corpus linguistics is a methodology whereby large collections of electronically transcribed texts are used in conjunction with computer tools to investigate language.

  This module aims to provide a general introduction to corpus based language study. It centres around two main parts – corpus methods for exploring linguistic variation and the applications of corpus linguistics such as language teaching, forensic linguistics and discourse analysis.

  You will have the opportunity to learn how to use corpus analysis packages such as BNCWeb and Antconc.

• Critical Discourse Analysis

  This module will focus on different methods and issues in Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA). CDA is broadly concerned with the way that language and other semiotic modalities reflect, legitimate and instantiate power and inequality in social relations. In this course, you are introduced to various methodological approaches to CDA which draw on and apply a range of theoretical frameworks including functional grammar, argumentation theory, cognitive linguistics, corpus linguistics, conversation analysis and pragmatics. A variety of discourses articulated in talk, text and image and operating across a range of social and political fields of action are considered, including discourses of race, immigration, war, national identity, political protest, and corporate responsibility. You will also be encouraged to critically engage, through close textual analysis, with discourses of specific interest to themselves. Throughout the course, you will have the opportunity to engage with a number of theoretical and methodological debates currently ongoing in CDA.

• Emotional Geographies in Early Modern Literature

  This module uses contemporary theoretical models to explore the relationship between emotions and place in examples of early modern English literature. It begins by looking at the ways space is mapped in written and pictorial records, with an introduction to items in the Rare Book Archive in the Library and the electronic archive Early English Books Online. Site specific studies of texts (e.g. in Lancaster Castle and Penshurst Place) combine with study of fantasy sites like More’s Utopia (no-place) and early science fiction and travel writing. The course can be taken as part of the early modern pathway or as a stand alone module for those interested in developing transhistorical understandings of politics and place.

• English Grammar: A Cognitive Approach

  This module provides you with the opportunity to develop a solid foundation in the grammar of English, prominently including the ways in which it interfaces with semantics-pragmatics — as discussed, especially, in the cognitive linguistic approach to grammar, i.e. construction grammar. Yet the module is not restricted to this theoretical framework. Instead, we will explore its research questions, analyses and methods in relation to those representing the more traditional, generative (Chomskian) alternative. A basic tenet of the cognitive (and more broadly speaking: functional) approach is that English grammar (and indeed the grammar of any language) is a tool for effective communication. This leads to an analysis of grammatical structures in terms of, and as to some extent motivated by, their meanings. We will see that this perspective is very different from the generative approach, where grammar is studied more or less in isolation from meaning, i.e. as pure structure. Towards the end of the module some recent applications of the theory of cognitive linguistics are discussed.

• Experimental Approaches to Language and Cognition

  The central aim of the module is to introduce you to modern experimental methods of measuring the ubiquitous relationship between language and cognition, which is a basic theoretical tenet of Cognitive Linguistics. In particular, it will usually begin by presenting language acquisition as a general learning process, and looking at interactions between linguistic and social-cognitive development in children. It will then give you the opportunity to explore the growing body of experimental research that investigates how an individual’s linguistic and cultural background informs their view of the world, and impacts on their thinking processes in adulthood (also known as the linguistic relativity hypothesis). Hereafter, a central concern of the module will be the cognitive mechanisms by which languages are learned and processed, examining the role of individual differences, frequency of input, and memory and attention, with particular focus on artificial grammar learning, and second language acquisition and use.

• Experimental Phonetics

  This module gives you the opportunity to explore issues in experimental phonetics, as well as the practical skills necessary to undertake a research project in this area. You will learn how to use acoustic analysis software, such as Praat, and also learn to carry out data processing and analysis using a statistical programming language like R. You will also have the opportunity to look at appropriate statistical methods and aspects of phonetic and linguistic theory.

  This module requires some undergraduate background in phonetics (we assume knowledge of the International Phonetic Alphabet, articulatory descriptions, basic acoustic phonetics).

  The module will usually be taught via practical workshop sessions covering topics including:

  • Acoustic phonetics
  • Sociophonetic variation
  • Sound change
  • Voice quality
  • Articulatory phonology
  • Intonational variation
  • Experimental design
  • Statistical analysis
• Forensic Linguistics

  This module aims to provide you with:

  • an understanding of the history and highly evolving status of forensic linguistics
  • an understanding of the nature of forensic linguistics, including its applications and limits
  • an appreciation of the difference between the broader and more narrowly defined notions of forensic linguistics
  • the ability to carry out basic analyses of a variety of written and spoken texts from the point of view of language and the law
  • an understanding of some of the difficulties in writing up, presenting, and using scientific evidence in a court of law.
• Introduction to Discourse Studies

  The term “discourse” is understood in various ways in the social sciences and humanities. In this module we approach discourse in two principal ways. On the one hand, we regard discourse as structured use of language consisting of more than one sentence. The analysis of discourse in this sense involves investigation of the ways in which words, phrases and sentences hang together and make sense in contexts of use. At this level linguistic theories and methods of linguistic description are of special relevance. On the other hand, discourse is often thought of as language use as social practice that is based on, and influences, cognition. Thus, for example, we speak of media discourse, nationalist discourse, discourses on the economy, legal discourse, and the like. Here we ask questions about the linguistic characteristics of these different discourses. In addition we relate the texts that instantiate these discourse to the context of their production, distribution and reception, as well as to their wider social context.

  The module aims to familiarise students with the range of theories in Discourse Studies. It also aims to provide practical analytical skills and methodologies for analysing spoken, written and visual texts of different genres. Acquiring sufficient technical knowledge of linguistic description is regarded as an important practical goal. Hands-on practical work with texts will be an important element of the course.

• Language, Literacies and Digital Communication

  The aim of the course is to examine contemporary language use online. We start from a social practice view of languages and literacies: that is we look at what people do online, what activities they engage in and what these mean to them. This means that in this module we look at language use online drawing on research sociology and cultural studies, not just linguistics. The course explores a range of platforms such as Wikipedia, Blogs, Twitter, YouTube and Facebook. We talk about languages and literacies in the plural, because we start from the idea that there are many different ways of reading, writing and communicating via online technologies. This also means that we will investigate how digital communication is changing the way we, as researchers, study language. On the course, you will explore your own and other people’s digital language practices and you will be introduced to methods of researching language and literacy online. We will use a wide range of materials and readings, including videos, blogs and other online resources.

• Posthumanism: Literature after the human

  This module focuses on the idea of the ‘posthuman’ in fiction and film. It explores a range of literary and filmic texts from Romanticism to Postmodernism that have explored the question of what, if anything, might come ‘after’ the human race. To explore the figure of the posthuman in more detail, we will focus on a series of recurring tropes in posthumanist literature from H. G. Wells to Lars von Trier that might include: the god, the monster; the robot; the cyborg and the clone. We will also place these texts in the context of various contemporary philosophical, religious, political and scientific debates surrounding the meaning (or meaninglessness) of human existence. In summary, the module will ask such questions as: why is the end of the human race such an enduring subject of fascination for writers and film-makers? Is it possible for human beings to imagine a world without human beings? Finally, what might a world after the human race look like?

• Pragmatics

  This module considers how meanings are constructed in communication.

  This module aims to:

  • cover the major areas in pragmatic theory,
  • introduce the latest developments in those areas,
  • apply the theory to real data.
• Research Methodology and Reflective Practice in English Literature I

  The two core modules, Research Methodology and Reflective Practice in English Literature I and II, are compulsory for all MA English/English with Creative Writing students and for new first year PhD English students who have not taken an MA at Lancaster. They are designed in accordance with UK research councils training guidance. Seminars will run across terms 1 and 2, and dissertation supervision and a conference will take place in term 3. The two modules together aim to equip you with a range of skills, approaches and competences to draw on as early career researchers in the field of English Literary Studies and/or Creative Writing. Even if you are not considering a research career, we will cover skills that are valuable for any postgraduate student of literature.

  The two core modules are designed to complement the more specialist topics covered on MA English programmes through specific module seminars and dissertation supervisions. These core modules typically include sessions on research and writing skills, working with archives, and working with theory, and will encourage reflection on the practice and utility of literary research. The modules will be assessed by an ongoing portfolio of tasks. In the summer term, the module will conclude with a conference – organised by the students themselves – at which each of you will give a paper relating to your research.

• Research Methodology and Reflective Practice in English Literature II

  The two core modules, Research Methodology and Reflective Practice in English Literature I and II, are compulsory for all MA English/English with Creative Writing students and for new first year PhD English students who have not taken an MA at Lancaster. They are designed in accordance with UK research councils training guidance. Seminars will run across terms 1 and 2, and dissertation supervision and a conference will take place in term 3. The two modules together aim to equip you with a range of skills, approaches and competences to draw on as early career researchers in the field of English Literary Studies and/or Creative Writing. Even if you are not considering a research career, we will cover skills that are valuable for any postgraduate student of literature.

  The two core modules are designed to complement the more specialist topics covered on MA English programmes through specific module seminars and dissertation supervisions. These core modules include sessions on research and writing skills, working with archives, and working with theory, and will encourage reflection on the practice and utility of literary research. The modules will be assessed by an ongoing portfolio of tasks, the final two of which are a dissertation proposal and a conference abstract. This prepares you for the summer term, which involves a conference – organised by the students themselves – at which each of you will give a paper relating to your research, and dissertation writing with allocated supervisors.

• Research Methods in Linguistics and English Language

  This module usually addresses three main themes:

  • qualitative research methods,
  • quantitative research methods
  • statistics in linguistics research

  Each thematic area will be covered throughout the module. More specifically, the following provides an indicative list of topics to be covered under these three rubrics:

  • Ethnography and field work
  • Focus groups and interviews
  • Text and discourse analysis
  • Corpora and big data
  • Questionnaires and surveys
  • Experimental paradigms
  • Visualization and descriptive statistics
  • Inferential statistics
  • Research Ethics

  The module deals with theoretical, ethical and methodological issues that are central to the study of language. We aim to enhance your knowledge of various research methods and the techniques of obtaining, analysing, presenting, and disseminating research data relating to language, give you the opportunity to develop necessary skills to conduct both qualitative and quantitative research in linguistics and to produce and interpret statistical data, prepare you for independent research and conduction of theoretical/empirical work in the fields of linguistics and applied linguistics

• Romance and Realism

  This module explores the evolution of prose fiction from the late Romantic era through the first two decades of Queen Victoria’s reign. A defining focus of the module will be on the ways in which the Victorian novel negotiates with Romantic legacies: the primacy of self, the necessity of intellectual and personal liberty and an ambivalence towards the past are crucial to the development of the genre. The historical frame of the module allows us to move from James Hogg’s Confessions of a Justified Sinner (1824) to Herman Melville’s Moby Dick (1851), one of the first novels of the American ‘Renaissance’. Indicative themes include: the shaping presence of other genres in the development of nineteenth-century fiction, including spiritual autobiography and the long poem; historical contexts with particular reference to the religious and political debates of the period; the emergence of the novelist as a major cultural figure; ways in which the writers under review both internalise and contest the ethical, spiritual and economic forces of their historical moment.

• Sociolinguistics

  This course introduces you to fundamental concepts and approaches involved in the study of the links between language and society. We will look at a number of important approaches to sociolinguistic research, and cover the topics most central to the discipline and its development. These include language variation and change, which usually refers to social, geographical and stylistic differences within a single language and how they change through time; language contact, including pidginisation and creolisation and societal multilingualism, including language shift, language death and language revival.

• Victorian Literature and Other Media

  This module examines the formal, historical, generic, cultural, intercultural, and interhistorical relationships between Victorian literature and other media, including painting, illustration, theatre, music, film, television, and new media.

• Writing the Nineteenth Century City

  This module explores textual constructions of nineteenth-century urban spaces and those who inhabit them. What does it mean to live in the city in the nineteenth century and what might the city mean to its inhabitants and to the English population at large? We will consider the ways in which different types of space – for example the street, the graveyard, the house – are meaningful as well as the different ways more general conceptions of ‘the city’ are articulated across the century. We will pay attention to issues such as mobility, transport, technology, Englishness, class, gender, ethnicity, and religion, and we will engage with different theories of space and place by authors such as Georg Simmel, Martin Heidegger, Gaston Bachelard and Doreen Massey. Throughout the course we will address the relationship between representation and place and how different types of imaginative literature present their urban spaces.

Information contained on the website with respect to modules is correct at the time of publication, but changes may be necessary, for example as a result of student feedback, Professional Statutory and Regulatory Bodies' (PSRB) requirements, staff changes, and new research.