English 391AC, Spring 2013
Course Description
This course explores the space where globalization and language meet, for language is clearly implicated in contemporary processes of globalization. The goal of this course is to critically examine how writers work at the boundaries of language. To do this, we will move through three units—1) constructing language; 2) circulating language; 3) practicing language—all the while keeping the following questions in mind:
- How has English spread or travelled around the world?
- Who decides what is or is not a standard?
- How do “soft boundaries” between languages impact global English use?
- How are language boundaries used—politically, culturally—and whose interests do they serve?
Required Texts
(All available at the Text Annex.)
- The English Language: A Guided Tour of the Language. David Crystal
- English as a Global Language. 2nd edition. David Crystal
- Buying Into English: Language and Investment in the New Capitalist World. Catherine Prendergast.
- Rotten English: A Literary Anthology. Dohra Ahmad
- English 391AC Coursepack
Course Assignments
Etymological Analysis (3-4 pages)
An analysis of language change. Research the etymology of two words in English and propose one that you predict is about to enter the language.
Website Analysis (4-5 pages)
An analysis of claims made about language. How do language beliefs circulate through websites? These are language websites defined broadly: sites for language advocacy organizations, language schools or programs, sites for language products, or whatever strikes you a relating to language in some way. You will analyze a website of your choice for its rhetorical, figurative, and visual elements, concluding whether or not you believe the author’s purpose was accomplished.
Research Project: Practicing Language in Everyday Life (8-10 pages)
A resarch paper in which you pursue a question of interest to you related to language, however you choose to define it. You will collect and analyze data such as interview transcripts, survey results, research articles, poems, observation fieldnotes, photographs, posters. The goal of the project is to research what experts, scholars, or citizens are already saying about an issue and then use the research to make a claim about how language is functioning in people’s lives.
Tentative Course Calendar
Please note that the calendar is “tentative” which means it is subject to change. It’s difficult to predict how any one class will go, so occasionally things may be altered if I think the changes will better facilitate your learning. All assignments listed on a given day should be completed for discussion on that day.
| Week 1 | T | 1/22 | Introduction to course and to one another |
| Unit 1: Constructing Languages | |||
| Th | 1/24 | Discuss English Language pgs. 1-13; Battistella “Images and Engagements | |
| Week 2 | T | 1/29 | Discuss English Language pgs. 161-232 |
| Th | 1/31 | Discuss English Language pgs. 233-297, short films: history of English | |
| Week 3 | T | 2/5 | Discuss English Language pgs. 85-160, intro to OED |
| Th | 2/7 | Discuss Bourdieu, Orwell, Battistella “Bad Citizens” | |
| Week 4 | T | 2/12 | Discuss Milroy, outlining etymology |
| Th | 2/14 | Discuss Makoni & Pennycook, writing workshop, Due: Draft 1 Etymological Analysis | |
| Unit 2: Circulating Languages | |||
| Week 5 | T | 2/19 | No Class: Monday schedule followed, Due: Final Etymological Analysis |
| Th | 2/21 | Discuss Global Language 1-27, defining globalization, Discuss Pennycook | |
| Week 6 | T | 2/26 | Discuss Global Language 43-71, terms, labels, acronyms, Discuss Bambagose |
| Th | 2/28 | Discuss Global Language 72-122, Discuss Bhatt “World Englishes” | |
| Week 7 | T | 3/5 | Discuss Global Language 123-191, rhetorical analysis, Discuss House |
| Th | 3/7 | Discuss Buying into English 1-49, practice website analysis, Discuss Bruthiaux | |
| Week 8 | T | 3/12 | Discuss Buying into English 50-73, writing workshop, Due: Draft 1 Website Analysis |
| Th | 3/14 | No Class | |
| Spring Break | |||
| Week 9 | T | 3/26 | Discuss Buying into English 74-125, Discuss Luke et al. |
| Th | 3/28 | Discuss Buying into English 126-148, Due: Final Website Analysis | |
| Unit 3: Practicing Languages | |||
| Week 10 | T | 4/2 | Discuss Rotten English: introduction, Canagarajah “After Disinvention”, what we know so far survey |
| Th | 4/4 | Discuss Rotten English: Achebe, Okara, Higgins, research questions | |
| Week 11 | T | 4/9 | Discuss Rotten English: Anzaldua, Hughes, Baldwin, “Students’ Right to Their Own Language”, National Language Policy, Proposal writing workshop |
| Th | 4/11 | Discuss Rotten English: Diaz, Discuss Lam, Due: Research Project Proposal | |
| Week 12 | T | 4/16 | Discuss Rotten English: Lovelace, Bennett, Research groups workshop |
| Th | 4/18 | Discuss Rotten English: Macaulay, Malkani, Mistry, Canagarajah “Shuttling” | |
| Week 13 | T | 4/23 | Course questions writing, class language survey |
| Th | 4/25 | Presentations | |
| Week 14 | T | 4/30 | Presentations |
| T | 5/7 | Due: Final Research Project |