ENG4612 - History of English 1: The Origins of English

Objectives:

On successful completion of the module, students will be able to:
Recognise and describe some of the methods and achievements of historical linguistics.
Outline the history and development of language in Britain up to 1500.
Read and comment on extracts from Old and Middle English texts.
Comment on examples of modern English usage in terms of the history of English as shown in particular words and syntactic structures.
Identify and use appropriate sources for research into the history of English.

Content:

The module will begin with the framing question: how do we know about the origins and development of English and other Indo-European languages? An outline of the history of language in Britain will then be traced, from the displacement of Celtic by Germanic languages through the influence of Norse and Old French, to the emergence of Middle English. Appropriate resources for research and discovery will be accessed throughout the module and, for the negotiated assessment, students will present their own research into the origins of place names around their home. For the final essay, students will outline the history and representative linguistic features of a selection of words and phrases from Old English, Middle English and Present Day English.

Learning and Teaching Information:

The main form of teaching session will be the seminar, where concepts and skills will be introduced by the lecturer and learned through practical application - specific tasks, problem-solving, discussion and collaborative close reading of texts, with regular provision of formative feedback on those activities (including through Directed Activities - see below). There will be two two-hour seminars each week. Additional resources and support for guided independent study will be provided via Moodle and through availability of weekly staff drop-in times for advice, clarification, discussion of assignment plans, etc.

Seminars
Hours: 40
Intended Group Size: 15

Guided independent study
Hours: 160

Further details relating to assessment
Formative assessment is built into the multiple-attempt format of the online quizzes which are used throughout the module. For the essay, Directed Task and seminar exercises will be used to help students prepare for and practise fulfilling the requirements of the task.

The assessment brief for Integrated Assessment will vary slightly for those students where integrated assessment is not applicable to their programme.

Assessment:

Fact File

Module Coordinator - Richard Storer
Level - 4
Credit Value - 20
Pre-Requisites - NONE
Semester(s) Offered - 4S2

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