ENG4613 - History of English 1: The Origins of English

Objectives:

Assessment tasks are designed to enable students to demonstrate the Learning and Employability outcomes for the relevant level of study. Level Learning Outcomes are embedded in the assessment task(s) at that level. This enables a more integrated view of overall student performance at each level.

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:

Weekly 2-hour Seminars
Hours: 40
Intended Group Size: 15

Guided independent study
Hours: 260

Further details relating to assessment
Early Assessment: there will be assessment in all four Level 4 modules in the programme between five and eight weeks after Intro Week.

Formal assessment will be preceded in each module by some formative exercises (eg analysis, referencing exercise, brief report on a research task) and an ‘assessment unpacking’ session.

Negotiated Assessment: students will present their own research into the origins of place names around their home.

Essay: a series of pre-set questions that test the ability to research and analyse key topics in the history of the English language.

Integrated Assessment: normally set as a group project which takes place in the designated two-week Integrated Assessment period after Easter Vacation. Students will collaborate in designing and creating a 20-minute podcast which creatively synthesises and presents some of the content of ENG 4603 and ENG 4613 in a format appropriate to the platform.

Assessment:

001 Negotiated assessment; 1,500 word equiv.; mid-semester 1 30%
002 Essay; 2,500 word equiv.; end of semester 2 50%
003 Integrated assessment; 20 min podcast; end of semester 2 20%

Fact File

Module Coordinator - Richard Storer
Level - 4
Credit Value - 30
Pre-Requisites - NONE
Semester(s) Offered - 4YL

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