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Language (MULT10015)
Undergraduate level 1Points: 12.5On Campus (Parkville)
Overview
Availability | Semester 1 |
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Language plays a central role in the central disciplinary areas in the humanities and social sciences. This subject gives students tools for thinking about language in a range of disciplines, including linguistics, history, sociology, politics, literary studies, anthropology, language studies, psychology and psychoanalytic theory. It shows how language can be analysed as a system, but also how language features centrally in politcal and social contexts: for example, in the processing of the claims of asylum seekers, in developing views of ethnicity, race and nation, and in colonialism; and in the construction of gendered and sexual identity. The role of language in the psyche, and the process of acquisition of languages in children and in adults, are also important topics. Knowing how to think about language, and familiarity with the main thinkers who have discussed language in a range of humanities and social science disciplines, provide an indispensable basis for study in any area of the Arts degree.
Intended learning outcomes
On successful completion of this subject, students should:
- have developed critical thinking and analysis through recommended reading, essay writing and tutorial discussion;
- be able to research through competent use of the library and other information sources, and the definition of areas of inquiry and methods of research;
- have engaged with the methodologies of the humanities and social sciences;
- have acquired critical self-awareness: being open to new ideas and possibilities through learning how to construct an argument;
- have communicated knowledge and arguments intelligibly and economically through essay writing and tutorial discussion;
- have demonstrated the ability to assess the strength of an argument through recommended reading, essay writing and tutorial discussion;
- have developed time management skills and planning through managing and organizing workloads for recommended reading, essay and assignment completion.
Last updated: 3 November 2022