Introduction into English Language Studies

Course description

The course is aimed at preparing the first-year students for their further academic university studies of English philology.

The Lectures are an introduction to English language studies and to linguistics as a philological discipline within broader socio-historical and linguistic-cultural contexts. It is designed to help the students in studying and understanding language as a highly complex and dynamic phenomenon.

The outline of the course offers information and challenge for getting oriented in the basic concepts and disciplines dealing with language. It presents the basic notions, terminology, categories, relationships and functions of linguistic means and systems, lexicography and corpus linguistics, as well as a survey of the past and present of linguistics and of English studies. Included is a survey of the genetic origin of English, as well as of the main features of the stages of its development, and the characteristics of Modern English within its geographical and sociolinguistic variants and functions

Prerequisites

None, only at least level B2, but preferably C1 English language skills, as the lectures are delivered in English

Learning outcomes

By the end of the course, the students will get basic orientation in the principal areas and disciplines of the linguistic studies of English, gaining an understanding of the features of their complexity, with some contrastive considerations with regard to Slovak. This will enable them to be better prepared for their further advancement in English philology.

Course policies

Attendance at all the Lectures and arriving on time is required and indispensable for successfully completing the course. The attendance will be registered by the personal signature of each student at the particular Lecture. Any absence can negatively affect the grading (see course grading below). In case of serious reasons for missing the Lecture, the student should notify the teacher in advance by mail. However, more than two absences without any legitimate reason will result in failing the course.

During the Lectures please respect the fact that it is not allowed to use cell phones, smartphones, etc. for any purposes (sound/video recording or photographing), and these devices should be switched off, Should this requirement not be the respected, the student will be denied attendance at the lecture.

Other policies, including the need for mutual communication if the student has any problems concerning course work, etc., will be specified at the first lecture. As to the test, any academic dishonesty will disqualify the student from the course.

If you have any questions or suggestions concerning the course or need some advice in connection with studying the materials or preparing for the test, please feel free to contact me during my office hours, by appointment or by mail.

Course requirements

In addition to attending the Lectures and following their contents, the students should parallelly and systematically study the theoretical materials from the Bibliography, as specified for the particular weeks.

The final test will be on Dec. 9 at the time of the lecture, and on that date it has to be taken by all the students. The test is aimed at checking the mastery of the material presented at the lectures and of the reading assignments. The students should manifest their understanding of the tasks and give adequate, knowledgeable and coherent answers in good English.

The analysis of the test and the announcement of the results will take place on Dec. 16 at the time of the lecture. Presence at the analysis is obligatory.

Should the final test be failed, there will be the possibility of one re-sit of the final test in January 2020 (the date and time to be announced).

Course grading

The Lecture part evaluation of the course will comprise the following percentages:

Attendance at the lectures:     30 % --- for passing not less than 18 % is the minimum

Final test:                                70 % --- for passing not less than 42 % is the minimum

For qualifying for course completion, both attendance and test result have to reach at least minimum percentage.

The final evaluation will be based on the following grading scale.