Goals
Readings
Requirements, Responsibilities, & Grades
Syllabus
Essays
Goals: This course requires us to think about our language and the relationships among language, thought, and culture by focusing on various human interest aspects of linguistics.
Topics include social judgments and standard versus nonstandard English, language of propaganda and politics, language and advertising, language and sexism, euphemisms, jargon, and doubletalk, language taboos, and bilingualism.
A basic premise of the course is that if we understand that every discourse is political and that each of us has some political skill in the use of language, we will better understand both our intentions in dealing with one another and the ways in which influential people have learned to exalt these skills to use as tactics of group persuasion.
The various social and educational issues of the course will be examined primarily by drawing on students' intuitive knowledge, personal experience, and response to reading assignments rather than by lecturing.
Optional reserved reading (helpful for your papers):
I expect responsible participation and attendance. More than 2 unexcused absences will result in my lowering your final grade.
Grades will be based on class participation, including each student's preparation of the topical and rhetorical considerations related to the assigned readings (approximately 25%) and six essays (approximately 75%; see "Essays").
Each of the 9 chapters of Exploring Language contains several written assignments . You are required to do any 6 of these, as long as they are from at least 5 different chapters. I encourage you to do more than 6 assignments, understanding that I will count only the best 6 that you submit.
You are required to submit the first draft electronically to the entire class no later
than noon of the day preceding our actual class discussion of the assignment upon
which your essay is based. The purpose of this sharing is to
Essays should be progressively longer and more developed throughout the semester. Your first 2, for example, may be brief (perhaps in the 400-650 word range). The next 2 should be in the 600-800 word range. The final 2 should range from 750-1000 words.
All essays will be evaluated by your peers and by me and will receive final grades only after the submission of revised second drafts. Hard copy of the second drafts will be due one class after your receipt of my written comments about your first draft.
Usually, my evaluative comments about these essays will be addressed on an individual basis, thus safeguarding privacy and student sensitivity while also allowing the individual to forward those comments to classmates as (s)he sees fit. However, when I believe that my comments to an individual will be helpful to all students, I will post them under Prof.'s Comments, which you should check periodically.
Essays will be graded on intention, content, reasoning, language & richness of vocabulary, neatness, effort, accuracy. Five points to keep in mind: 1) develop a thesis statement, 2) discuss the main points covered in readings and in class discussions and make connections with the thesis, 3) incorporate relevant evidence to prove thesis, 4) make connections among related concepts, ideas, and events, 5) reach a conclusion based on the analysis of the evidence.The selection process below allows you to submit your own essays and to read those submitted by classmates. Simply click the appropriate choice.
Note: this process functions only for students who are registered for this course and have been assigned a course password.
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EMail comments to: LKamm@umassd.edu
This html document created by LK on March 6, 1998. Last Revised: 12/12/02.