English 336: English in Society

Syllabus for Spring 2006

Mondays, 4:00 - 6:30 p.m., 4281 Helen C. White Hall

Instructor	Assessment and Grading
Required Texts	Course Outline
Aims of the Course	Further Reading
Assignments	Instructor's Home Page

	Professor Richard F Young
	5129 Helen C. White Hall Email: rfyoung at wisc dot edu Phone: 263-2679 Office hours: Tuesdays, 1:00 to 3:00 p.m., or by appointment

Class E-mail List

Use the class e-mail list as a public bulletin board for discussions about the class.  Send your messages to english336-1-s06 at lists dot wisc dot edu.  In order for you to receive messages from the e-mail list, your e-mail address must be in the Registrar's database.  If you do not receive messages from the list, you should activate a NetID account (wisc.edu e-mail) or register an existing e-mail account.

Required Texts

	Thomas, L., Wareing, S., Singh, I., Peccei, J. S., Thornborrow, J., & Jones, J. (Eds.). (2004). Language, society and power: An introduction (2nd ed.). London: Routledge. College Library Reserve Collection, 1st Fl. Center. Call No. P107 L36 2004.
	Tracy, K. (2002). Everyday talk: Building and reflecting identities. New York: Guilford. College Library Reserve Collection, 1st Fl. Center. Call No. P95 T7 2002.
	Wolfram, W., Adger, C. T., & Christian, D. (1999). Dialects in schools and communities. Mahwah, NJ: L. Erlbaum Associates. College Library Reserve Collection, 1st Fl. Center. Call No. PE2841 W654 1999.

Aims of the Course

Language is one of the most powerful ways in which we attempt to influence others. Whether we realize it or not, the way we use language tells other people a lot about who we are: whether we are cool or dorky, a fan of the Green Bay Packers or the Philadelphia Eagles, a high school student or a graduate student, honest and trustworthy or sly and shifty. And our impressions of other people are based in large part on the way they speak and write.

In this course we explore ways in which the English language is used to create, maintain, and challenge social attitudes and relationships. We survey the ways in which English varies across the United States, across social classes, and across ethnic groups. We reflect on the prejudices that are associated with different varieties of English, and we consider the role of teachers and schools in creating, maintaining, and challenging prejudice.

We will use two approaches to examine the relationship between English and society: linguistics and conversation analysis. The tools of linguistics involve close analysis of the structure of language, especially its sound patterns, grammatical structures, and the ways in which words are formed, distributed, and used. And in this course we will analyze in detail the ways that formal properties of language connect with what people value about speakers. But the forms of language are neither rigid nor fixed, and just as our impression of a person can change within the space of one conversation, so the ways that language is used in interaction vary from moment to moment. Understanding the dynamics of talk in interaction involves going beyond the traditional concerns of linguistic analysis to the methods of conversation analysis. Both formal linguistics analysis and conversation analysis will be methods that we use in this course.

If we understand that talk is fluid and changing, this helps us to recognize that the identities that we construct for ourselves and in which we cast others are not fixed either. We will argue in this course that identities are fragmented and in flux, and that there is a close relationship between identities and the contexts in which they are constructed, and distinguish the contradictions inherent in identities.

Finally, we recognize that language is a means by which powerful people influence our thoughts and behavior. So we explore the application of linguistic knowledge in understanding the powerful influences of politicians and the media in the hope that by understanding how they influence us we can make more lucid life choices.

In this course you will become familiar with the specific structures, features, and discourse patterns of English that have been associated with social interaction. Analysis of specific instances of language in use is central to this course. Prerequisites: 6 credits of introductory English literature.

Assignments

Attendance and Readings. You are expected to attend class regularly and to complete weekly readings assigned from the textbooks.  Attendance will be taken at each class meeting.

Exams. Your knowledge and interpretation of the readings and lectures will be assessed by two exams. An in-class mid-term examination will be held on Monday March 20, and will focus on the topics covered in the course until that point. The final exam will be held on Thursday, May 11 beginning at 7:25 p.m. The final will focus on the topics covered in the course after the midterm exam.

Learning Activities. You are expected to carry out weekly language analysis activities.  I will notify you of these activities at the beginning of each week. Your responses for a given week are due on Monday of the following week.  Assignments that are handed in late will receive a failing grade.  I encourage you to do these activities in groups of between three and five students.

Authorship. Some of your assignments for this course involve integrating information from published sources into your own writing. This means that you need to be careful not to plagiarize: "to steal or pass off (the ideas and words of another) as one's own" or to "present as new and original an idea or product derived from an existing source" (Merriam Webster's Collegiate Dictionary, 10th edition, p. 888). For advice on what sources you should document and how to document them, consult Quoting and Paraphrasing Sources on the Writing Center's web site, from which the preceding statement is taken.

Assessment and Grading

I will award letter grades for your responses to the Learning Activities and percent scores for the exams. The meanings and equivalencies of the grades follow.

The final grade for the course will take into account grades awarded on all assignments in the following proportions.

Incompletes. The grade of "Incomplete" will only be used for a student who has carried the course with a passing grade until near the end of the semester and then, because of illness or other unusual and substantial cause beyond his/her control, is unable to complete the remaining assignments.

Course Outline

Date	Topic	Readings and Videos	Learning Activities
January 23	The Linguistic Facts of Life	What is language and what does it do? (Chapter 1 in Language, Society and Power) Language variation in the United States (Chapter 1 in Dialects in Schools and Communities)	Listen to three samples from the DARE Audio Collection. Where do the speakers live? What phonological, syntactic, and lexical differences do you notice between your own variety of English and the variety used by these speakers?
January 30	Language Variation and Geography	Exploring dialects (Chapter 2 Dialects in Schools and Communities) Dialect awareness for students (Chapter 8 in Dialects in Schools and Communities) The sound of talk (Chapter 5 in Everyday Talk) American Tongues [video]	Transcribe the talk of this Boston Northender using the conventions of Conversation Analysis outlined in chapter 5 of Everyday Talk.
February 6	Language Variation and Social Class	Language and class (Chapter 8 in Language, Society and Power) People Like Us [video]	Video analysis of clips from 'People Like Us'
February 13	Language Variation and Ethnicity	Language and ethnicity (Chapter 6 in Language, Society and Power)	Learning Activity
February 20	Standard English	The standard English debate (Chapter 10 in Language, Society and Power) Oral language instruction (Chapter 5 in Dialects in Schools and Communities) Dialects and written English (Chapter 6 in Dialects in Schools and Communities) Language variation and reading (Chapter 7 in Dialects in Schools and Communities) Language selection (Chapter 6 in Everyday Talk)	Read chapters 6 and 7 in ‘Dialects in Schools and Communities' and write no more than five pages on these two issues. Does the teaching of Standard English in schools disadvantage speakers of non-standard dialects? How can the teaching of non-standard dialects be included in the curriculum?
February 27	Language Attitudes	Attitudes to language (Chapter 11 in Language, Society and Power) Language difference does not mean language deficit (Chapter 4 in Dialects in Schools and Communities) Chapter 5 in English with an Accent	Describe the linguistic models of young women that are portrayed in Disney cartoon movies. Are they good role models for our daughters? Why or why not?
March 6	Language and Gender	Chapter 5 in Language, Society and Power)
Spring  Break
March 20	In-class midterm exam
March 27	Language and Age	Chapter 7 in Language, Society and Power)	Make a collection of current slang words used by children and teenagers. Ask people of different ages to give you definitions for those words. Why do people of different age groups have different perceptions of what words mean and how they are used?
April 3	Interactional Identities	Language and identity (Chapter 9 in Language, Society and Power) Talk and identity (Chapter 1 in Everyday Talk) Two perspectives (Chapter 2 in Everyday Talk)	Read The Green Suit by Dwight Allen. Focus on one of the main characters (Peter Sackrider, Elvin, or Petra Saunders). Describe how master, interactional, personal, and relational identities are created for your character. How does the "direct speech" of your character and others help to create their identities?
April 10	Language and Thought	Language, thought and representation (Chapter 2 in Language, Society and Power) Person-referencing practices (Chapter 3 in Everyday Talk) Speech acts (Chapter 4 in Everyday Talk)	Learning Activity
April 17	Communicative Interaction and Discursive Practice	Chapter 3 in Dialects in Schools and Communities Chapter 7 in Everyday Talk	Learning Activity
April 24	Crosscultural Communication	Direct or indirect style (Chapter 8 in Everyday Talk) Narratives (Chapter 9 in Everyday Talk) Stance indicators (Chapter 10 in Everyday Talk) Crosstalk [video] Gatekeepers: The job interview [video]	Learning Activity
May 1	Language and Politics	Language and politics (Chapter 3 in Language, Society and Power) Language and the media (Chapter 4 in Language, Society and Power)
Thursday, May 11 7:25 p.m.	Final exam in room 1651 Humanities

Further Reading

You may find the following resources useful if you wish to pursue topics in this course in greater depth.

	Bauer, L., & Trudgill, P. (Eds.). (1998). Language myths. London: Penguin Books.
	Cameron, D. (1995). Verbal hygiene. New York: Routledge.
	Cameron, D. (Ed.). (1998). The feminist critique of language: A reader (2nd ed.). New York: Routledge.
	Fairclough, N. (1989). Language and power. New York: Longman.
	Gumperz, J. J. (1982). Language and social identity. New York: Cambridge University Press.
	Lakoff, R. T. (1990). Talking power: The politics of language in our lives. New York: Basic Books.
	Lippi-Green, R. (1997). English with an accent: Language, ideology, and discrimination in the United States. London: Routledge.
	MacNeil, R., & Cran, W. (2005). Do you speak American? A companion to the PBS television series. New York: Nan A. Talese.
	Simpson, P. (1993). Language, ideology, and point of view. New York: Routledge.

This page was last updated on June 2, 2006 .