Unit Guide

General Information

Unit convenor and teaching staff	Unit convenor and teaching staff Unit Convenor Phil Benson philip.benson@mq.edu.au Contact via philip.benson@mq.edu.au
Credit points	Credit points 4
Prerequisites	Prerequisites Admission to MAppLing or PGDipAppLing or PGCertAppLing
Corequisites	Corequisites
Co-badged status	Co-badged status
Unit description	Unit description This unit is concerned with the study of language and language learning from a social perspective. It provides a historical perspective on the development of social understandings of language, and on the social/cognitivist divide in linguistics in the mid-twentieth century. Language and language learning are studied as collective, interpersonal processes, and the role of the brain in these social processes is also considered. The nature of 'community' is examined from anthropological and sociological perspectives, and the relations between language, learning, and community are explored.

Important Academic Dates

Information about important academic dates including deadlines for withdrawing from units are available at https://www.mq.edu.au/study/calendar-of-dates

Learning Outcomes

On successful completion of this unit, you will be able to:

Explain the historical development of social theories of language and language learning
Explain the differences between social and cognitive perspectives on language learning
Identify a range of factors important to the development of language in the individual, including relations between biological (the human body and brain) and social (family and group) factors
Explain how individual-group relations are linguistically constructed and mediated
Discuss the implications of the social aspects of language learning for language policy at nstitutional, local, and/or national levels

Assessment Tasks

Name	Weighting	Due
Assignment One	5%	5 Mar; 19 Mar; 7 May; 4 Jun
Assignment Two	15%	March 28, 5pm
Assignment Three	35%	May 9, 5pm
Assignment Four	45%	June 20, 5pm

Assignment One

Due: 5 Mar; 19 Mar; 7 May; 4 Jun
Weighting: 5%

On successful completion you will be able to:

Explain the historical development of social theories of language and language learning
Explain the differences between social and cognitive perspectives on language learning
Identify a range of factors important to the development of language in the individual, including relations between biological (the human body and brain) and social (family and group) factors
Explain how individual-group relations are linguistically constructed and mediated
Discuss the implications of the social aspects of language learning for language policy at nstitutional, local, and/or national levels

Assignment Two

Due: March 28, 5pm
Weighting: 15%

On successful completion you will be able to:

Identify a range of factors important to the development of language in the individual, including relations between biological (the human body and brain) and social (family and group) factors
Explain how individual-group relations are linguistically constructed and mediated

Assignment Three

Due: May 9, 5pm
Weighting: 35%

On successful completion you will be able to:

Explain the historical development of social theories of language and language learning
Identify a range of factors important to the development of language in the individual, including relations between biological (the human body and brain) and social (family and group) factors
Explain how individual-group relations are linguistically constructed and mediated
Discuss the implications of the social aspects of language learning for language policy at nstitutional, local, and/or national levels

Assignment Four

Due: June 20, 5pm
Weighting: 45%

On successful completion you will be able to:

Explain the historical development of social theories of language and language learning
Explain the differences between social and cognitive perspectives on language learning
Identify a range of factors important to the development of language in the individual, including relations between biological (the human body and brain) and social (family and group) factors
Explain how individual-group relations are linguistically constructed and mediated
Discuss the implications of the social aspects of language learning for language policy at nstitutional, local, and/or national levels

Delivery and Resources

The learning and teaching strategies used in this Unit are face-to-face sessions (for on-campus students); interaction with materials on iLearn; online discussions; and self-study of course readings. On-campus sessions are recorded and made available to distance students. The course lecturer will be contactable through email to answer any queries that might arise.

It is expected that students in this unit will read all set readings, participate in group discussions and go beyond the required readings to follow the academic literature in specific areas of interest to them.

The reading material for this unit spans a variety of disciplines, including Applied Linguistics, Linguistics, Sociology, Anthropology, Psychology, and Biology. Some of the material will be in areas unfamiliar to many students, and may be challenging.

Unit Schedule

Week	Topic	Readings
Part I: Community
1	Introduction: Language, context and identity	Holliday, A., Kullman, J., & Hyde, M. (2004). Intercultural communication: An advanced resource book. London and New York: Routledge. Table 1 and Section A Theme 1: Identity - pp. 4-20 Halliday, M. A. K., & Hasan, R. (1985). Language, context, and text: Aspects of language in a social-semiotic perspective. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Chapter 1: Context of Situation - pp. 3-14; Coda: Text, context and learning - pp. 44-49.
2	Discourse communities	Swales, J. (1990). Genre Analysis: English in academic and research settings. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Chapter 2: The concept of discourse community - pp. 21-32. Wenger, E. (1998). Communities of practice: Learning, meaning, and identity. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Chapter 1: Meaning - pp. 51-71.
3	Speech communities	Malinowski, B. (1965). Coral gardens and their magic (Vol. II: The language of magic and gardening). Bloomington: Indiana University Press. Part IV, An ethnographic theory of language and some practical corollaries, Division V & VI, pp. 52-65 Ochs, E., & Schieffelin, B. B. (1984). Language acquisition and socialization: Three developmental stories and their implications. In R. A. Shweder & R. A. LeVine (Eds.), Culture theory: Essays on mind, self, and emotion (pp. 276-320). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
4	Disciplinary communities	Bernstein, B. (2000). Pedagogy, symbolic control and identity: Theory, research, critique (revised ed.). Lanham: Rowman and Littlefield. Chapter 1: Pedagogic Codes and their modalities of practice - pp. 3-24. Maton, K. (2007). Knowledge-knower structures in intellectual and educational fields. In F. Christie & J. R. Martin (Eds.), Language, knowledge and pedagogy: Functional linguistic and sociological perspectives (pp. 87-108). London and New York: Continuum.
Part II: Language
5	Language as a social sign system	Harris, R., & Taylor, T. J. (1997). Landmarks in linguistic thought I (2nd ed.). London and New York: Routledge. Introduction - pp. xiii-xxi. Culler, J. (1976). Saussure. Sussex: The Harvester Press. Chapter 2: Saussure’s theory of language - pp. 18-52. de Saussure, F. (1983). Course in general linguistics (R. Harris, Trans.). London: Duckworth. Part II, Chapter IV: Linguistic value; Part II Chapter V: Syntagmatic relations and associative relations - pp. 110-125.
6	Language functioning in context	Sapir, E. (1963). The unconscious patterning of behavior in society. In D. G. Mandelbaum (Ed.), Selected writings of Edward Sapir (pp. 544-559). Berkley and Los Angeles: University of California Press. Jakobson, R. (1990). The speech event and the functions of language. In L. R. Waugh & M. Monville-Burston (Eds.), On language (pp. 69-79). Cambridge, MA and London: Harvard University Press.
7	Nature or nurture, 20th century style	Chomsky, N. (2006). Language and mind (3rd ed.). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Chapter 4: Form and meaning in natural languages - pp. 88-101. Halliday, M. A. K. (1978). Language as social semiotic: The social interpretation of language and meaning. Baltimore: University Park Press. Chapter 1: Language and social man (Part 1) - pp. 8-35.
8	Language as a Complex Adaptive System	Lee, N., Mikesell, L., Joaquin, A. D. L., Mates, A. W., & Schumann, J. H. (2009). The interactional instinct: The evolution and acquisition of language. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Chapter 2: Evidence for language emergence - pp. 29-54.
9	Language and the brain	Deacon, T. W. (1997). The symbolic species: The co-evolution of language and the brain. New York: Norton. Chapter 3: Symbols aren’t simple (Section: ‘The symbolic threshold’), Chapter 11: And the word became flesh (Sections: ‘The brain that didn’t evolve; Language adaptations) and Chapter 12: Symbolic origins (Sections: ‘A symbolic solution’; ‘Ritual beginnings’) - pp. 79-92; 321-340; 393-410. Edelman, G. M. (1992). Bright air, brilliant fire: On the matter of the mind. New York: Basic Books. Chapter 12: Language and higher-order consciousness - pp. 124-136. (optional reading)
Part III: Learning
10	Learning in context	Vygotsky, L. (1978 [1930]). Mind in society: The development of higher psychological processes. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press. Chapter 1: Tool and symbol in child development - pp. 19-30. Vygotsky, L. S. (1997 [1978/1930]). Interaction between learning and development. In M. Gauvain & M. Cole (Eds.), Readings on the development of children (pp. 29-36). New York: W. H. Freeman and Company.
11	Learning to mean	Halliday, M. A. K. (2004 [1978]). Meaning and the construction of reality in early childhood. In J. J. Webster (Ed.), The language of early childhood: Volume 4 in the collected works of M. A. K. Halliday (Vol. 4, pp. 113-133). London: Continuum. Painter, C. (2009). Language development. In M. A. K. Halliday & J. J. Webster (Eds.), Continuum companion to systemic functional linguistics (pp. 87-103). London: Continuum.
12	Complexity, ecology and language learning	Larsen-Freeman, D., & Cameron, L. (2008). Complex systems and Applied Linguistics. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Chapter 5: Complex systems in first and second language development – pp. 114-160. van Lier, L. (2004). The ecology and semiotics of language learning: A sociocultural perspective. New York: Kluwer Academic Publishers. Chapter 6: Language learning pathways - pp. 133-163.
13	Timescales	Lemke, J. L. (2002). Language development and identity: Multiple timescales in the social ecology of learning. In C. Kramsch (Ed.), Language acquisition and language socialization: Ecological perspectives (pp. 68-87). London: Continuum.

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Macquarie University policies and procedures are accessible from Policy Central. Students should be aware of the following policies in particular with regard to Learning and Teaching:

Academic Honesty Policy http://mq.edu.au/policy/docs/academic_honesty/policy.html

Assessment Policy http://mq.edu.au/policy/docs/assessment/policy.html

Grading Policy http://mq.edu.au/policy/docs/grading/policy.html

Grade Appeal Policy http://mq.edu.au/policy/docs/gradeappeal/policy.html

Grievance Management Policy http://mq.edu.au/policy/docs/grievance_management/policy.html

Disruption to Studies Policy http://www.mq.edu.au/policy/docs/disruption_studies/policy.html The Disruption to Studies Policy is effective from March 3 2014 and replaces the Special Consideration Policy.

In addition, a number of other policies can be found in the Learning and Teaching Category of Policy Central.

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Graduate Capabilities

PG - Discipline Knowledge and Skills

Our postgraduates will be able to demonstrate a significantly enhanced depth and breadth of knowledge, scholarly understanding, and specific subject content knowledge in their chosen fields.