What you will study
When language is used in the media to distort what actually happened, have you ever wondered how exactly media language works in this way?
Perhaps you have noticed that some people – in works of fiction, news stories, or in your own lives – come over as more dynamic and others seem more passive?
More practically, how often have you felt that some of the writing that you have produced – such as academic essays, written reports, or formal presentations – could have been organised more effectively?
This course will help you find answers to all these questions, and explore how a knowledge and understanding of English grammar can be applied in practical and useful ways.
The content will be of interest to a broad audience, including those working in education. It isn’t specifically for non-native speakers of English, whose primary aim is to learn English (as opposed to learn about English), but will enhance all students’ handling of the English language. It will develop:
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an understanding of the major characteristics of English grammar
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skills in grammatical description and interpretation
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skills in applying grammatical understanding in order to evaluate and improve the quality of spoken and written texts.
The course is divided into four sections, organised as four books with accompanying CD-ROM activities and guided readings from a specially compiled edited collection. The course also makes use of a reference grammar book, the Longman Student Grammar of Spoken and Written English. The main content of each of the four sections is described below.
Getting started: describing the grammar of speech and writing.
The main focus in Section 1 is how spoken and written English differs. You are introduced to some basic grammatical structures, such as clauses and phrases, and you will compare how they function in speech and writing. You will become familiar with these concepts through a variety of activities, including CD-ROM interactive exercises. In particular the use of audio materials will enable you to explore how meaning can be realised in sound (e.g. patterns of intonation).
Another key skill which is introduced in Section 1 is the use of electronic databases (corpora). You will be given hands-on practice in learning to explore English grammar via the use of corpora using special computer software.
Getting inside English: interpreting texts.
Section 2 of the course continues the exploration of how English grammar varies, focusing in particular on its use in the media, academic writing and fiction. Through a mix of readings and hands-on activities, a wide range of texts is investigated. In particular this section enables you to systematically interpret the meanings made by these texts. You’ll discover how grammar creates different kinds of social relationships and represents social reality in different ways depending on factors such as who we are communicating with and what our agendas are.
Getting practical: evaluating everyday texts.
Section 3 continues to explore grammatical variation but focuses increasingly on developing a critical orientation to English use. You will be expected not only to describe, and interpret texts, but also to apply your grammatical knowledge and analytical skills as a means of judging and improving the communicative effectiveness of a range of everyday texts.
Getting down to it: undertaking research.
Section 4 introduces you to research studies on English through grammatical analysis and paves the way for the project work that you undertake later. It moves away from the explicit teaching of grammar to its applications in research settings. Research methods relevant to analysing English in various contexts are highlighted. You will be taken through the stages of conducting and writing up a research project with illustrations from authentic student and published research. A range of studies are analysed in depth to demonstrate different methods and applications. You are encouraged to consider whether alternative methodologies would have been suitable and thereby to build up a critical view of research.
Integrated into each of the sections are optional components (in a resource book labelled Applications: Getting to Work), which explore how the grammatical principles and skills that you have acquired throughout the course may be applied in many areas of professional life. Here, we draw on the perspectives of practitioners (such as educators and translators) whose daily judgements are underpinned, whether consciously or unconsciously, by grammar. We hope to continue to stimulate your enthusiasm for grammatical analysis by raising your awareness of some of the ways in which grammar may be applied to the practical world of work.
Entry
This is a Level 3 course. Level 3 courses build on study skills and subject knowledge acquired from studies at Levels 1 and 2. They are intended only for students who have recent experience of higher education in a related subject, preferably with the OU. You are expected to have some knowledge of language study, and the course is particularly appropriate if you have taken our course Worlds of English (U214) (or the discontinued course U211).
If you have not studied English grammar previously, we strongly recommend you carry out the preparatory work specified below. In addition we suggest that, throughout the course, you make use of the optional revision package Foundation Grammar. This package, on the course activities CD-ROM, has practical activities designed to familiarise you with basic grammatical categories.
If you would like to get a feel for this course; its general style, approach and topics covered, you can download the taster pack, which is made up of excerpts taken directly from the study material, from our website.
If you have any doubt about the suitability of the course, please speak to an adviser.
Preparatory work
If you have not previously studied English grammar, we recommend that you buy the workbook accompanying the course set book (details below) as this will serve to familiarise you with some of the most basic concepts of grammar which will be explored throughout the course. In particular we recommend you that you read Chapters 2, 3 and 4 and complete the accompanying exercises in the workbook.