Data collection, analysis and interpretation (1500 words), based on a topic that you choose, aligned to one of the unit’s four modules (see unit schedule).

You are offered wide scope here to find a topic over which you may have a special interest, a particular access to data, or some background experience. For example, those who have lived and worked in different cultural contexts, in different linguistic sub-communities, or in a specific profession, may choose that area of society for the module work. You are required to take up a topic that you can relate to at least one of the 4 main groups of lectures in the course; but you may find that your topic of interest in fact links with many different aspects of the issues raised in the lectures. That is all to the good.

In brief: if you have language or cultural or professional experience which provides a contrast with aspects of Australian culture, then that is an asset in this course, and particularly in developing a module assignment. While there is a fieldwork orientation to this central piece of work, you must also be mindful of general ethical guidelines in research ( eg. the role of permissions in relation to recordings and privacy).

This Assessment Task relates to the following Learning Outcomes:

Understand some of the complexities of studying language as a meaning making system
Recognize and analyse patterns in language
Relate these patterns to what language is doing for its speakers in a given social and cultural context
Understand how language grows and develops in human culture and individuals
Understand some of the ways that language varies in different cultures and contexts
Be familiar with basic tools and techniques for the study of language data
Make judgments about the social and cultural implications of linguistic patterns in natural language data