Introduction to English Introduction to English LinguisticsLinguistics

By Yan HoupingBy Yan Houping

A. Contents for the courseA. Contents for the course

– Brief introduction to the features of human language, the origin and the process of the language, and the concepts and insights of the language;

– The long and constant exploration, research and insight into the language itself, and the remarkable linguists and linguistic theories;

– Linguistic approaches: observation, description and analyses;

– Different perspectives: science and culture, form and competence, and meaning and application;

– Scientific linguistic research work’s impact on and implication to the language teaching.

B. Objectives for the courseB. Objectives for the course

– To be familiar with different schools of English linguistics and their focuses and trends as well;

– To be familiar with the scientific linguistic approaches and be quite able to analyze linguistic problems occurring in linguistic studies and language teaching.

C. Approaches to the courseC. Approaches to the course

– Lecturing mainly;– Group reading and presentation for

respective topics;– Internet resources surfing for pre-reading

and after-work;– Field survey on linguistic phenomena.

D. Schedule for the course D. Schedule for the course .1..1.

• Semester 1• Week 1 - - - - - - Introduction to the course studies• Week 2 - - - - - - The nature of linguistics and the origin of language• Week 3 - - - - - - The definition of language and the history of

linguistics• Week 4 - - - - - - Phonetics• Week 5 - - - - - - Holiday for National Day• Week 6~11 - - - - Teaching Practice in Middle Schools• Week 12 - - - - - - Phonology• Week 13 - - - - - - Morphology• Week 14 - - - - - - Syntax (1) word-level• Week 15 - - - - - - Syntax (2) sentence-level• Week 16 - - - - - - Semantics (1) Lexical meaning• Week 17 - - - - - - Semantics (2) Analysis of meaning• Week 18 - - - - - - Pragmatics• Week 19 - - - - - - Revision and examination

D. Schedule for the course D. Schedule for the course .2..2.

• Semester 2• Week 1 - - - - - - Language change• Week 2 - - - - - - Language and society (1)• Week 3 - - - - - - Language and society (2)• Week 4 - - - - - - Presentation• Week 5 - - - - - - Language and culture (1)• Week 6 - - - - - - Language and culture (2)• Week 7 - - - - - - Presentation• Week 8 - - - - - - Language acquisition (1) child language• Week 9 - - - - - - Language acquisition (2) language development• Week 10 - - - - - Holiday for May Day• Week 11 - - - - - Presentation• Week 12 - - - - - - Second language acquisition (1) SAL theories• Week 13 - - - - - - Second language acquisition (2) SLA’s implication

s• Week 14 - - - - - Language and brain (1) neurolinguistics• Week 15 - - - - - Language and brain (2) psycholinguistics• Week 16 - - - - - Revision and final examination

E. Requirements for and evaluation of the E. Requirements for and evaluation of the students for the coursestudents for the course

• a. Attendance: Any absence without any good reason in advance will be an equivalent to failure, just for once and for all; absence from lectures (with good reasons) will be OK on condition that a book report on related topic is handed in afterwards;

• b. After-class preparation for related topics and linguistic terms; (10%)

• c. In-class performance and involvement; (10%)• d. Individual presentation; (20%)• e. Papers on specific topic as required; (20%)• e. Final exam’s result. (40%)

F. Reference for the courseF. Reference for the course

– Dai Weidong and He Zhaoxiong: A New Concise Course on Linguistics for Students of English, Shanghai Foreign Language Education Press, 2002

– Li Yanfu: A First Course in English Linguistics, Shandong University Press,1997

– Li Xuezheng: An Introduction to Language, Shandong University Press, 1999

– H. G. Widdowson: Linguistics, Shanghai Foreign Language Education Press, 2000

G. Supplementary readingsG. Supplementary readings

– Library work

– Internet surfing

H. AssignmentsH. Assignments

• What is linguistics?

• Does a language consist merely of sound and meaning? Why or why not?

• Where does language come from?

• What do you think of the study of linguistics so far?