Credit Points 10

Legacy Code 102813

Coordinator David McInnes Opens in new window

Description In English Talk students engage with spoken forms of English communication, ranging from the casual conversations and interactions of everyday life, through the spoken texts of contemporary media to the more formal spoken genres of political speeches, lectures and other forms of public discourse. Students learn how to analyse forms of spoken English using speech act theory, conversation analysis, and functional models of analysis. Students are provided opportunities to consider their own participation in spoken forms of discourse in English by constructing, analysing and redeveloping the kinds of spoken interaction they will participate in in professional and social settings.

School Humanities & Comm Arts

Discipline Linguistics

Student Contribution Band HECS Band 1 10cp

Check your HECS Band contribution amount via the Fees page.

Level Undergraduate Level 3 subject

Equivalent Subjects TEAC 3008 - English Language Linguistics

Learning Outcomes

On successful completion of this subject, students should be able to:

1. Outline the key developments in linguistic approaches to the study of spoken English.
2. Apply a set of analyses to naturally occurring texts, including analysis of Speech Acts, Adjacency Pairs and Exchange Structure.
3. Use a combination of Mood and Speech Function analysis to describe the roles of participants in conversational exchange.
4. Construct, analyse and reconstruct interactive spoken text to facilitate more successful communication.

Subject Content

1. Speech Act Theory.
2. Ethnomethodology and Conversational Analysis: Turn constructional units and adjacency pairs.
3. The Birmingham School: The structure of conversational exchange.
4. Systemic Functional approaches to conversation: Speech Function, Exchange Structure and Negotiation.