Description
This subject is for students who want to understand the ‘science’ of language. This subject will equip students with tools to dissect language and so many different aspects of language that most find utterly fascinating. What are the linguistic cues that hide behind a casual conversation? Learning English Language, or linguistics, really does open up the world in very new and exciting ways. Students will learn how language functions to provide a useful basis for further study or employment in numerous fields such as arts, sciences, law, politics, trades, speech therapy, psychology and philosophy.
Unit Topics
Unit 1 – Language and Communication
Unit 2 – Language Change
Metalanguage Unit 1 and 2
Unit 3 – Language variation and social purposes
Unit 4- Language variation and identity
Metalanguage Unit 3 and 4
Skill Development
A curiosity about language and the way it works. Be introduced to linguistic terms and to memorise these terms. Investigate the historical development and background of grammar so students can dissect text like a linguist. You will need to be able to read a range of media texts independently to search for sources for your language journal.
Possible Assessment Tasks
- Short Answer Response
- Case Study research project
- Analytical Commentaries; where you subject a piece of text to analysis using the metalanguage of the subsystems
- Investigative Reports
- English Language Essays
- Creating transcripts of written and spoken texts
- Language Journal exercises
- Grammatical exercises and application of grammatical knowledge
Activities/Camps/Excursions
As this is a new subject we do not have any excursions planned at present. However, we will discuss texts both print and electronic, create a variety of responses via writing and multimedia, group work and take notes.
Career Options
Journalist, lawyer, public relations, editor, medicine, politics, trades, psychology, speech therapy and sciences.
Year 11 & 12