Methods in Sociolinguistic Research

This subject has the following teaching availabilities in 2012:

3 x contact hours/week, 12 additional hours/week. Total of 15 hours per week.

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For the purposes of considering requests for Reasonable Adjustments under the Disability Standards for Education (Cwth 2005), and Students Experiencing Academic Disadvantage Policy, academic requirements for this subject are articulated in the Subject Description, Subject Objectives, Generic Skills and Assessment Requirements for this entry.

The University is dedicated to provide support to those with special requirements. Further details on the disability support scheme can be found at the Disability Liaison Unit website: http://www.services.unimelb.edu.au/disability/

This course is an Honours level introduction to key concepts and approaches in field-based methodologies employed in sociocultural linguistics, with a particular focus on contemporary scholarship that takes a broad approach to language, culture, and society. It will examine current approaches to data collection and analysis in sociolinguistics as well as the use of statistical tools for sociolinguistic investigation. Students will master course concepts by applying them to their own data sets. The course provides students with theoretical knowledge, analytic skills, and professional socialization that will prepare them to pursue original research in sociolinguistics. This is a hands on course and students will be expected to collect different types of language data and analyse this across different methodologies.

• Students will develop a sound theory-based understanding of methods for collecting and analysing data to be used in addressing sociolinguistic research questions.
• Students will develop skills for analysing and presenting sociolinguistic data.

10,000 words of assessable work

This subject has the following hurdle requirements:

• Regular participation in tutorials is required with a minimum of 75% attendance.
• All pieces of written work must be submitted to pass this subject.

Assessment submitted late without an approved extension will be penalised at 10% per day and in-class tasks missed without approval will not be marked.

A set of readings will be available.

This subject is not available as a breadth subject.

• Applying research skills and critical methods to a field of inquiry
• Communicating oral and written arguments and ideas effectively