B.A. seminars 2022–2023 in the extramural programme in English Philology

What is this list?

This is a list of B.A. seminars we had on offer in our extramural B.A. programme in English Philology whose third year of study was the academic year 2022–2023.

Teaching English as a foreign language – action research

dr Aleksandra Jankowska

Note: This seminar aimed exclusively at students in the teaching-oriented study path

Description

The seminar is an integral part of the teacher training programme and is closely related to the course in didactics of English as well as teaching practice. During the seminar students will get acquainted with the notion of action research and basic methods of data collection and interpretation and will be encouraged to conduct a small scale classroom based research project on a chosen aspect of teaching or testing of grammar, vocabulary, pronunciation or one of the four language skills. Other possible formats of the BA paper include design and/or evaluation of teaching materials.

Credit requirements

  • Attendance
  • Active participation in class discussions based on assigned readings
  • Completion of tasks based on assigned readings (Moodle) – max. 5
  • A presentation based on the BA paper
  • Timely submission of parts of the BA paper following the schedule provided in the syllabus.

Basic sources

  • Borg, Simon. 2013. Teacher research in language teaching: A critical analysis. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
  • Harmer, Jeremy. 2014. The practice of English language teaching. (5th edition.) Harlow: Pearson Education Limited.
  • Nunan, David. 1989. Understanding language classrooms. Hemel Hempstead: Prentice Hall International Language Teaching.
  • Richards, J.C. 2015. Key issues in language teaching. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
  • Richards, Jack C. and Charles Lockhart. 1994. Reflective teaching in second language classrooms. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
  • Scrivener, Jim. 2011. Learning teaching. (3rd edition.) Oxford: Macmillan.
  • Ur, Penny. 2012. A course in language teaching. (2nd edition.) Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
  • Wallace, Michael J. 1998. Action research for language teachers. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
  • Selected articles from relevant journals (including online sources)

Global English(es): the past, the present and the future of the language

dr Justyna Rogos-Hebda

Description

This seminar invites you to take a global look at the (not-so-long, really) history of the linguistic and cultural dominance (or, hegemony) of English in the world. We’ll be time-travelling across different periods to trace the origins the stellar career of English. From its humble origins as a ‘mix-and-match’ of Germanic dialects which overtook the native Celtic languages in the early Middle Ages, through a series of contacts with other cultures and languages, which influenced its lexicon and grammar in the times of Chaucer, Shakespeare and, yes, Jane Austen too! up until present-day consequences of the 19th- and 20th- century imperialistic ambitions of the UK and the US – we’ll be considering it all. By taking a closer look at the social history of a changing language, and questioning the ‘obvious facts’ of its grammar, you will gain a better understanding of ‘what makes English English’ and, equipped with appropriate critical thinking and writing tools, you will be able to write and independent research piece on a topic related to a selected aspect of the history of English. An interest in the ‘workings of language’ and in history will help you appreciate the complexities of the English language and feel more comfortable exploring all the nooks and crannies of this global phenomenon.

Suggested readings

  • David Crystal. 2004. The stories of English.
  • Gerry Knowles. 1997. A cultural history of English.
  • Lynda Mugglestone (ed.). 2006. The Oxford History of English.

Terminology, Lexicography, Translation

dr Magdalena Perdek

Description

This seminar is devoted to terminology, dictionaries and specialized translation between Polish and English. First, we will look at terminology as an interdisciplinary field and will explore theoretical approaches connected therewith. We will also analyze links between terminology, lexicography and translation. Topics to be covered during the seminar include: lexical relations, term formation, neology, terminological variation, equivalence, lexicography, dictionary definitions and entries, features of specialized translation, corpora, term extraction, terminography.

Provisional B.A. project writing schedule:

  1. Selection of the topic – by February 11, 2023
  2. Outline of the paper and provisional bibliography – by February 28, 2023
  3. First chapter – by March 30, 2023
  4. Second chapter – by April 28, 2023
  5. Third chapter – by May 30, 2023
  6. Final version of BA paper – June 10, 2023

All students genuinely interested in lexicology, terminology, dictionaries and translation are welcome to apply. Students will be strongly encouraged to choose the topic for their B.A. projects themselves. B.A. projects may be monolingual or bilingual and must fall within the fields of terminology, lexicography or translation. For their B.A. project students will be expected to:

  1. present a concise overview of research done so far on the selected topic (which entails reading relevant research literature beyond the course obligatory reading list)
  2. select research material (texts, corpora, terminological or lexicographic data)
  3. choose appropriate methodology and formulate research question(s)
  4. conduct an empirical study involving the selected linguistic data
  5. critically analyze the data, draw conclusions and discuss the results

All B.A. papers must follow the WA Stylesheet guidelines.

Attention: If the number of interested students exceeds the allowed number per seminar, the admission will be based on a translation test administered by Moodle.

Selected bibliography

Representations and embodiments of evil, trauma and fear in British and Irish Literature

dr Katarzyna Bronk-Bacon

Description

In her No go the bogeyman Marina Warner states that, historically, humanity has been dealing with fear by naming its sources, as well as embodying and representing it by means of artistic means of expression (2000: 17). All of these methods help not only with managing fear itself but with controlling and policing, and often explaining the reason for annihilating the source of dread for good. Literature and various paraliterary texts of culture participate in these processes as well, but also lead to more in-depth and critical analyses of not only who the objects and subjects of fear are, but also whether they really deserve to be annihilated at all. Literature in particular investigates the diachronic definitions, representations and embodiments of what societies have considered evil, but by naming and shaping the phenomena points our attention back at humanity itself, suggesting that “monsters” are, most of the time, our own, darkest – but human – expression. To paraphrase Nina Auerbach, every age embraces the monster it needs to find comfort in projecting everything that it is afraid or ashamed of onto the mysterious and dangerous Other.

This seminar explores both supernatural and, in particular, human “monsters” and monstrosities in British and Irish literary narratives in order to study the cultures that gave birth to such anxieties. We will explore the meanings of monstrosity across centuries, as well as the history and nature of fear itself. We will further engage in stories and accounts of menacing phenomena which are difficult to put into words or to embody, and so we will delve into narratives on and of personal and cultural trauma that can only be expressed by means of hauntings, visions and spectres.

Students choosing this seminar will be expected to read all assigned texts and, further on, engage in research into both literature and culture. This seminar is not for you if you wish to fully and solely engage in the study of American, Canadian or Australian literature as works representing these regions can only be used in comparative studies with British and Irish literature in this course. Similarly, writing about cinema and the media will only and conditionally be allowed if the narratives pertain to adaptations of literary works.

Sample Bibliography

  • Auerbach, Nina. 1995. Our vampires, ourselves. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
  • Cohen, Jeffrey Jerome, ed. 1996. Monster Theory: Reading Culture. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press.
  • Creed, Barbara. 1986. “Horror and the Monstrous-Feminine: An Imaginary Abjection”, Screen 27, 1: 44–71, https://doi.org/10.1093/screen/27.1.44.
  • Kristeva, Julia. 1982. Powers of Horror: An Essay on Abjection. Translated by Leon Roudiez. New York: Columbia University Press.
  • Shildrick, Margaret. 2002. Embodying the Monster: Encounters with the Vulnerable Self. SAGE Publications Ltd.
  • Warner, Marina. 2000. No go the bogeyman. London: Vintage.