First-year of study M.A. basic subject seminars for winter term 2025–2026

What is this list?

This is a list of basic subject seminars (Polish: konwersatoria przedmiotowe podstawowe) we intend to launch in the winter term (October–February) in our full-time M.A. programme in English philology (Filologia angielska) whose first year of study is the academic year 2025–2026. This list is intended for:

Students at the Faculty of English who are about to enter the first year of their full-time M.A. programme: this is your reference point before your enrolment into the courses;
Candidates for our full-time programmes: this list gives you a snapshot of what courses were on offer for the study cycle that started in 2025.

How to navigate the list?

The list is sorted first by the discipline (literary/cultural studies precede linguistics) and then by the name of the teacher. The format of the entries is as follows: the title of the subject seminar, the name of the teacher, and the description of the course.

Literary/cultural studies

#literary(non-)fictionmatters – sociopolitical aspects of storytelling

prof. UAM dr hab. Ryszard Bartnik

According to André Brink, literature has either a historical or textual character. The latter is perceived to have a more academic nature; that is, its authors are primarily concerned with composing narratives in which various literary conventions, traditions, and ‘general truths’ are (de)constructed. However, within this mode, a specific panorama of the outside world tends to be excluded – unlike its historical counterpart, in which reality plays a pivotal role in the stories. The aim of this seminar, therefore, is to examine a wide range of contemporary narratives which, as Glenn Patterson phrased it, engage in ‘writing out of existence’ and thus focus on thematizing current sociopolitical issues. Among the authors whose works we shall investigate are M. Atwood, J. Barnes, J. M. Coetzee, B. Evaristo, M. Hamid, R. Kapuściński, M. Lewycka, I. McEwan, G. Orwell, G. Patterson.

Queering the Canon: Selected Queer Literature Across the Ages

prof. UAM dr hab. Katarzyna Burzyńska

In this course, we will explore selected novels and dramas from Anglo-American literature that embrace queerness, investigate queer issues, and represent diverse queer identities across different historical periods. Each modern novel chosen for analysis reimagines or adapts a canonical text whose queer dimensions have only recently been fully acknowledged. We begin with Nicole Galland’s Boy, a semi-fictional account of Alexander Cooke’s life as a boy actor playing female roles on the Shakespearean stage, and place it in dialogue with queer- and feminist-oriented scholarship on Elizabethan and Jacobean theatre. We then turn to the understated homoeroticism of Hamlet and Horatio’s friendship as a lens for reading Em X. Liu’s science-fiction retelling of Shakespeare’s tragedy, The Death I Gave Him, where generative AI is delightfully queered. Next, we return to the origins of science fiction with Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, pairing it with Jeanette Winterson’s Frankissstein, a love story with a trans protagonist at its heart. Finally, we examine Virginia Woolf’s Orlando alongside Andrea Lawlor’s Paul Takes the Form of a Mortal Girl to consider the queer power of shapeshifting. Whether you’re a Shakespeare buff, a science-fiction lover, an adaptation enthusiast, or simply curious about the cultural implications of generative AI, you are warmly invited to join this course and reflect on the state of the modern world through the prism of queer literature.

The study of culture through the study of media

prof. UAM dr hab. Janusz Kaźmierczak

During the course students will explore various aspects of the field of media studies and will be able to see how media studies can be a gateway to studying culture. They will approach such questions as: What are media? What is mediation? What is the relation of media to culture? How do media function in the 21st century? What key concepts and theories underlie the study of media and culture? How practically can media be studied as part of culture? Theoretical issues will be accompanied with case studies originating mostly from the UK and the USA, but occasionally reaching also beyond the English-speaking world. Assessment in the course will be based on continuous evaluation and a final test.

Selected bibliography

Carey, James W. [1989] 1992. Communication as culture: Essays on media and society. New York: Routledge.
Durham, Meenakshi Gigi and Douglas M. Kellner (eds.). 2012. Media and cultural studies: Keyworks. (2nd edition.) Malden, MA: Wiley-Blackwell.
McDougall, Julian and Claire Pollard. 2020. Media studies: The basics. (2nd edition.) London: Routledge.

Early medieval literature and the more-than-human world

dr Jacek Olesiejko

This proseminar will offer a discussion of selections from medieval literatures, Old English, Anglo-Norman, and Irish, with particular emphasis on the issue of the environment, landscape, materiality, gender studies, ecofeminism, and monstrosity studies. The discussion will include different medieval literatures: early English texts like Beowulf, the Exeter Book riddles and elegies (The Wanderer, The Seafarer, Wife’s Lament), “monstrous” texts of the Beowulf-Manuscript (The Letter of Alexander to Aristotle, The Wonders of the East), Marie de France’s Lais and her animal fables, medieval Irish literature (lyrical poetry and the Voyage of Saint Brendan). While the texts come from the early medieval England and Ireland, the theoretical bend is contemporary. In this seminar, I will invite a complex reconsideration of these texts by bringing them into conversation with ecofeminism, gender studies, ecocriticism, and new materialism. Recent new materialist philosophies (Jane Bennett’s idea of thing-power in Vibrant Matter, Karen Barad’s intra-action in Meeting the Universe Half-Way) as well as Bruno Latour’s Actor-Network Theory broaden definitions of life and agency extending them to objects or the environment. Ecofeminist thought also demonstrates that the world is full of vibrant more-than-human and transspecies activity. In the class, early medieval literary materials will be read against contemporary new materialist, ecofeminist, and ecocritical texts.

The course credit will be awarded on the basis of a presentation given to the group during classes as well as active participation in classroom discussion.

Form and resistance: Gendered narratives in twenty-first century English-language literature

dr Małgorzata Olsza

This course explores how contemporary English-language literature interrogates and reimagines gender and identity in the twenty-first century, with a particular emphasis on feminist, queer, and intersectional perspectives. While American texts remain central, we expand our inquiry to include works from the UK, Canada, and Africa to consider how writers respond to shifting cultural norms, systemic inequalities, and the politics of representation. Through prose, poetry, and graphic narratives, students will analyze formal innovations and thematic tensions that reflect the complexities of our era. We will engage with authors such as Bernardine Evaristo, Claudia Rankine, Alison Bechdel, Rebecca F. Kuang, Aminder Dhaliwal, and Julie Delporte, to name just a few. We will pair literary texts with critical theory drawn from feminist thought, queer studies, and postcolonial critique to deepen our understanding of how literature functions as a mode of resistance. By the end of the course, students will have developed a nuanced, comparative framework for analyzing how literature shapes and is shaped by the evolving discourse on gender and identity.

Credits will be given on the basis of students’ active participation in class discussions, attendance, and final projects.

Race, home, and (un)belonging in texts by black and multiracial writers: North America and beyond

prof. UAM dr hab. Agnieszka Rzepa

The course is devoted to race, home and (un)belonging as theoretical concepts and lived experience. Literary texts by black and multiracial writers from different English-speaking countries which reflect and fictionalize this experience, and reflect on it, will be read against the background of historical and social realities, and broader theoretical approaches to the three concepts. The texts to be discussed represent a variety of genres—life writing (memoirs, personal essays, etc.), fiction and poetry—and literary periods (with focus on 20^th and 21^st c. texts). The majority of the authors write from North American (Canadian and USA) contexts, but with some of them we will also venture beyond North America to consider other cultural and historical contexts as well as issues related to worldwide black diaspora in general.

Landmarks of the Anglosphere

dr Tomasz Skirecki

The course, “Landmarks of the Anglosphere,” is designed for students who wish to deepen their understanding of the history of English-speaking countries. The course takes a multidisciplinary approach, combining historical analysis with cultural studies. Throughout the course, students will explore the key historical processes, events, people, and places that have shaped the Anglosphere. The course focuses on the rich tapestry of history and geography and examines cultures in contact, the impact of colonization, the development of national identities, the struggle for independence, and the evolution of democracy and civil rights. Classes will highlight similarities and differences in these processes across countries. By studying key events and influential figures, students will understand the forces that have driven political, social, and cultural change. Finally, and perhaps most importantly, the course incorporates numerous references to history in literature, film, and popular culture. Students will be required to research the historical background of their prospective MA projects.

Linguistics

TBA

prof. UAM dr hab. Anna Balas

tba

TBA

prof. dr hab. Katarzyna Dziubalska-Kołaczyk

tba

Bilingualism, second language acquisition and language teaching

prof. UAM dr hab. Anna Ewert

This course is for those interested in how languages are learned and used, and how first and second languages are processed by the human mind. We will also focus briefly on practical implications and issues of social relevance, like the changing contexts of language education. The course will showcase selected research areas, as well as a number of ongoing or completed research projects, in order to identify relevant research questions for prospective MA projects. The following topics will be covered:

Introduction: We will start by defining the broad research field: bilingualism, second language acquisition and selected issues in language teaching. While focusing on defining the basic terms, we will also look at a variety of factors affecting bilingual and second language development.
Incidental acquisition of a second language: The rise of electronic media and the internet has changed the way we relate to and use second and subsequent languages. We will briefly look at the role of the new media in incidental language acquisition.
Lexical processing and cognitive effects: Processing two languages is definitely different from monolingual processing. Here we will look at psycholinguistic research on bilingual lexical processing and the effects of bilingualism on cognition.
Linguistic categorization and linguistic relativity: Different languages categorize the reality differently and, therefore, speakers of different languages develop different concepts, i.e. different mental categories. We will look here into the differences between bilingual and monolingual concepts.
First and second language embodiment: Mounting evidence demonstrates that language is grounded in neural substrates responsible for sensory-motor experiences and internal states. The relevant research question is whether and to what degree second languages, acquired later in life, are embodied.
Bilingual education: A selection of topics related to the education of migrant children will be discussed, including acquisition of literacy (cf. MABEL project [external link]) as well as teachers’ attitudes and beliefs about multilingualism and their impact on classroom practices.

Class assignments will include watching assigned videos (TEAM project [external link]) and reading assigned literature.

Course evaluation will include two options: a final quiz or a literature-based project on a mutually agreed topic.

Multimodal communication

prof. UAM dr hab. Małgorzata Fabiszak

In introductory linguistics courses we learn that it is a discipline of knowledge focusing on the study of language. And yet, many of the concepts and tools developed for the study of language can be extended to the study of other semiotic systems, such as images, sculptures, architecture. In this course we will look at such extension of a number of linguistic concepts originating in systemic – functional linguistics, cognitive linguistics and discourse analysis. The topics covered during the course will include:

Application of the three metafunctions of language: ideational (=informative), interpersonal and textual to multimodal communicative acts.
Image schemata, conceptual metaphor and metonymy as processes underlying meaning construction in different modes.
The role of institutional, socio-cultural and historical context in meaning making across different semiotic systems.

The students will be expected to actively participate in the classroom activities and write short reports (100-150 words) on in-class tasks.

Selected references

Fabiszak, Małgorzata, and Ewa Olszewska. 2018. "Axiological ambivalence of conceptual imagery in visual communication: Commemoration architecture and 3D art." Language, Mind, Culture and Society 2: 104-131.
Kress, Gunther, and Theo Van Leeuwen. 2020. Reading images: The grammar of visual design. Routledge.
Machin, David, and Gill Abousnnouga. 2013. The language of war monuments. A&C Black.

TBA

prof. UAM dr hab. Kamil Kaźmierski

tba

Language for society: Inclusive and empowering communication

prof. UAM dr hab. Agnieszka Kiełkiewicz-Janowiak

Language both reflects and shapes social reality. People can hurt others not only by speaking hatefully but also by using language insensitively. In today's highly diverse societies, the way we use language can contribute to social exclusion and even cause discrimination. Effective communication is grounded in respect for the interlocutor, which raises the question of how language can be used to recognize and appreciate others. One key aspect of fostering inclusivity through language is the respectful and sensitive naming of others. In doing this speakers should listen attentively for cues and exercise empathy. This is both ethical and empowering for all.

The following topics are suggested for discussion:

Language in power: how does language make an impact?
Understanding stereotyping and discrimination through language
Language use to appreciate ethnic diversity. Regional language speakers, immigrants.
Political correctness (mis)understood
Inclusive communication in the diverse workplace
Ageism: against the old or the young?
Gender equity
Gender-neutral diction: non-binary gender marking in English and Polish

Students will be asked to select (or propose) topics for discussion, to identify problems, critically interpret examples and suggest solutions. Individual and team presentations will be taken up in class.

Cognitive Linguistics – Modelling language, thought and culture

prof. UAM dr hab. Karolina Krawczak-Glynn

Language is not just grammar, it is how our minds understand and structure the world we experience. It provides a conceptual framework for the individual in their society and culture. Cognitive linguistics is a leading theory of usage-based research in language science. It sees language as a socio-cognitive phenomenon that emerges through use and lived experience. In this view, concepts are responsible for grammar and language structure. These include concepts such as gender, national identity, politeness and evaluation, just as it does love, hate, justice and time. A grammar of concepts, based entirely on how people behave linguistically, is the aim of Cognitive Linguistics.

In this course, we examine (i) the interplay between language, mind, and culture; (ii) the process of categorization and meaning construction; and (iii) the role of figurative language and thought in communication. We approach these theoretical considerations from an empirical perspective by looking at what practical methods can be used to model socio-conceptual behavior. We will focus upon corpus-driven methodology and the quantitative modelling of language use.

Requirements & Credits

Credits will be given on the basis of active participation in class activities (discussion, group work, in-class exercises) and a short written report of a practical study conducted in class.

Introduction to psycholinguistic and neurolinguistic research

dr Marcin Naranowicz

This introductory course provides a concise overview of key concepts in psycholinguistics and neurolinguistics, offering students a foundational glimpse into how language is processed in the mind and the brain. The course covers such topics as the mental lexicon and semantic memory, allowing students to explore how words are stored, organised, and retrieved. Students will also explore the world of bilingualism, investigating how bilingual speakers navigate and manage two language systems. Another key component of the course is the exploration of priming paradigms, which will introduce students to experimental techniques used to uncover the cognitive processes behind language production and comprehension. These paradigms will provide insight into how our brains respond to linguistic stimuli and how different linguistic systems interact. The course also emphasises the importance of research methods and design, equipping students with basic tools to evaluate psycholinguistic and neurolinguistic studies. Finally, the course includes a short visit to research laboratories at the Faculty of English, AMU, where students will get a brief, practical introduction to research tools like eye-tracking and electroencephalography (EEG). This visit is designed to provide students with a glimpse into the real-world applications of psycholinguistic research, offering them a starting point for further exploration in the fields.

Sociolinguistic Aspects of Historical Orthography

prof. UAM dr hab. Hanna Rutkowska

Over the last decade, historical orthography has enjoyed a steadily growing interest among researchers globally, which in 2023 found its embodiment in the first ever international handbook devoted to this subdiscipline of linguistics, The Cambridge handbook of historical orthography. The development of historical orthography has been, to a large extent, parallel to the evolution of historical sociolinguistics, as the relevant research focussed mainly on various sociolinguistic aspects of writing systems, including, most conspicuously, the standardization of spelling and its correlation with social, cultural and technological changes. The proposed course aims at making participants familiar with a sample of the diversity of interests in historical orthography, motivated by the variety of interrelations between orthography and other linguistic and extralinguistic concepts and phenomena, including such topics as, for example, orthography as social practice; orthography as a tool for expressing ethnic, dialectal and individual identity; orthography and language contact; ‘post-colonial’ orthographies; orthography and authorship; orthography and gender; spelling reform; symbolism in orthography; orthography in digitally mediated communication. The course will present the interplay between theory and practice, providing a critical assessment of the state of the art in historical orthography, and reflecting current research in the field.

Selected bibliography

Condorelli, M. and H. Rutkowska (eds.), 2023. The Cambridge handbook of historical orthography. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Hernández-Campoy, J. M. and J. C. Conde-Silvestre (eds.), 2012. The handbook of historical sociolinguistics. Chichester: Wiley-Blackwell.
Sebba, M. 2007. Spelling and society: The culture and politics of orthography around the world. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Squires, L. (ed.), 2016. English in computer-mediated communication: Variation, representation, and change. Berlin/Boston: De Gruyter Mouton.
Tagg, C. and M. Evans (eds.), 2020. Message and medium: English practices across old and new media. Berlin/Boston: De Gruyter Mouton.

Exotic speech sounds

prof. UAM dr hab. Geoffrey Schwartz

When learning a new language, you often need to learn to pronounce new speech sounds. While is certainly the case for most L2 learners of English, the languages of the world are full of new and exciting consonants and vowels. This course will take you on a metaphorical journey around the globe to examine some of the rich variety of speech sounds found in the world's languages. At the same time, students will gain a deeper understanding of the mechanisms underlying speech production, which will be useful for fine-tuning their L2 English pronunciation.

Textbook for the course: Ladefoged, P & I. Maddieson. 1996. The Sounds of the World's Languages. Oxford: Blackwell

Introduction to Cognitive Translation and Interpreting Studies

prof. UAM dr hab. Bogusława Whyatt

Cognitive Translation and Interpreting Studies (CTIS) are devoted to studying mental processes which are needed to produce translations of texts or to interpret spoken language. Since we are all users of translated materials we are all interested in high quality products. In this introductory course we will look at the actual process of translation which starts with the reading of the source text, interpretation of meaning, transfer of meaning to a different linguistic system, and reformulation in another language. How translators make choices and how they develop the necessary expertise is at the heart of cognitive approaches to translation. By studying the translation process we learn how language/communication works, how translators juggle two languages in their mind, how they need to mediate culture-specific meaning while at the same time monitoring their decisions to produce an adequate rendition of the source text or speech which will be easily understood by target readers. With the development of technology, there are many research methods which can be used to investigate the decision-making process of translators: keylogging, eye-tracking and neuro-cognitive methods. We will look at examples of studies which investigated both the process of translation and the process of reception of translated products including text, speech and multi-modal audiovisual material.

Generative Linguistics

prof. UAM dr hab. Bartosz Wiland

Course aims

Why do all languages come equipped with grammar, meaning, a lexicon, and phonology? Generative linguistics offers a striking answer: languages share a common architecture and a set of basic building blocks. While other approaches emphasize surface diversity, generative linguistics uncovers the hidden principles that make this diversity possible.

This course introduces the core concepts and methods of generative linguistics, the dominant framework for analyzing language over the past six decades. Its central claim is that all natural languages rely on the same underlying operations – in effect, they all share the same grammar code. Languages also employ the same kinds of grammatical features, such as [tense], [singular], or [plural].

We will examine how these features combine into more complex expressions. For example, the English form ‘went’ fuses the lexical item ‘go’ with the past tense in a single word, revealing how language builds complexity from simple ingredients.

Finally, we will tackle the puzzle of variation: in what ways languages differ and in what ways they do not. The balance between diversity and uniformity is one of the deepest insights of generative linguistics — and one that competing approaches have struggled to capture.

Teaching methods

lectures, audio-visual presentations, in-class discussions

Credit requirements

attendance and active participation (70%)
a short end-of-semester test (30%)

To be or not to be multilingual? Language acquisition in multilingualism

prof. UAM dr hab. Magdalena Wrembel

Multilingualism is a norm rather than exception in the contemporary world and there is a growing recognition that it is a default state of human linguistic competence. As present-day Europe becomes increasingly multilingual, with more and more people using languages other than their native one(s) in different contexts and for different purposes, it is important to gain an in-depth understanding of this process from historical, linguistic and cognitive perspectives.

The seminar aims to increase general awareness about multilingualism and to promote knowledge concerning linguistic diversity in Europe. We will discuss issues related to various forms and key features of multilingualism, the phenomena of code-switching, translanguaging and cross-linguistic influence as well as theoretical models of multiple language learning and practical implications for multilingual education. We wish to make state-of-the-art research findings accessible to course participants and to encourage the exploration of psycho- and neurolinguistic aspects of multiple language acquisition as well as advantages and challenges related to being multilingual. The seminar will focus on current approaches to research on multilingualism and will involve a critical evaluation of research papers, focusing on research instruments and methodology applied in third language acquisition studies.

Communication about health, illness and mental well-being

dr Magdalena Zabielska

How we talk about health – both physical and mental – matters. Conversations about illness, recovery and well-being can influence how people feel, whether they seek help, and even how society understands health itself. In this course, we will explore how health and illness are communicated in different contexts, with a special focus on mental health and its unique challenges. You will be introduced to key concepts from discourse and genre analysis, giving you tools to notice and describe the specific ways people talk about health, sickness and mental well-being. You will also learn the terminology needed to discuss these patterns with precision. We will examine authentic examples, from doctor–patient conversations and mental health awareness campaigns to online forums and support groups. We will look at how language can empower, how it can unintentionally stigmatise and how it shapes our understanding of both mental and physical health.

By the end of the course, you will be better equipped to analyse – and engage in – sensitive health-related conversations in an informed and empathetic way.