MA Intercultural Communication

This course unit explores the topics of multilingualism and language policy, with a focus on both the theoretical and practical implications on language use at the individual and community levels.

Recent scholarship and research recognises that both now and historically, multilingualism of various types has been a key feature of communication. Further, the identity-related and ideological functions of language and language choice in different settings, and related language policies, are gaining increasing recognition. The course unit engages critically with current and foundational research on these topics, with a view to critically consider the functions of national and institutional language policy making and its impact on institutional and social settings.

As a whole, this course unit focuses on developing a basic understanding of core concepts such as multilingualism, language ideologies, language policies and planning, language attitudes, linguae francae, and key theories related to these concepts. 

It will also consider the relationship between multilingualism (as an individual and social phenomenon), language policy, and intercultural identity, as well as exploring ways to research multilingually. At its core, this course unit aims to provide students with an understanding of the interconnectivity of the role of language policy in constructing nations and imagined communities, and how it shapes and impacts multilingualism both individually and socially.

• To provide students with a critical understanding of multilingualism in a historical perspective
• To enable students to understand the impact of language policy in macro and micro settings (e.g. national, institutional, and social settings).  
• To develop students’ understanding of language policy and planning, and how it shapes and impacts multilingualism at both the social and individual level.
• To enable students to engage with current research and theorizing about multilingualism, and responses to multilingualism.
• To deepen students’ understanding of how language use and multilingual practices connect to the development and maintenance of cultures of various kinds.
• To develop students’ understanding of how multilingualism and intercultural communication are interconnected.
• To develop students’ awareness of the relationship between theory and practice.
• To develop students’ familiarity with different approaches to researching multilingually, and the analysis of data concerning communication in multilingual and intercultural institutional and social environments.

By the end of the course unit, students will be able to:

• demonstrate a firm grasp of key historical and contemporary arguments and theories regarding language use and multilingualism;
• illustrate their understanding of the role of language in the functioning of nations, institutions and social communities, including how language practices connect to culture in these contexts;
• critically discuss, with reference to current research, the impact of language policy and multilingualism on the functioning of such institutional and social settings; 
• engage effectively with debates about multilingualism, intercultural communication, language ideologies and language policies in institutional and social settings, drawing on relevant theories;  
• understand a range of approaches to data analysis that are useful for the study of multilingual practices, intercultural communication practices, and/or language policy in institutional and social settings 

By the end of the course unit, students will be able to: 

• develop and express a conceptual understanding of multilingualism, multilingual practices, and language policy;
• critically assess literature on the topic of multilingualism, multilingual practices, and language policy;
• analyse and evaluate the implications of language ideologies and policy around language in multilingual and intercultural spaces;
• effectively engage with the theoretically-informed analysis of data featuring multilingual and intercultural practices in institutional and social settings;
• develop and sustain a coherent argument in appropriately lucid and scholarly terms.

• Evaluate different perspectives on an argument in order to make informed decisions
• Select and synthesise literature to back up an argument
• Prepare and present a poster presentation

• Structure ideas clearly and present a well-structured analysis or argument
• Work productively and collaboratively in a group
• Adhere to guidelines and present a professional written product
• Plan and carry out written assignments to a strict deadline

Assessment task:

1. Asynchronous group poster presentation - 25%

2: Critical essay - 75%

Resit assessment:

Students will be required to resit Assessment 2.

The following list is indicative only. A specific course reading list will be provided to students.

• Blommaert, Jan (2010) The Sociolinguistics of Globalisation, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
• Codó, Eva & Maria Rosa Garrido (2010) ‘Ideologies and Practices of Multilingualism in Bureaucratic and Legal Advice Encounters’, Sociolinguistic Studies 4(2): 297–332.
• Duchêne, Alexandre, Melissa Moyer & Celia Roberts (eds) (2013) Language, Migration and Social Inequalities: A critical sociolinguistic perspective on institutions and work, Bristol: Multilingual Matters.
• Gramling, David (2016) The Invention of Monolingualism, New York, London: Bloomsbury.
• Heller, Monica (2007) ‘Distributed Knowledge, Distributed Power: A sociolinguistics of structuration’, Text and Talk, 27(5–6): 633–653. 
• Martin-Jones, Marilyn, Adrian Blackledge and Angela Creese (2012) Routledge Handbook of Multilingualism, London: Routledge.
• Smith, Dorothy (2001) ‘Texts and the Ontology of Organizations and Institutions’, Studies in Cultures, Organizations and Societies, 7(2), 159–198.
• Wodak, Ruth, Michal Krzyzanowski, and Bernhard Forchtner (2012) ‘The Interplay of Language Ideologies and Contextual Cues in Multilingual Interactions: Language choice and code-switching in European Union institutions’, Language in Society, 41: 157–186.