- UCAS course code
- QR32
- UCAS institution code
- M20
Bachelor of Arts (BA)
BA English Language and German
Duration: 4 years
Year of entry: 2025
UCAS course code: QR32 / Institution code: M20
- Key features:
Study abroad
Study with a language
- Typical A-level offer: ABB
- Typical contextual A-level offer: BBC
- Refugee/care-experienced offer: BBC
- Typical International Baccalaureate offer: 34 points overall with 6,6,5 at HL
Fees and funding
Fees
Tuition fees for home students commencing their studies in September 2025 will be £9,535 per annum (subject to Parliamentary approval). Tuition fees for international students will be £26,500 per annum. For general information please see the undergraduate finance pages.
Policy on additional costs
All students should normally be able to complete their programme of study without incurring additional study costs over and above the tuition fee for that programme. Any unavoidable additional compulsory costs totalling more than 1% of the annual home undergraduate fee per annum, regardless of whether the programme in question is undergraduate or postgraduate taught, will be made clear to you at the point of application. Further information can be found in the University's Policy on additional costs incurred by students on undergraduate and postgraduate taught programmes (PDF document, 91KB).
Scholarships/sponsorships
- Find out more from student finance
- Eligible UK students can apply for bursaries and scholarships
- Funding for EU and international students is on our country-specific pages
- Many students work part-time or complete a student internship
Course unit details:
Societal Multilingualism
| Unit code | LELA20101 |
|---|---|
| Credit rating | 20 |
| Unit level | Level 2 |
| Teaching period(s) | Semester 1 |
| Available as a free choice unit? | Yes |
Overview
The unit introduces students to methods of studying language diversity in urban communities and its impact on public services, communities and civic identity. Using Manchester as a case study, the focus is on the changes brought about through the complexity of migration patterns, mobility and technology, the concepts of ‘super-diversity’ and ‘trans-nationalism’. We examine the city’s linguistic and cultural mosaic, the role of language in access to public services and responses of public services to language diversity, the role of language in marketing and the commercial sector, what we can learn from the city’s linguistic landscapes, and what tools can be used to support the planning of language provisions. Students will work in groups on their own projects, with support from the course convenor. This course is a prerequisite for LELA30291 Language Contact.
Aims
- To acquire first-hand experience in community-based fieldwork in small research groups, including drafting a fieldwork plan, ethical considerations, data collection methods and data assessment
- To gain familiarity with key concepts from the literature on multilingualism and to apply those in an original essay on new data
- To make an original contribution to data collection and data interpretation on multilingual practices in Manchester, and to give public dissemination to these original research results
- To be able to make direct use of this coursework experience for future career development
Syllabus
Draft syllabus; the order and coverage of topics might change.
Week 1: Multilingualism: Basic concepts
Week 2: Individual & Societal Multilingualism
Week 3: Urban multilingualism: Manchester
Week 4: African Urban Youth Languages
Week 5: Diversity & superdiversity
Week 6: Code-switching
Week 7: Language policy
Week 8: Language endangerment, death and revitalisation
Week 9: Language and social inequalities
Weeks 10 to 11: Open consultations on fieldwork project
Teaching and learning methods
Weekly session comprising a lecture component and an interactive research supervision component
Research guidance and feedback during weekly sessions and consultation hours · Feedback on written assignment
Through Canvas:
- Course materials
- Assignment guidelines
- Web links to selected course reading and other relevant resources.
Knowledge and understanding
- Familiarity with theories and methods of analysis of multilingual societies, with special emphasis on the sociology of language and principles of language policy in contact situations
- Familiarity with a number of case-studies of language management in multilingual societies, and with current discussions of language vitality
- First-hand observation and experience in data collection and analysis on urban multilingualism in Greater Manchester
Intellectual skills
- Write up and disseminate original findings in the form of a research report
- Prioritise data and observations for evaluation and dissemination
Practical skills
- Coordinate tasks in a research team
- Collection and written assessment of fieldwork data
- Conducting research based on secondary and published sources
- Academic writing and referencing
Transferable skills and personal qualities
- Collecting data using questionnaires
- Conducting interviews
- Organisation of practical research
- Group work
- Conducting interviews
- Interacting with diverse community and municipal institutions
Employability skills
- Leadership
- The projects offer opportunities for practical research work in the local community, and a unique opportunity to disseminate the insights that you will acquire to wide external audiences, in particular in local communities, key service providers and local government.
- Project management
- Such skills and experience are high in demand in a variety of sectors, including education, health, planning, and more; and as commerce becomes ever more globalised, there is increased demand and appreciation of awareness of ways to harness cultural knowledge for the benefit of growth and development.
- Other
- The suggested project and coursework topics are all of direct relevance to the area of `diversity management' gaining an awareness of population diversity, developing tools to assess the needs and interests of diverse communities, and developing strategies to respond to those needs and to evaluate existing provisions.
Assessment methods
Assessment Task | Formative or Summative | Weighting |
Fieldwork plan and literature review (groups of 3-5) | Formative and Summative | 30% |
Fieldwork report and conclusions (groups of 3-5) | Summative | 70% |
Feedback methods
Feedback method | Formative or Summative |
Written comments on Turnitin submission | Summative |
Oral comments on research during seminars | Formative |
Recommended reading
Baldauf, Richard B. Jr. 2006. Rearticulating the case for micro language planning in a Language ecology context. Current Issues in Language Planning 7:2-3, 147-170.
Blommaert, J. 2013. Ethnography, superdiversity and linguistic landscapes. Chronicles of complexity. Bristol: Multilingual Matters.
Extra, G. and Yagmur, K. 2011. Urban multilingualism in Europe: Mapping linguistic diversity in multicultural cities. Journal of Pragmatics 43, 1173–1184.
Matras, .Y & Robertson, A. 2015. Multilingualism in a post-industrial city: policy and practice in Manchester. Current Issues in Language Planning 16:3, 296-314.
Pennycook, A. & Otsuji, E. 2015. Metrolingualism. Language in the city. London: Routledge.
Study hours
| Scheduled activity hours | |
|---|---|
| Lectures | 33 |
| Independent study hours | |
|---|---|
| Independent study | 167 |
Teaching staff
| Staff member | Role |
|---|---|
| Serge Sagna | Unit coordinator |