Postgraduate Language and Linguistics 2015-2016

The course is based on supervision of practical experience. Students and supervisors select texts to be translated and discuss approaches and other practical issues. The remainder of the course is dedicated to self-directed study, in which the students compile a portfolio of work. Feedback on the portfolio is discussed in detail with the supervisor. Additional translations are set beyond the portfolio itself, giving students the opportunity to enhance and polish their skills with a wider range of materials. Students will normally be translating one document per week and will receive oral feedback.

The course introduces and critically evaluates some of the major concepts in translation theory, focusing on their application to translation practice. It analyses translation as a social and cultural phenomenon. It will also introduce to selected key concepts and approaches in interpreting theory and practice. Students will develop the skills necessary to reflect critically on their own translation practice in order to enhance its breadth and sophistication. In the second semester, the course will also provide training in research methodology in preparation for the dissertation.

This course equips students to edit, revise and review translated documents in a professional context. Topics will include study of and practice in stylistic, structural and content editing; quality assurance processes expected in professional-standard translating; a critical understanding of the role of the editor/reviser/proof-reader and reviewer in a professional context and of all stages of the editing and reviewing process.

This course introduces the theoretical frameworks used in analysing communication, enabling students to investigate social interaction, power relations, and the ways in which language is used in a variety of contexts. It provides a grounding in the precise analysis of language use, which will enable students to go on to investigate communication in a range of professional contexts during the MLitt programme.

This is a core course in HS1 in the MSc TESOL programme. This course aims to equip students with an in-depth understanding of Second Language Acquisition (SLA) theories and their potential applications in the foreign language classroom. It also encourages students to critically reflect on SLA theories and their applications in the classroom context. It allows students to develop their skills in linguistic analysis of processes that are involved in the learning of second language phonetics, morphology, syntax, semantics and pragmatics.

This is a core corse in HS1 in the MSc TESOL programme. It will give students a grounding in qualitative, quantitative and mixed research methods in TESOL, which will be relevant for many of the areas on which students may focus in their focussed portfolio in the summer.

The course develops and equips students with language skills and knowledge involved in professional practice. Topics studied will include the following: sight interpreting, consecutive interpreting and simultaneous interpreting from Mandarin to English and English to Mandarin.

In this course a range of theories for exploring cultural norms and practices will be explored. Cultural Dimension Theory, Cross Cultural Pragmatics and Language socialization will be considered core areas of study. Other areas of relevance that will be covered and discussed include:  Social Identity Theory and Language, English as a Lingua France—the effects of Globalisation on language policy and communication, Intercultural Communication in Specific Professional Contexts, Intercultural Communication in Health Care—The case of migrant patients and native speaker Doctors/health care staff, Intercultural Communication in Business Meetings—overcoming cultural barriers and negotiating meaning.

Students will explore a range of approaches to Teaching English as a Second or Other Language, tracing a change of focus from traditional grammar translation to a greater emphasis on meaning, communication and context. Parallel to this is how these approaches have impacted on classroom practice with regard to teaching the language skills, grammar and lexis.

This course is based on supervision of practical experience. Students and supervisors will select texts to be translated and discuss approaches and other practical issues. The remainder of the course is dedicated to self-directed study, in which students compile a portfolio of work. Feedback on the portfolio is discussed in detail with the supervisor. Additional translations are set beyond the portfolio itself, giving students the opportunity to enhance and polish their skills with a wider range of materials. Students will normally be translating one document per week and will receive oral feedback.

The course combines practical, theoretical and analytical work, to enable students to engage with the concepts involved in literary translation, in terms of both theory and practice. Students will study theory and criticism of literary translations and will explore the dynamics between existing translations and their source texts. Students will also be engaged in translating creative writing and commenting on their own practice and choices.

Through a process of observation, delivery and reflection, learners will develop the ability to plan and teach coherent and structured lessons which meet stated aims and objectives. This will consolidate content covered in the TESOL methodology course.  

This course is an elective course in HS2 in the MSc TESOL programme. This course is designed to cater for the needs of the students who are interested in how differences among individuals influence the second language acquisition process. 

This course will identify various audiences, appropriate content and ways of communicating within organisations and institutions, with particular focus on the energy industry, law and law enforcement, emergency services and healthcare.  It will identify various purposes, types and modes of communication within organisations and institutions and consider communication plans as part of organisational and institutional strategic plans.

English may be analysed at various levels, from the study of individual speech sounds, to investigation of the structure of words, sentences and whole texts. This course will cover each of these levels of linguistic analysis to an advanced level and enable students to apply these skills in a variety of contexts from the teaching of English as a second language to the analysis of language variation in different social contexts.

This course will develop student understanding and critical evaluation of EMI through (1) defining issues related to EMI as a concept, as an approach to learning and as a means of up-skilling future global citizens (2) investigating how EMI relates to TESOL principles and practices (3) critically analysing conceptual frameworks for EMI and adapting them to suit individual contexts (4) considering EMI from cultural, linguistic and learning perspectives and (5) supporting students to create their own framework and critically evaluating their own and that of others.

This course equips students with a critical appreciation of the role that technology can play in certain domains of translation, and equips them to use such technologies in a variety of contexts.  Students will use different software/cloud-based technologies to construct termbases, translation memories, deliver translated texts and make use of the various quality-assurance tools and task reports that such technology offers. The course will also explore machine translation technologies, and the import and export of files between different software/cloud packages.

The course introduces and critically discusses the roles and processes involved in professional translation. Topics studied will vary from year to year, but are likely to include at least some of the following: project management, marketing one’s services as a freelance translator; career and entrepreneurial opportunities for language specialists; fee structures and pricing for freelance translators; working for agencies and large organizations; professional ethics; client communication; pitching translation projects to publishers; evaluation of networking, professional organizations and CPD opportunities for translators; translation and the law.

This course requires students to prepare a 12,000 word dissertation. By the end of the course students will have learned how to understand, synthesize and present data in an intelligent and intelligible fashion. Through guidance and supervision they will develop their academic writing skills in order to write and present an extended dissertation on a topic relevant to the course.

This course leads to the production of a portfolio of reflective and informed pieces analysing both the student’s own and others’ teaching practice in line with what has been learned throughout the programme.  Students will gain hands-on teaching practice under the supervision of highly qualified personnel; the experience will then be analysed and related to relevant theory and methodology. Students will gain a sense of what planning and executing a programme of TESOL teaching will involve. This portfolio is a unique feature of the Aberdeen MSc in TESOL and gives a strongly practical flavour to the degree as a whole.

In this course, with guidance and supervision, students will present one of the following: an extended critical empirical study of, or sustained argument on an aspect of translation or interpreting studies; a critical evaluation of an existing published translation of appropriate length and complexity; a suitably extensive and challenging original translation with accompanying critical commentary.