LING5621M Pragmatics and Discourse AnaIysis 2023-2024
Formative assignment task
This assignment does not count towards your finaI mark
Task
Write an extended essay pIan of 1350 words on one of the foIIowing questions. You wiII thendeveIop this essay pIan into your finaI essay:
1. Explain the concept of deixis and its relationship to reference. What is deictic centre , and how can it be used to create a particular point of view?
2. Explain the principles of Speech Act Theory. ls it possible or useful to define all speech acts in the way Searle proposes? Choose one or two speech act types (e.g. refusals, promises) as examples and use instances of their use to discuss whether such an approach is effective.
3. Explain the Cooperative PrincipIe and how it works. Why does Grice claim there's a logic to conversation? What are the strengths and weaknesses of his position?
4. Choose an understudied genre to investigate. Collect 4-8 examples of this genre (depending on the length of the texts). Develop and present a move-step analysis of your texts using the principles of Swales (1990). Make sure that you explain your technical terminology. What are the difficulties in developing such an analysis? What are its strengths and weaknesses? PIease make sure you read the section on ethics issues and data in the Assessment Brief for the summative task.
5. Choose a genre to investigate that has been previously analysed using the move-step approach. Collect 4-8 examples of this genre (depending on the length of the texts). Analyse your corpus using one or two move-step models of this genre. Critically evaluate the effectiveness of this/these model(s) through reference to your own experience of applying them. Make sure that you explain your technical terminology. Note that there is scope here to make this a cross-linguistic or cross-cultural study. PIease make sure you read the section on ethics issues and data in the Assessment Brief for the summative task.
6. Creativity is part of genre change. But who determines whether 'bending and/or blending' of genres is acceptable? Using Swales' and/or Bhatia's approach to Genre, discuss a linguistic genre that is currently changing or has changed. With reference to the literature, you should consider why the genre might be changing in this way (i.e. factors influencing change) and whether the genre is being colonised by another.
7. The title of Brown & Levinson's classic publication is: ' PoIiteness: Some universals of language usage' Explain the basic concepts of Brown & Levinson's approach. Evaluate its ability to analyse languages other than English. You should refer to your own experience of using another language and also to discussions in the research literature.
8. lntercultural communication and intercuIturaI pragmatics / discourse anaIysis are relatively new, and growing, fields. What are the challenges involved in cultural comparison? What might linguistic theories in this module be able to contribute to this? (You are expected to consider different ways of conceptualising culture and discuss critically the strengths/weaknesses of linguistic approaches in relation to this.)
9. What concept introduced in the module has affected your view or understanding of language the most? Critically compare it to at least two other concepts in the module. Use linguistic examples to illustrate your points.
10. Design your own question.
11. lf you want to do this, then you must get a topic and question approved by the end of the Easter vacation period (19th April) and a final title approved two weeks before the deadline (8h May). Otherwise, the essay wiII not be accepted.
Further Guidance
The basic task is to give a planned outline for your essay, showing the main points you will make and indicating how you will develop your argument through the essay.
lt is up to you how you use the recommended wordcount. You can use the same level of detail for every segment or you can choose to write ln more detail for some parts. lf you choose to focus more on some aspects of the essay, l recommend that you write more on those sections that you are finding more difficult. This will enable you to get feedback on the parts that you are struggling with.
The stated wordcount is not a requirement: it is better that you submit a shorter essay plan than no essay plan at all.
You must make sure that you read aII the guidance on the summative task before starting your research for your formative task. There is important guidance on the use of Gen AI
tooIs and aIso what wouId be aIIowabIe data for this assignment. You need to understand this information before you make any decisions about your own piece of work.
Learning Outcomes
This assignment will help you start the process of structuring your final essay and developing your argument.
Marking
You will get written feedback on your essay structure and content. The focus of the feedback will be on how to improve the accuracy of the content, the balance of detail across sections of the essay and the structure of your essay.
Feedback
l will provide feedback before the end of Week 9. Essay plan will be marked in the order they are submitted and feedback will be returned at different times.
Assessment requirements
Presentation
lt is up to you how you present your essay plan. But please make sure that it is written in a clear font with a minimum point size of 12.
Make sure your essay is only identified by your Student lD number and include the title of the question that you are answering.
Although this is just an essay plan, you should still provide citations and a proper reference list. This will help you when you write the final version of your essay.
Make sure you use the Harvard referencing style. and check the materials on the Academic
Skills in Linguistics module; see also https://library.leeds.ac.uk/skills-referencing-harvard for further information.
Length
ldeally,your essay plan should be within 10% of the specified word count: between 1215 and 1485 words. This +/- 10% margin is the default for all assignments.
However, because this is a formative assignment, there is no real lower limit 一 it is better that you submit a short essay plan than nothing at all. Any essay plans longer than the maximum will not be fully marked. This is to ensure fairness.
Preparing your essay for submission:
Please:
因 Paste either the standard LCS coursework coversheet OR a Specific Learning
Disabilities coversheet into the front of your document. These are both available via Minerva 一 sidebar link to ‘General School Assessment lnformation,
因 ldentify your essay with your Student lD number onIy
因 Save your work as Word Document (.docx) or PDF unless otherwise instructed.
因 Name your file with yourSlD, module code and assessment type,e.g. 200123456一LlNG1234一Essay1.pdf
因 Also include yourSlD in the ‘Submission title, field in the Minerva Turnitin tool.
Submission
The assignment should be submitted electronically via the Turnitin tool in the LlNG5621M ‘Submit my work, area on Minerva by Friday, 29th March 2024, at 12 noon . No hard copy is required.
Make sure you understand the expectations regarding submission of work. lnformation about this can be found on the LlNG5621M Minerva site under ‘Assessment, and through links from there to the LCS School Organisation.