About the course

This course introduces you to the discipline of Linguistics, the scientific study of language, by means of an exploration of the sounds (phonetics) and sound patterns (phonology), word structure (morphology) and vocabulary (lexis) of the English language.

Aims of the course

The main aim of the course is to allow you to develop the tools and skills necessary for linguistic analysis, and to apply these to the English language. Developing proficiency in the English language is not a goal of this course, but as it is taught through the medium of the English language there is ample opportunity for interaction in this language.

Course structure

This course involves weekly exercise sessions and lectures, and Q&A sessions every two weeks, all taught by me, Dr Bastien De Clercq. The exercise sessions will take place on Wednesdays from 11:00 to 12:00 (different rooms - check course overview document), from 14:00 to 15:00 (K.2.55) and from 15:00 to 16:00 (K.2.55).

The first lecture will take place on campus in room Q.D (25/09) from 10:00 to 12:00 (all groups). The remaining chapters of the course will be posted on Canvas every week as prerecorded videos. Every two weeks, an on-campus Q&A session will be organised to further discuss the lectures' topics and answer any questions you may have. These will take place on Wednesdays from 10:00 to 11:00 (different rooms - check course overview document). As a rule, on-campus activities will not be live-streamed or recorded.

To help you keep track of all the course activities, a lesson-by-lesson overview of class and homework activities can be downloaded in the form of the Course overview document. In this document, you will also find information about how you will be assessed for this course.

IMPORTANT: Please check the latest version of the course overview document and the announcements for any changes to the course structure.

Canvas

Additional practical information will be provided in class and via Canvas. The most important functions of Canvas for this course are Announcements, Modules and Conferences.

Announcements: Important notifications (e.g. concerning a change in the class schedule) and reminders (e.g. of an upcoming deadline) will be posted here. Be sure to check in Settings that you have notifications enabled for this course so that you receive a message in your VUB mail inbox when an announcement is made. And be sure to check your VUB email regularly!
Modules: The PowerPoint slides used in the lectures and the exercise sessions will be posted here, together with any other relevant class or homework materials.
Quizzes: This is where you will find our regular Q&A quizzes as well as the three mid-term quizzes.

Most importantly, if after the first classes or at any point throughout the semester you find yourself with unanswered questions, queries or difficulties – practical or content-related – please ask! The sooner you contact me, the sooner I can help!

I look forward to working with you throughout the semester!

Dr Bastien De Clercq (bastien.de.clercq@vub.be)