2026/2027
Английский язык для специальных целей. Теоретическая лингвистика - 1
Статус:
Факультатив
Кто читает:
Школа иностранных языков
Где читается:
Факультет гуманитарных наук
Когда читается:
1, 2 модуль
Охват аудитории:
для своего кампуса
Язык:
английский
Кредиты:
3
Контактные часы:
48
Course Syllabus
Abstract
«English for Specific Purposes. General Linguistics – 1» is an elective course intended for first-year students who are training with the major in linguistics. It is to be administered as one of the set of courses of English in accordance with the Concept of developing Foreign-Language communicative competence of students of the Higher School of Economics. The aims of the course are (1) to develop academic English competence on the basis of getting familiar with academic written and oral production in English, and (2) to advance HSE students’ research skills in the area of their specialization, i.e. linguistics. The course focuses on core tasks relevant to all academic purposes, such as working out the main points of an academic text or lecture; presenting the summary of the information received, taking into consideration positions of all contributors to the area in focus; and extending one’s own scope of English communicative competence and professional vocabulary in the area of linguistics and linguistic studies as a means to develop academic writing and listening skills. The students will be expected to produce critical, analytic or evaluative texts in speech and writing throughout the course. The syllabus covers concepts and key vocabulary necessary for discussing linguistics as well as words and phrases commonly used in academic English. Finally, the course is to highlight the skills and academic norms that are required for participation in linguistic seminars and tutorials in English language, on the one hand, and in international academic events, on the other. As a result, students are expected to present their group and individual projects orally and in writing throughout the course. The main components of the course are: watching video lectures devoted to separate areas of linguistics; listening to radio programmes with discussions of the state of English language; practising areas of English grammar and English vocabulary; reading linguistic academic papers in English followed by presentation of students’ summaries or discussions of the scholarly arguments in the papers; presentations in class of students’ own linguistic projects. The final grade consists of the following elements: 0.1 for attendance, 0.1 for the English Grammar and Vocabulary Test, 0.1 for the home assignment, 0.2 for the written assessment, 0.2 for the oral assessment, and 0.3 for the final assessment. There are no blocking elements. The prerequisites for the course are at least 70 points in the HSE entrance language proficiency test.
Learning Objectives
- 1. The course is aimed at developing BA Theoretical and Computational Linguistics students’ professional intercultural communicative competence (PICC) that is referred to as the “integrative ability of solving professional tasks with the help of foreign language”. Development of the PICC, as an integrative goal of this course, ensures plunging students as active participants into the process of solving a variety of professionally-oriented tasks with the help of the English language that model a broad diverse social and (quasi-) professional context of their future career paths. 2. provides an opportunity to discover various genres, formats, strategies, purposes and means of learning and narrating about the Theoretical and Computational Linguistics, as well as describing and interpreting art works of different styles and periods, creating and presenting linguistic projects in English using Information and Communications technology (ICT); 3. gives a chance to work with different sources and types of information for finding new solutions to the existing problems and designing innovative creative and personally meaningful research, educational and professional projects related to their future professional field; 4. practices analytical and critical thinking skills; 6. enables to reflect on their own and their team work and experience; 7. develops problem solving skills and creativity.
Expected Learning Outcomes
- to extract, organize and complete the information according to the given task using the strategies of predicting, prioritizing, identifying the general and specific (detailed), key and additional info, recognizing relevant/irrelevant, major and supporting facts, opinions, arguments etc., differentiating between narration, description and reasoning;
- to work with ideas and concepts related to the field of linguistics individually and in a team using the brainstorming, formulating, refining, adapting, arguing, debating, supporting, transforming etc. strategies;
Course Contents
- How Language Shapes the Way We Think
- How to read a linguistic article
- Experimental linguistics
- First language acquisition
- Sociolinguistics
Assessment Elements
- Final AssessmentFinal assessment equals to the interim exam which is held in the form of a written test. The exam aims to check whether the student demonstrates the acquisition of the set learning objectives. The exam includes two parts: Listening and Writing. Listening (L): Max. 10 points (1 point for every correct answer). Time: 20 min. Duration of audio file: 5-7 minutes. Writing (W): Max. 10 points. Time: 50 min. Task: Write a summary of the following text (text range: BE, AE, GE, ESP). Recommended word count: 10-30% of the total word count of the text. Grading formula: L* 0.5 + W*0.5 = 10. Period of FA: 10 days prior to the second module’s session.
- Oral Assessment (ОА)OA consists of minimum 3 tasks of different types, including interim ones (for example, a monologue for 1-year students as well as dialogues and presentations) that students do in class.
- Home AssignmentHA includes oral and/or written tasks that are assigned to students for independent completion and submission. Students do the tasks at home and either turn them in to their teachers or submit them via Smart LMS for grading.
- Written Assessment (WA)WA consists of minimum 4 tasks of different types, including interim ones (for example, essays, graph descriptions, reviews, reports). WA can also include annotations, emails, listening and reading tasks, grammar and vocabulary tasks at the end of a section or topic. WA refers to written tasks that students complete in class.
- English Grammar and Vocabulary TestStudents take English Grammar and Vocabulary Test in class.
- Attendance
Interim Assessment
- 2026/2027 2nd module0.1 * Attendance + 0.3 * Final Assessment + 0.1 * Home Assignment + 0.2 * Oral Assessment (ОА) + 0.2 * Written Assessment (WA) + 0.1 * English Grammar and Vocabulary Test
Bibliography
Recommended Core Bibliography
- 9780340950012 - Martin Haspelmath, Andrea Sims - Understanding Morphology - 2010 - Routledge - https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=nlebk&AN=348096 - nlebk - 348096
- Abstracts and the writing of abstracts, Swales, J. M., 2009
- Barón Birchenall, L. (2016). Animal Communication and Human Language: An overview.
- Boroditsky, L. (2019). Language and the brain. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.aaz6490
- Christelle Gillioz, & Sandrine Zufferey. (2020). Introduction to Experimental Linguistics. Wiley-ISTE.
- James McGilvray. (2014). Chomsky : Language, Mind and Politics: Vol. Second edition. Polity.
- Sulaiman, M., & Yuliani, S. (2017). A Contrastive Analysis between British and American Varieties: A Case-Study of English Accents. https://doi.org/10.26638/470.203X
- Английский язык для лингвистов. Продвинутый уровень : учебник, Васильева, Е. А., 2022
Recommended Additional Bibliography
- Alison Edgley. (2015). Noam Chomsky. Palgrave Macmillan.
- Hendricks, R. K., Demjén, Z., Semino, E., & Boroditsky, L. (2019). Emotional Implications of Metaphor:Consequences of Metaphor Framing for Mindset about Cancer. https://doi.org/10.1080/10926488.2018.1549835
- Беликов, В. И. Социолингвистика : учебник для вузов / В. И. Беликов, Л. П. Крысин. — 2-е изд., перераб. и доп. — Москва : Издательство Юрайт, 2025. — 337 с. — (Высшее образование). — ISBN 978-5-534-00876-0. — Текст : электронный // Образовательная платформа Юрайт [сайт]. — URL: https://urait.ru/bcode/560774 (дата обращения: 02.07.2026).
- Черниговская Т.В., Алексеева С.В., Дубасова А.В. и др. - Взгляд кота Шрёдингера. Регистрация движения глаз в психолингвистических исследованиях - 978-5-288-05929-2 - Санкт-Петербургский государственный университет - 2018 - https://znanium.ru/catalog/document?id=353370 - 353370 - ZNANIUM