ENG2163 – World Englishes

Course content

This course aims to provide an overview of English as a global language. The most important differences between American and British English will serve as a starting point, but a great deal of attention will be given to other major national varieties. The focus will be on how they vary in terms of syntax, morphology, vocabulary, and (to a lesser degree) phonology. The status of English as a global language will also be considered, and briefly also the position of English in Norway.

Learning outcome

After completing this course you will:

• know about the differences and similarities between varieties of English around the world;
• be able to extract relevant linguistic data from the Global Web-Based English (GloWbE) Corpus;
• be able to describe and analyse those data from a contrastive perspective.

Admission to the course

Students who are admitted to study programmes at UiO must each semester register which courses and exams they wish to sign up for in Studentweb.

If you are not already enrolled as a student at UiO, please see our information about admission requirements and procedures.

Formal prerequisite knowledge

This course requires ENG1100 - English Grammar or ENG1100L - English Grammar for the teacher education programme and ENG1103 - English Phonetics and Intonation or similar courses.

Recommended previous knowledge

The course assumes a good grasp of grammatical terminology.

Overlapping courses

• 10 credits overlap with ENG4163 – World Englishes.

Teaching

The course is taught as a seminar, meeting two hours per week for 12 weeks, totaling 24 hours.

Obligatory activities:

• The students are required to hand in two written assignments, of which an outline/draft of the term paper is one, within certain dates. Read more about guidelines for compulsory activities and about rules concerning valid excuses and how to apply for postponements.
• It is obligatory to show up for a minimum of 60% of the teaching (7 of 12 seminars). The requirement is absolute.

The allowed absence limit will cover all absences, including illness. You will not be granted valid absences with documentation, even when the absence is due to something beyond your control.

In certain circumstances, i.e. serious or chronic illness, you may apply for special needs accomodations.

All obligatory activities must be approved in the same semester for you to sit the exam. Fulfilled course requirements are only valid the semester you attend the course.

Examination

The course requirements must be fulfilled in order to take the exam.

The final grade is set on the basis of a term paper. You are required to write approximately 10 standard pages (a standard page consists of 2,300 characters). This does not include references and bibliography. In the evaluation, both content and language are taken into account

Language of examination

The examination text is given in English, and you submit your response in English.

Grading scale

Grades are awarded on a scale from A to F, where A is the best grade and F is a fail. Read more about the grading system.

Resit an examination

A term paper or equivalent that is passed may not be resubmitted in revised form.

More about examinations at UiO

• Use of sources and citations
• Special exam arrangements due to individual needs
• Withdrawal from an exam
• Illness at exams / postponed exams
• Explanation of grades and appeals
• Resitting an exam
• Cheating/attempted cheating

You will find further guides and resources at the web page on examinations at UiO.