ENGLISH LINGUISTICS AND ESP

Academic Year 2023/2024 - Teacher: MARCO VENUTI

Expected Learning Outcomes

According to the Dublin descriptors, the Course intends to pursue the following aims:

1) Knowledge and understanding:

Understanding complex (written and spoken) texts in authentic communicative contexts (news and social media)

Understanding the communicative function of texts in specific, domains.

Knowing the relevant analytical frameworks for the three modules.

2) Applying knowledge and understanding:

Being able to identify, analyse and interpret linguistic and semiotic resources which are relevant to specific contexts and domains (news and social media).

and to use the appropriate tools and statistical measures which better fit with the necessary quantitative analyses.

3)Making judgements:

Being able to identify, analyse and interpret textual data within a complex context, and to use the most appropriate and effective research approach, motivating necessary choices.

4) Communication skills:

Being able to explain and support the various stages of the analysis and its findings in a structured and clear way, making use of an appropriate register and style.

5) Learning skills:

Starting from the knowledge, understanding, and competence developed in the module, being able to continue the graduate programme in a largely self-directed and autonomous way.

Course Structure

Lectures, workshops, and language tuition in English.

Attendance of Lessons

Attendance is not compulsory.

Detailed Course Content

The module is divided into three sub-modules:

Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) (Prof. Halliday): This sub-module offers an introduction to CDA for a critical reading and interpretation of various authentic texts

The Language of Social Media (Prof. Venuti): This sub-module focuses on the language of social media from a variety of perspectives.

The Language of News Media (Prof. Halliday): This sub-module focuses on news discourse and specifically on journalism practices.

Textbook Information

The Language of Social Media:

Page, Ruth, Barton, David, Unger, Johann W., Zappavigna, Michele 2014 Researching Language and Social Media. A Student Guide, London Routledge, pp. 201.

Krendel, A., McGlashan, M., & Koller, V. (forthcoming 2022). The representation of gendered social actors across five manosphere communities on Reddit. Corpora, 17(2), pp.25.

Leppänen, Sirpa and Tapionkaski, Sanna 2021 “Doing gender and sexuality intersectionally in multimodal social media practices” in Jo Angouri and Juduth Baxter (eds), The Routledge Handbook of Language, Gender, and Sexuality, London: Routledge, pp. 543-556.

Varis, Pila 2021 “Digital ethnography in the study of language, gender, and sexuality”, in Jo Angouri and Juduth Baxter (eds), The Routledge Handbook of Language, Gender, and Sexuality, London: Routledge, pp. 164-177.


Please remember that in compliance with art 171 L22.04.1941, n. 633 and its amendments, it is illegal to copy entire books or journals, only 15% of their content can be copied.

For further information on sanctions and regulations concerning photocopying please refer to the regulations on copyright (Linee Guida sulla Gestione dei Diritti d’Autore) provided by AIDRO - Associazione Italiana per i Diritti di Riproduzione delle opere dell’ingegno (the Italian Association on Copyright).

All the books listed in the programs can be consulted in the Library.

Course Planning

 SubjectsText References
1What is social media?Page, Barton, Unger, Zappavigna 2014 Researching Language and Social Media, chapter 1
2Linguistics and social mediaPage, Barton, Unger, Zappavigna 2014 Researching Language and Social Media, chapter 2
3Research and social mediaPage, Barton, Unger, Zappavigna 2014 Researching Language and Social Media, chapter 3
4Internet research ethics and qualitative Discourse AnalysisPage, Barton, Unger, Zappavigna 2014 Researching Language and Social Media, chapter 4
5Qualitative approaches to Discourse analysisPage, Barton, Unger, Zappavigna 2014 Researching Language and Social Media, chapter 5
6Ethnographic approaches to Discourse analysisPage, Barton, Unger, Zappavigna 2014 Researching Language and Social Media, chapter 6
7Digital ethnography in the study of language, gender, and sexualityVaris 2021
8Language practices in social mediaPage, Barton, Unger, Zappavigna 2014 Researching Language and Social Media, chapter 7
9Doing gender and sexuality intersectionally in multimodal social media practicesLeppänen and Tapionkaski 2021
10Social media and quantitatve analysisPage, Barton, Unger, Zappavigna 2014 Researching Language and Social Media, chapter 9
11Collecting Social media dataPage, Barton, Unger, Zappavigna 2014 Researching Language and Social Media, chapter 8
12The representation of gendered social actors on ReddditKrendel, McGlashan, & Koller 2022
VERSIONE IN ITALIANO