AJ2BK_FUKS Functional and Communicative Syntax

Faculty of Education
Autumn 2016
Extent and Intensity
0/0/1. 3 credit(s). Type of Completion: k (colloquium).
Teacher(s)
doc. Mgr. Olga Dontcheva-Navrátilová, Ph.D. (lecturer)
Guaranteed by
doc. Mgr. Olga Dontcheva-Navrátilová, Ph.D.
Department of English Language and Literature – Faculty of Education
Contact Person: Jana Popelková
Supplier department: Department of English Language and Literature – Faculty of Education
Timetable of Seminar Groups
AJ2BK_FUKS/OS01: Fri 30. 9. 15:45–17:25 učebna 11, Fri 14. 10. 15:45–17:25 učebna 11, Fri 4. 11. 15:45–17:25 učebna 11, Fri 18. 11. 15:45–17:25 učebna 11, Fri 2. 12. 15:45–17:25 učebna 11, Fri 16. 12. 15:45–17:25 učebna 11, O. Dontcheva-Navrátilová
Prerequisites
( AJ2BK_PJ1B Practical Language 1B && AJ2BK_GRAB Grammar B && AJ2BK_CF1B Phonetics Seminar B ) || AJ2BK_SOZK Complex Exam
Syntax A, Syntax B
Course Enrolment Limitations
The course is only offered to the students of the study fields the course is directly associated with.
fields of study / plans the course is directly associated with
Course objectives
The course presents the English grammar as a tool which enables users of English to achieve their purposes in communication and tries to help language learners to realise that grammar is used in a different way in spoken and written interaction and is further modified by the context of language use.
The student applies the knowledge gained in Syntax A and Syntax B courses and is able to put it into the communicative and functional context. The English grammar is thus viewed as a tool that enables him to achieve his particular communicative intentions and to interpret authentic English texts.
Having completed the course, the students will be able to utilize and practise the communicative appproach in the study and/or teaching of English syntax. They will understand English grammatical structures at sentence level with regards to their function as statements, questions, directives and exclamatives. Also, they will comprehend the meaning in connected discourse (utterance level), such as linking signals and constructions, word order and emphasis, functional sentence perspective etc.
Throughout the semester students are encouraged to link theory in the classroom to practice at schools via practical tasks.
Syllabus
  • 1. Communicative syntax vs. normative syntax. Language in context.
  • 2. Analysing language structures - giving information and expressing opinion. Functions of language.
  • 3. Analysing language structures - expressing a point of view. Clauses with hypothetical meaning.
  • 4. Analysing language structures - expressing mood and emotion. Discourse functions of sentences.
  • 5. Analysing language structures - modality. Speech acts. The co-operative primciple and the principle of politeness.
  • 6. Analysing language structures - linking signals and constructions.
  • 7. Analysing language structures - referring expressions. Grammatical cohesion.
  • 8. Presenting and focussing information. Spoken vs. written language. 9. Order and emphasis. Fronting.
  • 10. Order and emphasis. Postponement.
  • 11. Register variation - formal vs. informal, polite vs, familiar.
  • 12. Dialect variation.
  • 13. Discussion of approaches and activities for teaching functional syntax observed during teaching practice.
Literature
    required literature
  • DONTCHEVA-NAVRATILOVA, Olga. Grammatical structures in English : meaning in context. 3. vydání. Brno: Masarykova univerzita, 2012, 169 stran. ISBN 9788021057623. info
  • SVARTVIK, Jan and Geoffrey N. LEECH. A communicative grammar of English. 2nd ed. London: Longman, 1994, xiv, 423. ISBN 058208573X. info
  • QUIRK, Randolph and Sidney GREENBAUM. A Student s Grammar of the English Language. 1. vyd. London: Longman, 1990, 490 s. ISBN 0-582-07569-6. info
    recommended literature
  • VACHEK, Josef. A functional syntax of modern English. Vydání 1. Brno: Masarykova univerzita, 1994, 50 stran. ISBN 8021008636. info
  • TÁRNYIKOVÁ, Jarmila. Chapters from modern English syntax : (a communicative approach). Olomouc: Univerzita Palackého, 1993, 105 s. ISBN 8070672684. info
Teaching methods
A two-period seminar (90 mins). Home assignments + home reading. More than two absences are not tolerated. Teaching methods: classroom discussions, lectures, students' presentations, home assignments, home projects. Tasks for teaching practice.
Assessment methods
A mid-term test + a credit test + oral exam. More than two absences are not tolerated. Tests passmark: 70%.
Language of instruction
English
Further comments (probably available only in Czech)
Study Materials
The course is taught annually.
Information on the extent and intensity of the course: 12 hodin.
The course is also listed under the following terms Autumn 2011, Autumn 2013, Autumn 2014, Autumn 2015, Autumn 2017, Autumn 2018.
  • Enrolment Statistics (Autumn 2016, recent)
  • Permalink: https://is.muni.cz/course/ped/autumn2016/AJ2BK_FUKS