AJ2BP_FUKS Functional and Communicative Syntax

Faculty of Education
Autumn 2016
Extent and Intensity
0/2/0. 3 credit(s). Type of Completion: k (colloquium).
Teacher(s)
doc. Mgr. Martin Adam, 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
AJ2BP_FUKS/01: Wed 10:15–11:55 učebna 53, M. Adam
AJ2BP_FUKS/02: Wed 8:25–10:05 učebna 53, M. Adam
AJ2BP_FUKS/03: Thu 14:50–16:30 učebna 12, M. Adam
Prerequisites
( AJ2BP_PJ1B Practical Language 1B && AJ2BP_GRAB Grammar B && AJ2BP_CF1B Phonetics Seminar B ) || AJ2BP_SOZK Complex Exam
Syntax A, Syntax B
Course Enrolment Limitations
The course is also offered to the students of the fields other than those 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
  • Week 1: Communicative syntax vs. normative syntax. Varieties of English. Week 2: Giving and requesting information. Representing information. Functions of language. Hypothetical Meaning Week 3: Expressing attitude and opinion. Choices in the semantic representation of sentences. Fronting without Inversion Week 4: Expressing feelings and emotions. Linking and grammatical cohesion I+II. Fronting with subject-verb inversion Week 5: Friendly communication and influencing people. REVISION TEST 1. Fronting with subject-operator inversion. Week 6: Linking signals and constructions. Information processing. Topic and focus I. Extraposition of Clausal Subject Week 7: Reference, substitution and omission. Information processing. Topic and focus II Passive Voice Week 8: Presenting and focusing information. Formal and informal language. Extraposition of Clausal Object Week 9: Order and emphasis 1. Fronting. REVISION TEST 2. Postponement and discontinuities Week 10: Order and emphasis 2. Postponement. Polite and familiar language. Cleft Sentences Proper Week 11: Variation according to the status of participants. Personal and impersonal language. Pseudo-cleft sentences Week 12: Variation according to the medium and place. Written and Spoken language. Existential sentences Week 13: Revision. Dialect variation.
Literature
    required literature
  • Olga Navrátilovás Grammatical Structures in English: Meaning in Context (2005); Svartvik, Jan - Leech, Geoffrey N. A communicative grammar of English. 2nd ed. London: Longman, 1994.
  • LEECH, Geoffrey N. and Jan SVARTVIK. A communicative grammar of English. 1st publ. London: Longman, 1975, 324 p. ISBN 0582552389. info
    recommended literature
  • COOK, Guy. Discourse. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1989, xi, 167. ISBN 0194371409. 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, observations.
Assessment methods
A mid-term test + a credit test (practical analysis of authentic texts and their functional interpretation) + 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.
The course is also listed under the following terms Spring 2005, Autumn 2005, Autumn 2006, Autumn 2007, Autumn 2008, Autumn 2009, Autumn 2010, Autumn 2011, Autumn 2012, Autumn 2013, Autumn 2014, Autumn 2015, Autumn 2017, Autumn 2018, Autumn 2019, autumn 2020.
  • Enrolment Statistics (Autumn 2016, recent)
  • Permalink: https://is.muni.cz/course/ped/autumn2016/AJ2BP_FUKS