Varieties of English Texts

After completing this course you will be able to:

• analyse linguistic, stylistic and situational features of texts and text types,
• discuss major differences between spoken and written English registers,
• compare the ways in which different kinds of texts are constructed to communicate the intended message,
• describe reasons why linguistic form varies across text types,
• develop and discuss analyses of example texts with fellow students, present your own ideas for a case study and respond to the projects presented by others,
• conduct a case study of selected linguistic features in one or more types of text.

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.

This course is for students admitted to the master programmes European Languages (master's two years), Lektorprogrammet (master - 5 år), masterspesialisering i engelsk språk and Profesjonsrettet master med integrert praktisk-pedagogisk utdanning (masterspesialisering i engelsk).

Students enrolled in other master`s degree programmes can, on application, be admitted to the course if this is cleared by their own study programme.

Seminar, two hours per week for 13 weeks, 26 hours in total.

Students are expected to attend all teaching. The quality of the teaching depends on active participation in all seminars.

Obligatory activities:

• Students are required to submit two obligatory assignments in order to qualify for the exam. The last of these will be an outline of your term paper, to be briefly presented in class. Information about deadlines will be given at the start of the course. Read more here about rules concerning valid excuses and how to apply for postponements. Information about guidelines for obligatory activities.
• It is obligatory to show up for a minimum of 60% of the teaching. In this course you must attend a minimum of 8 out of 13 seminars. The requirement is absolute. Attendance at 13 out of 13 seminars is strongly encouraged. If you miss a class it is your responsibility to catch up the work you have missed.

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.

Fulfilled course requirements are only valid the semester you attend the course.

The obligatory requirements must be fulfilled in order to qualify for the exam.

The exam form is a term paper of approximately ten standard pages (a standard page consists of 2,300 characters). You should work on the term paper during most of the semester, with supervision from the teacher.

In the assessment both content and language will be considered, as well as the appropriate presentation of quotations, references and linguistic examples.