MA Practical Corpus Linguistics for ELT, Lexicography, and Translation

Module: 7LN002

Credits: 20

Period: 1

Type: Core

Locations: Wolverhampton City Campus

A corpus is a large body of text stored on the computer, sampled for a specific purpose or linguistic analysis. The aim of the module is to introduce you to the foundations of Corpus Linguistics. You will acquire knowledge and skills required both for carrying out statistical analyses of corpora, and learn how corpora are used in specific applications, including machine translation, the study of the human translation process, and in finding the characteristics of learner language. R is a computer programming language for statistical calculations.

Module: 7LN009

Credits: 60

Period: 1

Type: Core

Locations: Wolverhampton City Campus

This module will allow you to produce a major piece of independent study, combining original research with thorough analysis of the established literature in the chosen area (i.e. corpus linguistics, lexicography, translation studies, or language teaching). You will work independently, under the guidance of a supervisor. In the dissertation, you will demonstrate comprehensive theoretical and practical knowledge of a specific linguistic topic, as well as effective use of subject-specific and transferable research skills, including corpus linguistic methods and academic writing. The ability to successfully complete the dissertation is a significant component in demonstrating Masters level study.

Module: 7LN006

Credits: 20

Period: 1

Type: Core

Locations: Wolverhampton City Campus

Module: 7EN009

Credits: 20

Period: 1

Type: Core

Locations: Wolverhampton City Campus

This module focuses on the ways in which we use words, idioms, and metaphor, and how we exploit the norms of language for creative purposes. This module will introduce you to key theories of language relating to the study of lexis, with particular emphasis on the ways in which phraseological and syntactic patterns interact to create meanings. You will be introduced to the core concepts and techniques of corpus analysis, learning how to interpret concordance data, and you will explore the ways in which meanings are exploited in texts.

Module: 7LN010

Credits: 20

Period: 1

Type: Optional

Locations: Wolverhampton City Campus

In this module, you will learn how to use corpus data and tools to create electronic dictionaries and lexical resources. You will learn how word senses and patterns of word use are identified and presented in a dictionary. This module will cover key concepts in the study of vocabulary and grammar such as collocations, idioms, phrasal verbs, and word history. You will learn how to use a great historical dictionary such as the OED, and how it differs from a corpus-based dictionary, which is a tool for language learning. By the end of the module, you will be equipped with the knowledge and skills needed to compile and edit dictionary entries in English or any other language.

Module: 7LN001

Credits: 20

Period: 1

Type: Optional

Locations: Wolverhampton City Campus

The module will enable you to acquire basic and intermediate concepts of computer science and programming in Python. The module is intended for linguists and other non-computer-scientists who have no programming experience, but computer scientists interested to learning Python and how it can be used in corpus linguistics can also benefit from it. Its special focus will be on Python and how it can be used to solve problems from corpus linguistics. Topics to be covered include: how to analyse the problem to be solved, fundamental data types, control structures, functions, regular expressions, simple tokenization, arrays, dictionaries, files, and corpora. Laboratory sessions will give participants hands-on experience in writing Python programs individually and in teams. The module will also introduce you to NLTK, a powerful package for language processing.

Module: 7EN010

Credits: 20

Period: 1

Type: Optional

Locations: Wolverhampton City Campus

The aim of this module is to introduce you to the functional approach to describing the grammar of English. The module draws on a systemic theory of meaning and real texts for its analysis of language. The module will give you knowledge and understanding of key concepts in functional grammar and will equip you with the appropriate terminology with which to describe the structures of English. You will study the ways in which English is structured at the levels of sound, the word, the phrase, and the clause, and you will analyse the ways in which choices made at these levels contribute to making diverse meanings in genuine examples of English texts.

Module: 7LN005

Credits: 20

Period: 1

Type: Optional

Locations: Wolverhampton City Campus

The aim of this module is to introduce you to the theoretical and practical aspects of translation technology (TT). You will acquire the knowledge and skills of electronic tools& nbsp;used by professional translators, such as translation memory systems (TMS), on-line resources and corpus management. Formative assessments including plans for essays and portfolios will allow you to receive feedback on your work at different points during the semester before the final summative assessments are due.

Module: 7LN011

Credits: 20

Period: 1

Type: Optional

Locations: Wolverhampton City Campus

In this module, you will learn how to use corpus data and tools in language teaching. The module will enable you to develop knowledge and skills necessary to: - understand, evaluate and use corpus-based teaching techniques and resources; - use corpus data and tools in the preparation of teaching material and in the classroom; and - carry out small-scale corpus linguistic research projects.

MA Practical Corpus Linguistics for ELT, Lexicography and Translation is an innovative, unique, and up-to-date course based on high-quality interdisciplinary research, with a selection of modules that is unparalleled both on a national and international level. Our research-led teaching is continually evolving to address the latest challenges and breakthroughs in the field. As a result, the knowledge and practical skills developed on the course will allow you to meet the most recent and relevant demands of the industry.

You will become proficient in the use of sophisticated corpus tools such as the Sketch Engine ( as well as state-of-the-art specialist software for professional translators and lexicographers. You will also be given an option to learn basic computer programming in Python, which is one of the most robust, popular, and widely used programming languages in the field. By the end of the course, you will have developed a unique set of transferrable skills that will make you highly competitive in the marketplace and allow you to find employment as a language professional in industry or in academia.

Figures speak louder than words: the University of Wolverhampton boasts an outstanding graduate employability rate – 96 % of students are in work or further training six months after graduation!

Facilities
The course will be run on the City Campus, which is situated in the heart of the city centre, only a seven-minute walk from both the train station and St Georges Metro terminus, and a five-minute walk from the main bus station.
The newly renovated City Campus features:
- The Harrison Learning Centre, which has four floors of electronic, online, hardcopy and audio-visual materials;
- The Technology Centre, which has 500 PCs available for you to use for work or play;
- A 'Social Learning Space', which incorporates a coffee and sandwich bar with islands of PCs and comfortable seating;
- On-campus food court, shops, and outlets such as Starbucks;
- Sports facilities including a gym and a sports hall;
- Three Halls of Residence for 1,000 students, located only a short walk from the campus and next to a 24-hour supermarket;
- City centre location, close to all amenities (post office, restaurants, shopping centres, art gallery, theatre etc.);
- Excellent train connections to all major cities (Birmingham: 20 minutes, London: 1 hour 50 minutes).

The member of academic staff who leads this course is Sara Moze

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By the end of this course, you will be able to:

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