MOK1000 Linguistics and Communication Course description

The purpose of Linguistics and Communication is to improve the students' language skills and raise their critical language awareness.

No prerequisite knowledge required.

Knowledge

The student

• can write correct Norwegian and knows norms for good writing
• knows a number of relevant genres
• is aware of and recognizes the relation between language, thought and reality
• recognizes language's role i society

Skills

The student

• has developed an ability to express herself in a clear and inspiring language
• can analyze written and oral texts on the basis of rhetoric, social semiotics, discourse analysis and genre theory
• can present and discuss academic problems

The students alternate between attending lectures and seminars, solving individual and group based tasks, evaluating these tasks in groups and in plenary, and reading curriculum texts alone or in student organized colloquiums.   

Practical and theoretical learning forms are intertwined. The theory is supposed to enhance the students' understanding of their practical work, and vice versa. Solving tasks and receiving feedback from supervisors and response groups is the core of the learning process.

The students are required to solve four mandatory tasks - three written and one oral. The written tasks should add up to about 8-12 pages altogether. Some tasks are practical exercises linked to theory presentations. Others are production tasks, in which the students produce texts in specific genres. The students will also be analyzing and discussing given texts based on theory from the curriculum. Some of the tasks are included as part of the exam (see evaluation). 

The tasks must be written in Norwegian, as the subject is about Norwegian language skills.

The tasks have to be approved by the teacher. All of the tasks need to be approved before the student can take the final exam.

Most tasks are evaluated in groups. Each student receive feedback from a supervisor as well as fellow students. The students act as opponents for each other. It is mandatory to take part in these feedback groups in order to take the final exam.   

The grade is based on a portfolio including

1. An individual two-day home exam, which is a paper discussing or analyzing a given question related to the curriculum. The paper should normally be about five to ten pages, depending on the task given. The length is defined more specifically in the exam text.
2. One or more of the mandatory tasks. The exam text defines which task(s) should be included. The students are free to improve their approved tasks until they deliver their exams.

The exam paper shall be written in Norwegian, as the subject is about Norwegian writing skills.

Candidates who fail or are lawfully absent from the ordinary exam can sign up for a new and postponed exam.

Grades from A to E for passed, and F for failed.

The exam is evaluated by an internal and an external examiner, or by two internal examiners. The paper and the attached task(s) receive one joint grade.