The Language and Contents of Media, 15 credits

Main field of study

Course level

Advancement level

Entry requirements

General entry requirements for undergraduate studies

Intended learning outcomes

On completion of the course, the student should be able to
- account for and use the most common analytical methods to study the language and contents of media
- critically review the knowledge field of media studies,
- account for how own values and positions influence the assessment of media issues.

Course content

The course is focused on understanding communicative processes in the mass media, and the differences and similarities between different genres of spoken and written communication. More specifically, the course contains an overview of some of the most common analytical methods of examining and interpreting the language and contents of the media. The module covers quantitative contents analysis, text and discourse analysis, image analysis, conversation analysis, narrative analysis and rhetorical analysis. The emphasis is on application of the methods. The students' own written production and their critical reviews of their own and others' texts are fundamental. The course is identical to module 2 in Media and Communication Studies 1-2, and the teaching is coordinated with this course.

Teaching and working methods

The teaching takes the form of lectures, seminars and group discussions. The students prepare individually and in groups for the lectures and seminars through studies of literature, group discussions and work with specific seminar assignments.

Examination

The course is examined continuously through compulsory seminars and written take-home examinations.

If the LiU coordinator for students with disabilities has granted a student the right to an adapted examination for a written examination in an examination hall, the student has the right to it. If the coordinator has instead recommended for the student an adapted examination or alternative form of examination, the examiner may grant this if the examiner assesses that it is possible, based on consideration of the course objectives.

Students failing an exam covering either the entire course or part of the course twice are entitled to have a new examiner appointed for the reexamination.

Students who have passed an examination may not retake it in order to improve their grades.

Grades

Other information

Planning and implementation of a course must take its starting point in the wording of the syllabus. The course evaluation included in each course must therefore take up the question how well the course agrees with the syllabus. The course is carried out in such a way that both men´s and women´s experience and knowledge is made visible and developed.

Planning and implementation of a course must take its starting point in the wording of the syllabus. The course evaluation included in each course must therefore take up the question how well the course agrees with the syllabus.

The course is carried out in such a way that both men´s and women´s experience and knowledge is made visible and developed.

Department