Course Outline 2

English Language and Western Culture

COURSE OUTLINE

Lecturer: Dr Algirdas Makarevicius

Students: English Major, Year 1.

The venue of the course: Room A309 (new campus).

The course is held on Fridays, total 2 academic hours per week.

The course starts on Week 2, February 28 2005. The last week of classes is week 16.

Examination: Week 17.

Course Description

This course is about Western culture and its relationship with and influence on the development of the English language. It focuses on origins of Western culture, present-day Western etiquette, Western thinking, Western cultural values and traditions.

Week	Themes	Basic Issues
2	Introduction to Language and Culture	History and its relationship with culture, language, education and communication. Introduction of basic terms: culture, civilization, linguistics, language, speech and communication. Western culture versus other cultures.
3	Origins of Western Civilization	An overview: brief history of Western culture. Europe. The Foundational Triad: Ancient Greece, the Roman Empire, and Christianity. Ancient Greece - origins of Western culture: Greek philosophy, based on reason and enquiry; the distinguishing characteristics of Western philosophy, and culture.
4	The Development of Western Civilization	Roman Law - the greatest Roman contribution to Western Culture; republic, constitution, monarchy, democracy, aristocracy. The Augustan Age (Caesar Augustus Gaius Octavius, Cleopatra, and Antony).
5	Ups and Downs in the Development of Western Culture	Christianity. Dark Ages. Middle Ages. The Renaissance. Enlightenment. The French Revolution. The development of English.
6	English Language as a Part of Western Culture and as a Tool of Cross-Cultural Communication	The modern world and the global English. Some basic elements of language and communication: gender, verbal/non-verbal communication, paralanguage, kinesics, postures, proxemics and symbols.
7	World Englishes and the Spread of Western Culture	Modern English and the development of Anglo-Saxon culture in America, Africa, Australia and Oceania.
8	Cultural Anthropology	Introduction to Cultural Anthropology, as the sub-discipline of anthropology which studies contemporary societies and cultures.
9	Mid-Term Exam (April 25-30)	Assessment: 35%
10	May 1-7	Public Holiday
11	Language and Cultural Identity	Who is a native speaker? Ethnocentrism. Cultural stereotypes. Linguistic nationalism. Linguistics and cultural imperialism. Bilingualism and biculturalism. Case studies.
12	Language and Discrimination	Racism and racist language. Language and gender. Sexism and sexist language. Case studies.
13	Western Traditions and Customs	Celebrations, traditions and customs in Great Britain, America, South Africa, Australia, New Zealand and the Islands of the Pacific Ocean.
14	Western Etiquette	Norms and effects of etiquette. Traditions, manners and behavior. Business etiquette. Table manners and etiquette. Etiquette and language. Code of conduct. Case studies.
15	The Culture of Writing and Speaking	Formal and informal communication. Internet communication and international culture of writing.
16	Culture Shock	Coping with culture shock. The basic symptoms of culture shock. Stages most people go through in adjusting to a new culture. Coping strategy for culture shock: survival techniques. Case studies.
17	Final Exam (June 20-25)	Assessment: 65%

BASIC LEARNING MATERIALS:

Handouts.

RECOMMENDED READING:

Claire Kramsch: Language and Culture. Oxford University Press, 1998.

WEBSITES:

http://campus.northpark.edu/history/WebChron/WestCiv/WestCiv.html Western Civilization Chronology

http://mars.acnet.wnec.edu/~grempel/courses/wc1/lectures.html Western Civilization

http://www.omnibusol.com/medieval.html About Western Civilization

http://mars.acnet.wnec.edu/~grempel/courses/wc1/lectures/14romefell.html Why Rome Fell?

http://www.britannia.com/history/resource/time1.html History of British Empire

http://www.athenapub.com/caesar1.htm Julius Caesar in Britain (55 BC)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christianity Christianity

http://home.snu.edu/~hculbert/verbal.htm Verbal and Nonverbal Communication. A reading for Cultural Anthropology, by David Hesselgrave with some editing by Howard Culbertson

http://www.ilovelanguages.com/ About Languages

http://home.snu.edu/~hculbert/shock.htm Culture Stress

www.encarta.msn.com

http://www.encarta.com

http://www.encyclopedia.com
http://www.emulateme.com/ World Encyclopedia - Countries

http://www.countryreports.org (information about countries of the world (6600 pages)

http://www.worldatlas.com

http://www.arts.com/
http://www.refdesk.com/paper.html World Newspapers
http://www.dcs.shef.ac.uk/nlp/meter/Metercorpus/metercorpus.htm British Newspapers

BASIC TERMINOLOGY

Culture

Language

Culture

Linguistics

Paralanguage

Gender

Verbal communication

Non-verbal communication

Kinesics

Postures

Proxemics

Symbols

Communication

Culture

Tradition

Religion

Manner

Behaviour

Civilisation

Western Culture

Western Civilisation

Basic human activities

Science

Technology

Medicine

Art

Cross-Cultural Communication

Language and cultural identity

Who is a native speaker?

Cultural stereotypes

Racism

Racist language

Language and gender

Sexism

Sexist language

Linguistic nationalism

Linguistics

Cultural imperialism

Pragmatics

History of English

World Englishes

Etiquette

Culture shock

An overview: brief history of Western culture. Europe. The Foundational Triad: Ancient Greece, the Roman Empire, and Christianity. Ancient Greece - origins of Western culture: Greek philosophy, based on reason and enquiry; the distinguishing characteristics of Western philosophy, and culture.

Norms and effects of etiquette. Traditions, manners and behavior. Business etiquette. Table manners and etiquette. Etiquette and language. Code of conduct. Case studies.

Coping with culture shock. The basic symptoms of culture shock. Stages most people go through in adjusting to a new culture. Coping strategy for culture shock: survival techniques. Case studies.