View Specification DocumentMethods in Linguistics ENGLANG5142
- Academic Session: 2026-27
- School: School of Critical Studies
- Credits: 20
- Level: Level 5 (SCQF level 11)
- Typically Offered: Either Semester 1 or Semester 2
- Available to Visiting Students: No
- Collaborative Online International Learning: No
- Curriculum For Life: No
Short Description
This Masters course provides students with the necessary skill set to conduct investigations into linguistic data using experimental or corpus methods. Topics of interest may include the phonetics of speech production or perception, the psycholinguistics of sentence processing, sociolinguistic variation. The course focuses on methods and skills in quantitative linguistic analysis, which provide the basis for independent postgraduate research.
Timetable
10 × 2-hour sessions (seminars)
Requirements of Entry
Mandatory: Registration as PG student
Assessment
The standard assessments for this course are:
■ 2 × technical exercises (1,000 words each, equivalent to 1,500 words each with data handling, 40% each for a total of 80%)
■ 1 × oral presentation (20%) with alternative assessment methods available
If required, for instance where a disability prevents a student from undertaking a specific method of assessment, the following alternatives are available:
■ There are no alternatives to the technical exercises, but flexible deadlines can be offered as reasonable adjustment (Students should follow the usual process for extensions).
■ Recorded presentation or one-to-one with staff as alternative to presentation.
Further reasonable adjustments may be provided where necessary. Students are encouraged to consult with the course convenor.
Course Aims
This course aims to:
■ provide theoretical and methodological grounding in experimental and corpus linguistics from which to formulate original research questions for investigation,
■ and apply key specialist practical skills in analysing speech and language data using appropriate software,
■ apply quantitative research practices to students' own data in order to answer pre-set or student-selected open research questions.
Intended Learning Outcomes of Course
By the end of this course students will be able to:
■ identify and critically assess a range of theories, concepts and methods for experimental and corpus linguistic research,
■ formulate original research questions and generate predictions for hypothesis testing,
■ undertake practical analysis and interpretation of speech and language data, using specialist skills and software for data collection, processing and visualisation,
■ and communicate the results of such analysis.