The language of the English-speaking media 340-AH1-3MKE

The course is designed to develop the ability to analyze and interpret the changes taking place in the English language under the influence of the media. This course will discuss functions and theories of mass communication and focus on issues related to the evolution of language through our interactions with technology.

In particular we'll concentrate on the English language used in media and attempt to answer the questions of how media, in particular social media, are changing it.

I. From the Printing Press to the iPhone - historical perspective

- print

- radio

- television

- Internet and digital media

II. New Media Technologies

- English as a Lingua Franca of digital media

- language and social media: Twitter, Facebook, TikTok, Instagram, Snapchat

- brevity

- Txt spk

- hate language

- fake news

Language of the Media - BBC https://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/learningenglish/radio/studyguides/pdfs/langmedia.pdf

A Primer on Communication Studies - online e-book (Selected Chapters)
https://2012books.lardbucket.org/books/a-primer-on-communication-studies/

The final grade will be based on attendance, active participation and a Project Work – Media Project prepared by every student and presented to the group on the assigned date.

Media Project - Guidelines

Each student selects a TED, TEDx Talk (usually about 15 minutes long) focused on widely understood media, especially social media, AI, Chat GPT, AI companions, augmented reality, Internet, television, etc. In selecting the talk have in mind that it should be interesting from the content and language point of view.
On the assigned date each student presents the selected TED Talk and conducts prepared activities with the group. The whole presentation should be about 30 minutes long.
The final, full version of the project, including a full, word-by-word script of the talk is to be uploaded to group Google folder.
The project should consist of:
1. Front page with your name, URL to the selected TED Talk, length of the talk
2. Activities to the selected talk. The language level of the activities should be adjusted to the language level of the group
a. Short introduction to the talk. Information about: the author, the topic, reasons for selection, language overview (register)
b. 2-3 comprehension questions (you may select a section of the talk on which you will focus your activities)
c. at least 2 vocabulary activities
d. follow-up/extension activities (eg. writing activity, role play, etc.)
3. Full script of the talk

Grade for the Project will be based on the quality and inventiveness of the activities, accuracy of the script and the quality of the presentation.