* PLEASE NOTE: Due to staff changes this module may not run in Academic Year 2017/18*
For further information please contact laladmin@essex.ac.uk



This Y2 module develops practical variationist sociolinguistic skills to complement the theoretical perspective of LG218-5-AU and prepare students for completing a variationist analysis 3rd year Capstone project. In this module, you will learn best practices and gain practical experience in variationist sociolinguistic data extraction, data coding, multivariate statistical data analysis and graphic data presentation. Drawing on contemporary research and existing corpora of natural language, you will pilot coding, analyzing and interpreting findings for several English sociolinguistic variables. This module will also acquaint you with software programs central to variationist sociolinguistics, e.g. Varbrul, as well as software used across multiple linguistics sub-disciplines, e.g. Excel, Word, and PowerPoint.

Learning Outcomes:

On successful completion of this half module, students will be able to complete the following tasks necessary for a variationist sociolinguistic research project (e.g. 3rd year Capstone project):

a) undertake data extraction,
b) data coding,
c) data analysis
d) data presentation tasks
e) ability to read and interpret publications on this topic