Writing, Reading, and Language

Catalog description

This course will explore patterns of language in effective writing and draw on linguistic approaches—such as corpus grammars, systemic functional linguistics, and cognitive linguistics—that seem useful in reading, writing, teaching, and editing. We will look at traditional grammar and weigh its strengths and weaknesses. We will consider what knowledge about language is most helpful in mastering writing conventions, in understanding effective rhetorical choice, in critical reading, and in meeting the demands of technical texts and academic registers. We will look closely at the relationship between language and genre. In writing projects, students will explore their own language worlds and literacy goals, write reflectively about issues that come up in class, and have an opportunity, in a larger research project, to follow their own interests.