Digital Media, Language and Communication

Module overview

This module will deepen your theoretical and practical insights into communication through digital media, as well as how these media both influence language and language use. You will gain an understanding of how technological developments since the late-twentieth century have influenced digital media practices and how, in turn, those practices contribute to shaping the modern world. Through this knowledge, you will be able to engage critically with a variety of digital media and discuss the ethical implications of working with digital media.

Linked modules

This is the core final year module for the new BA Language Culture and communication

Aims and Objectives

Learning Outcomes

Knowledge and Understanding

Having successfully completed this module, you will be able to demonstrate knowledge and understanding of:

the role of language, culture and the media within the broader field of applied linguistics and communication, including its role in constructing individual and group identities.
how language produces and reflects cultural change and difference; the implications of language choices in media contexts, for example in constructing particular registers and styles.
key concepts related to theories of digital media, communication and language and their application to the study of contemporary societies.
the ethical issues and challenges of working with digital media data.

Transferable and Generic Skills

Having successfully completed this module you will be able to:

plan and organise your learning through self-management; exercise independence and initiative.
work effectively to solve problems and/or carry out a task.
take notes and keep records; abstract and synthesise information and organise the results appropriately.
set and monitor goals, reflect on your own learning, and learn from feedback.
produce writing in appropriate genres and to required conventions, including referencing and identification.
communicate effectively and confidently through a long and complex piece of writing.
analyse data, and to express results of that analysis cogently and concisely.

Subject Specific Intellectual and Research Skills

Having successfully completed this module you will be able to:

apply knowledge, understanding and analysis critically to different topics; formulate and clarify key critical questions in the area of cultural studies, media studies and linguistics.
define, present and exemplify concepts in media studies and linguistics.
formulate and defend personal judgements clearly and persuasively on the basis of evidence.
understand, apply and evaluate different methodologies used in the study of language, culture and communication.
identify concepts and data relevant to the task at hand.
plan a small-scale research investigation.
engage with subject matter and opinion in both breadth and depth.

Learning and Teaching

Teaching and learning methods

There will be a lecture and a seminar each week. The lectures will introduce the key elements of each research method and the seminars will cement this knowledge through group discussions, readings and practical tasks. Learning activities include: - Completing specified preparatory reading tasks; - Individual and collaborative critique of literature in the field of digital media, language and communication; - Written and oral presentation of findings; - Practical exercises, group discussions and class debates on selected topics; - Written design of research projects (assessed)

Study time
Type	Hours
Seminar	24
Independent Study	126
Total study time	150

Resources & Reading list

Journal Articles

Baron, Naomi S (1998). Letters by Phone or Speech by Other Means: The Linguistics of Email. Language & Communication, 18(2), pp. 133-70.

Baker, James; Geiringer, David (2019). Space, text and selfhood: encounters with the personal computer in the mass observation project archive, 1991–2004. Contemporary British History, 33, pp. 293-312.

Lauer, J. (2012). Surveillance history and the history of new media: an evidential paradigm.. New Media and Society, 14(4), pp. 566-582.

Peters, C.; Allan, S. (2021). Weaponizing Memes: The Journalistic Mediation of Visual Politicization. Digital Journalism, 10(2), pp. 217-229.

Textbooks

Rheingold, H. (1993). The Virtual Community: Homesteading on the Electronic Frontier.. Reading, Mass.: Addison-Wesley Pub. Co..

Lakoff, G. & Johnson, M (1980). Metaphors we live by. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press.

Herman, E.S. & Chomsky, N. (1988). Manufacturing Consent: The Political Economy of the Mass Media.. New York: Pantheon.

Page, R. (2018). Narratives online. Shared stories in social media.. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Veszelszki, A. (2017). Digilect: The Impact of Infocommunication Technology on Language. Munich: De Gruyter.

Turkle, S. (1995). Life on the Screen: Identity in the Age of the Internet. New York: Simon & Schuster.

Kirschenbaum, M.G. (2008). Mechanisms: New Media and the Forensic Imagination.. Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press.

Jones, R. H,; Jaworska, S.; Aslan, E. (2021). Language and Media: A Resource Book for Students. Abingdon: Routledge.

Bernays, E.L. (1928). Propaganda. New York: Boni and Liveright.

Blommaert, J. (2010). The Sociolinguistics of globalisation. Cambridge University Press.

Barthes, R. (2009). Mythologies. New York: Vintage Classics.

Zuboff, S. (2019). The age of surveillance capitalism. London: Pofile Books.

Salawu, A.(Ed.) (2018). African Language Digital Media and Communication. London: Routledge.

Fairclough, N. (1995). Media Discourse. London: Hodder.

Assessment

Summative

This is how we’ll formally assess what you have learned in this module.

Breakdown
Method	Percentage contribution
Data analysis project	70%
Case study	30%

Referral

This is how we’ll assess you if you don’t meet the criteria to pass this module.

Breakdown
Method	Percentage contribution
Data analysis project	70%
Case study	30%

Repeat

An internal repeat is where you take all of your modules again, including any you passed. An external repeat is where you only re-take the modules you failed.

Breakdown
Method	Percentage contribution
Case study	30%
Data analysis project	70%

Repeat Information

Repeat type: Internal & External