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Sociolinguistics and Multilingualism
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Summary of the Profile
Objective(s) of a study programme:
The international master in Sociolinguistics and Multilingualism is an international master degree program which will provide an internationally selected body of degree students, motivated to understand and experience Europe, with high-level professional qualifications for conducting research and for job situations that require expertise in the fields of language policies, minority issues and the linguistic and cultural diversity of the EU within and across the member states. The international master in Sociolinguistics and Multilingualism is a research-based and research-oriented study program. It pays special attention to mediating profound theoretical knowledge in the field of sociolinguistics and to developing the students’ academic argumentation skills and their methodological preparedness of conducting research on a wide array of multilingualism topics, including questions of language policies and supporting the maintenance of minority and immigrant languages.
Learning outcomes:
Generic competences involve the following skills and abilities:
— Critical and self-critical thinking: ability to think in scientific terms, to identify and to formulate a problem and/or to raise an issue, to address it with appropriate information and methodology, to provide solid argumentation and to arrive at a valid conclusion.
— Working autonomously, designing strategies and managing time: ability to organise complex efforts, integrating the results of diverse studies and analyses and producing the required report by the established deadline.
— Information-retrieval skills: ability to identify case-specifically relevant sources of information (electronic, written, oral, archival) and to use them in a professional manner, as appropriate to the problem and with the ultimate aim to integrate it, critically discussing, in research reporting.
— Written and oral communication skills: Given the international character of the current program, only little attention can be paid to communication skills in the students’ mother tongues; the main focus is on developing their abilities to write and speak English at the level of a highly educated professional and according to the various registers, including the informal, the formal and the scientific; additional knowledge of German and at least two lesser-used and taught European national languages.
— Cooperation and interpersonal skills: ability to participate in teamwork, e.g., to gather and treat data, develop analyses and present results
— Cross-cultural communication skills: ability to work with others in multidisciplinary, multi-national and multilingual settings and to take the lead as appropriate, in an international, multicultural team.
— Concern for quality and ethical commitment: awareness of the standards required for scientific research and publication including critical awareness and intellectual honesty.
Specific competences can be defined along four main fields: (1) Sociolinguistic theories and methods; (2) Knowledge about Nordic and Baltic societies; (3) Language skills; and (4) Applying knowledge in practice:
(1) Sociolinguistic theories and methods
— General sociolinguistic knowledge: orientation in the major themes of present sociolinguistic debates in Europe as well as knowledge of global tendencies in sociolinguistics.
— Sociolinguistic knowledge regarding multilingualism: knowledge and understanding of the sociolinguistic width, depth, state and challenges of multilingualism in Europe and the Baltic-Sea area.
— Terminological skills: ability to use the appropriate terminology and the modes of expression of the discipline in oral and written form in English and in the further language(s) acquired during the current program.
(2) Knowledge of Nordic and Baltic societies:
— Awareness of historical settings: knowledge of the general diachronic framework and the ability to locate sociolinguistic research and debate in general and European and Baltic-Sea region research and debate in particular in the (socio-)historical settings of, e.g., colonisation, national awakening, totalitarianism, growth of Nordic democracies, urbanisation, modernisation, Europeanisation and globalization, and to see connections between present-day issues and the past.
— Awareness of present societal, cultural and linguistic settings: knowledge of the contemporary Nordic and Baltic societies, the state and status of multilingualism and challenges posed by it.
(3) Language skills
— Professional working competence in English: knowledge of and ability to use English in writing and orally at the level of a higher-educated professional.
— Knowledge of further international vehicular language: ability to understand and use German at the level which can be developed during the study semester in Germany, i.e.; in correspondence to student’s starting level.
— Knowledge of lesser-used and taught languages: ability to understand and use at a level which can be developed during one study semester on the basis of student’s starting level.
(4) Skills of applying knowledge in practice:
— Identifying and formulating sociolinguistic research problems: ability to use sociolinguistic background information on Nordic and Baltic societies and information retrieval skills to formulate a coherent discussion of a sociolinguistic problem in general, and a multilingualism-concerned problem in particular.
— Designing and conducting case studies in sociolinguistics and multilingualism: ability to plan and conduct individual research-based contributions to sociolinguistic knowledge bearing on a significant problem concerned with multilingualism in Baltic-Sea Europe.
—Conducting empirical research projects: retrieving, understanding and analyzing multilingualism-centered sociolinguistic and language-sociological data as well as providing professional contributions and debates regarding the investigated issues.
— Dealing with existing research knowledge: awareness of the resources available for conducting research and analytical studies on European and Baltic-Sea region multilingualism, including the existing digital data; ability to use them appropriately.
— Interdisciplinary methodological skills: awareness of and ability to use relevant tools of sociology and cultural sciences as necessary with regard to a given research project.
Activities of teaching and learning:
- Types of courses: lectures, seminars, language courses.
- Instruction methods: explanation, demonstration, reflective discussion, tutoring, case studies, problem solving;
- Learning methods: group work, team-building, self-study, student-led seminar work, discussion, research activities, project- and problem-based learning, e-learning, independent study;
- Learning-by-living: Studying in an international group develops social and interpersonal competences and adds value to cross-cultural communication skills.
Methods of assessment of learning achievements:
Midterm and final exams, written (projects, case analysis) and oral (presentations) assignments during the semester. The end-of-course evaluation is a summative one and complies with the regulations of the partner university administering the course.
Specialisations:
Two focus fields: a) Estonian – a language between East, North and West; b) Swedish and Baltic Languages.
Optional courses:
Students can choose to study any Nordic or Baltic language as elective courses.
Distinctive features of the study programme:
Joint-degree master programme;
Study programme is conducted entirely in English.
