Critical approaches to language and discourse

The course covers different critical approaches to language and discourse, such as language and power, critical discourse analysis, critical linguistics, rhetoric, and discursive social psychology. These approaches are treated in relation to a number of relevant areas of application for studying the relationship between language and ideology, such as politics, education, racism and xenophobia, activism and social justice, and so on. The main methodological focus of the course is applied analysis of empirical language or discourse data, primarily taken from English-speaking contexts, but a theoretical component that involves study of perspectives from critical theory and discourse theory, for example, is also included. The approaches treated in the course are based on linguistic methodology, but applications can be adapted to the main interests or disciplinary backgrounds of the students.