ENGL 451 - Language in the U.S.A.

Units: 4 ; Breadth Area: GE-UD-D; Diversity
Overview of the language situation in the U.S.A. Regional, social and ethnic dialects. Stylistic variation, Spanish-English code switching/mixing. African American language. Pidgin-creole varieties. Implications for teaching and learning.

Prerequisites: Completion of GE Areas A1, A2, A3, and B4 with grade C- (CR) or better.
Possible Instructional Methods: On-ground, or Hybrid, or Online-Asynchronous.
Grading: A-F grading only.
Breadth Area(s) Satisfied: GE-UD-D - Upper Division Social Sciences, Overlay - Diversity
Course Typically Offered: Spring ONLY

Student Learning Outcomes - Upon successful completion of this course students will be able to:

apply sociolinguistic concepts and methods to the description and analysis of particular features of the US language situation.
become increasingly aware of variation in the pronunciation, vocabulary and grammar of American English.
exhibit nonjudgmental attitudes toward language variation.
experience growth as academic writers.
discuss controversial subject matter in a respectful and dispassionate manner, tolerant of diverse points of view.

UD-D. Upper-division Social Sciences Learning Outcomes

analyze how power and social identity affect social outcomes for different cultural and economic groups using methods of social science inquiry and vocabulary appropriate to those methods;
demonstrate an understanding of and ability to apply accurately disciplinary concepts of the social or behavioral sciences; and
demonstrate an understanding of and ability to effectively plan or conduct research using an appropriate method of the social or behavioral sciences.

Diversity Overlay Learning Outcomes

describe the histories and/or experiences of one or more U. S. cultural groups and the resilience and agency of group members;
identify structures of oppression and the diverse efforts and strategies used by groups to combat the effects of oppressive structures;
analyze the intersection of the categories of race and gender as they affect cultural group members’ lived realities and/or as they are embodied in personal and collective identities;
recognize the way that multiple differences (including, for example, gender, class, sexuality, religion, disability, immigration status, gender expression, color/phenotype, racial mixture, linguistic expression, and/or age) within cultural groups complicate individual and group identities.