Język mediów anglojęzycznych

We live in a media-saturated world and rely on a variety of old and new media for information, entertainment, and connection. The beginnings of mass media and mass communication go back 560 years to the “print revolution” that occurred in Europe in the fifteenth century. As we progressed through the centuries, mass communication evolved from a mechanical process to electronic transmission, which paved the way for the digitized world of today. While technological advances are an important part of the narrative regarding media, the effects of media are also important to consider.

In this course, we will discuss some functions and theories of mass communication and focus on issues related the evolution of language through our interactions with technology.

In particular we'll concentrate on the English language used in media and attempt to answer the questions of how media, in particular social media, are changing it.

I. From the Printing Press to the iPhone - historical perspective

- print

- radio

- television

- Internet and digital media

II. New Media Technologies – English language perspective

- English as a Lingua Franca of digital media

- language and social media: Twitter, Facebook, TikTok, Instagram, Snapchat

- brevity

- Txt spk

- hate language

- fake news

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III. Final credit

The final grade will be based on attendance, active participation and a Project Work – Media Clip Presentation prepared by every student and presented to the group on the assigned date.

Media Clip Presentation - Guidelines:

Each student selects a 5-10 minutes long text-based video clip from any media source available on-line. This may be, for example: a stand-up, short interview, news item, podcast, etc. Any topic is possible under the condition that the material will be interesting from the language point of view.

On the assigned date each student presents the project and conducts the activities with the group. The whole presentation should be about 20 minutes long.

The final, full version of the project, including a full, word-by-word script of the clip is to be uploaded to group Google folder.

The project should consist of:

1. Front page with your name, URL to the selected clip, length of the clip.

2. Activities to the selected clip. The language level of the activities should be adjusted to the language level of the group.

a. Short introduction to the clip. Information about: the author, the topic, reasons for selection, language overview (register)

b. 2-3 comprehension questions

c. 2 vocabulary activities

d. follow-up activity (eg. writing activity, role play, etc.)

3. Full script of the clip

Grade for the Project will be based on the quality and inventiveness of the activities, accuracy of the script and the quality of the presentation.

Language of the Media - BBC https://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/learningenglish/radio/studyguides/pdfs/langmedia.pdf

A Primer on Communication Studies - online e-book (Selected Chapters)

https://2012books.lardbucket.org/books/a-primer-on-communication-studies/