Structure of the Langnet curriculum

based on the memorandum prepared by the Langnet Educational Work Group (Marja-Liisa Helasvuo, Merja Koskela ja Heini Lehtonen) in March 2009

A. Courses enhancing methodological skills

A.1. The process of writing a doctoral dissertation
•How to write a doctoral dissertation
A course to be offered every two years to recently admitted doctoral students.
•How to finish a doctoral dissertation
A course to be offered every two years to doctoral candidates completing their dissertations.

A.2. Methodology
•Every year, a varying selection of methodology courses will be arranged, including the following:
- qualitative research
- quantitative research
- corpus linguistics
- language technology
•Statistics Workshop
A yearly seminar, which focuses on problems encountered by students when processing their research material.

B. Courses enhancing theoretical knowledge

B.1. Grammar
•Phonology, September 2010
•Morphology, 2011
•Syntax, 2012
•Semantics and pragmatics, 2013
Grammar courses run in a four-year rotation to allow the doctoral students to complete the entire selection of courses or some chosen courses during their four-year period in Langnet.

B.2 Linguistics in a philosophical and historical framework
•Philosophy of linguistics, 2011
•History of linguistics, 2013
The two courses in this section are each offered every four years.

B.3. Modules
The courses included in the modules listed below are organised on the basis of proposals made by the Langnet supervisors and students. The Steering Committee makes the ultimate decision on which courses are organised. Students may freely choose courses from any module for inclusion in their personal study programme. The purpose of the courses is to increase the students’ linguistic knowledge and to strengthen their familiarity with the various areas of language study.
B.3.1. Theoretical trends in linguistics
-including functional linguistics, cognitive linguistics
B.3.2. Language variation and change
-including sociolinguistics, multilingualism, situational variation in language use, jargon
B.3.3. Grammar and language use
-including interactive linguistics, text and grammar, prosody and the structure of language
B.3.4. Language acquisition and teaching
-including the acquisition of the first and second languages, language technology and language teaching
B.3.5. Languages in contact
-including contrastive linguistics, translation theory, language typology

 

C. Courses enhancing professional research skills

I Research ethics
A course to be organised every four years.

II Oral and written communication
- academic writing
- presentation skills and rhetorical skills
- workshop on writing articles
These courses are organised regularly (about every two years).

III The different stages of a research career
- project work (putting a project together, applications)
- student seminar/outing
- multidisciplinary research cooperation
The course topics in this module are subject to variation.