EKIS1003 Understanding Debates in Academic Research (5 op)

This is a meta-level course asking questions such as what counts as linguistic inquiry, what should and should not be researched, and how biases in research affect society. We also examine how scholars use their roles (as experts) in society at large and as members of institutions – for good or bad. We discuss stance, positionality, subjectivity/objectivity, bias, and conjecture in academic research – the behind-the-scenes tussles and debates, disagreements and controversies that happen in the background. As such it is not focused on a particular thematic or sub-disciplinary area of linguistics, but on the nature of debate among researchers, and between researchers and the public. This covers both academically focused debates – over the relative value of different methodologies and theories – and the political and personal, what scholars do and say in society and how this may or may not influence our reading of their work.

One way of looking at the topics is through power relations and how power is wielded within and outside academia. How do scholars decide what counts as linguistics, or what kind of research is not considered “linguistics” proper, and how have these views changes over the decades?

In the end, students should feel they have an inside view of how research actually comes to be, and the institutional politics that affect research and its uses.

After completing the course students will be able to:

• Create presentations and discussion prompts about areas of interest

• Evaluate opposing viewpoints on areas of debate in academic research

• Analyse critical issues of ontological and epistemological justifications, biases, and controversy

• Apply new understandings to class contributions, discussions, and submitted work

• Understand the relative positioning of different research fields, and their own positionality

• Remember a series of tools to scrutinise the premises and rationales of any research

Students may be absent from no more than two classes.

EKIA1010 Academic Literacy

The study materials will be available in Moodle. Further readings will be announced in the course.