Assessment 2024

Assessment

The final mark achieved in this module is based on the Continuous Assessment (60%) and Final Exam (40%). The breakdown is in the table. (Click on the items for further details.)

Class Test (4-iii-2024)	20 marks
Essay (due Tues, 26-iii-2024)	20 marks
Group Project (Weeks 11 and 12)	10 marks
Tutorial attendance and participation	10 marks
Final Exam (8-v-2024, 9–11am)	40 marks

The components of the Continuous Assessment include: an essay, a class test, a group project and tutorial participation.

Essay

Students will be required to write an essay for this module, which will be due on 26th March 2024, and this will contribute 20 marks towards your final scale for the module. Please take note of the following points.

· Topic for 2024: After reading McWhorter’s ‘We speak a battered grammar: what the Vikings did to English’ (McWhorter_Ch3.pdf in Files in Canvas) and other relevant material, explain clearly how the Vikings’ language impacted the English language by illustrating McWhorter’s points by analysing a contemporary English text of your choice.

• You can of course also consult other sources.
• There is a cover sheet that you should also download and add to the front of your essay.
• Please limit your essay to 1,000 words; under-writing will usually mean a dearth of material or underdeveloped material; over-writing will invite penalties.
• Please organise your essay so that your points are made clearly. Essays that seem pointless will be severely penalised. Clearly, some exemplification will be expected. Originality and risk-taking will be rewarded. Your views need not accord with the tutor’s or lecturer’s.
• You may use headings within the essay if you wish.
• Please include either a list of references (ie a list of works referred to) or a bibliography (ie a list of works consulted).
• If you wish, you can consult your tutor generally about the essay before writing it. However, your tutor will not be able to read draft versions or specific outlines of your essay.
• Please submit your essay by the deadline given. If you think you have special extenuating circumstances that would merit your being granted an extension, please consult your tutor before the deadline. Essays submitted up to three days late will be penalised according to the extent of the lateness. Essays submitted more than three days late will not be marked unless an extension has been granted.
• Comments and marks will be attached to your submission when your essays have been marked. Essays awarded below 40 marks may be resubmitted if you wish.
• Soft copies of your essays should be submitted to Canvas ‘Assignments’. Set the margin to at least 1 inch or 25 mm all around.
• Use 1½ or double spacing.
• Please do check your essay for correctness in language, and use the spell checker if necessary. British-style spelling is the norm in your essays. Linguistic infelicities will also be severely penalised as we would expect students taking modules in English Language to be careful about their use of the English language.
• If you are word-processing, also remember to set your paper to A4.
• Please also avoid all decorative-looking fonts, and set the size to at least 12 points. If in doubt, stick to the old favourites for academic writing: Times New Roman or Arial or Garamond or Courier.
• All pages should be numbered.
• Do not expect extensions to the deadline; late essays (up to 3 days late) will be penalised with a 2½ mark deduction (out of 100) for each day of delay. If you believe that you are in an exceptional situation, please consult your tutor before the deadline.

How then will essays be marked? We will look out for:

• General coherence and purposefulness of the essay: this means the degree to which a theme has been identified, and that this central thrust is clear.
• Logical development and argumentation: this means that the various parts of the essay hang together in a logical fashion and how evidence is used to support any claims made.
• Factual accuracy.
• Fluency; linguistic and stylistic appropriateness.
• Extent of background reading and amount of effort put in.

Feedback: when your essay has been marked, your tutor:

• will give an overall comment in words at the end of your essay;
• may also give marginal comments; and
• assign a mark out of 100 for your essay (this will be multiplied by 1/5 to give your CA mark): any essay with 75 and above is exceptional (pass with distinction); any essay awarded 60 to 74 marks is good (pass with merit); any essay awarded 50 to 59 marks is acceptable but is weak in some aspects (pass); and any essay awarded 49 marks or below is weak in many aspects (unsatisfactory).

Most essays will fall within the 50- to 74-mark range. Please note that the labels ‘distinction’, ‘merit’, ‘pass’ and ‘unsatisfactory’ cannot be directly related to the letter grades that you will receive from the Registrar’s Office at the end of the module.

Class Test

A class test will be held during the lecture slot on 4th March 2024. The results of this test will contribute 20 marks to your final mark for the module. The test will last for 50 minutes and will take up the first half of the lecture slot, and you will be asked to write short answers to 20 questions, many with parts to them. The test will be based on material covered in Lectures Nos. 1 to 4. You may consult any material you have but, of course, you will not be able to consult other students or to ‘phone a friend’ as a life-line! Your tutor will return the test to you after it has been marked. You will be given a mark out of 100 for this test (this will be scaled down to 20 marks for your CA: multiply the mark by 1/5).

· 75–100 marks: excellent (pass with distinction)

· 60–74½ marks: good (pass with merit)

· 50–59½ marks: acceptable but weak in some aspects (pass)

· 0–49½ marks: more work needed (unsatisfactory)

Project

Students will need to organise themselves into groups within their tutorial groups (depending on tutorial size) for the group project. Most tutorial groups should contain five or six project groups, and the presentations will be spread over two tutorial sessions. (If there are groups who are able to do the presentations in one week, I will organise an alternative task for these groups in the second presentation week.) The group composition should ideally be settled before the mid-term break. The group project will be presented orally in weeks beginning Monday 1-iv-2024 and 8-iv-2024, which should be accompanied by a jointly-written report. It is the written report that will be marked and the same mark will normally be awarded to all members of the same group, and this will count towards 10 per cent of your final mark for the module. (The oral presentation will be taken into account for the tutorial attendance and participation score; see below.) The presentation should last no more than 15 minutes, and the written report should closely reflect the oral presentation. Please also include title, a reference list and a paragraph on the contribution of each group member. (If the work is not spread evenly between members, the tutor may investigate the situation and award different marks to different members of the group.) Remember that the stipulations about margin, spacing, language, etc. made in relation to the essay also apply to the written report. This means that the report should be polished and in continuous prose (not in point form). There is no official word limit: the report should reflect what was presented orally and should not contain material not included in the oral presentation.

The aim of the project is for students to work together to select and analyse a text passage from the set text in the light of the various points raised in the module. In this way you can characterise the language of the text. This year’s set text is Much Ado About Nothing. You should select a passage of no more than 400 words in length (ideally, shorter than that). The different groups will focus on different aspects of the language. Your analysis should aim to explain those aspects in relation to the extract. However, remember that this is a literary text, where language is used to achieve certain effects for the readers or audience.

(To familiarise you with the play, you are encouraged to look at plot summaries easily available online. You are also encouraged to view film or stage versions of the play. I recommend the 1993 film directed by Kenneth Branagh.)

Ideally, different groups should select passages highlighting different characters, and your tutor might help to arrange it so that each group within a tutorial group will focus on the following characters or relationships:

(a) orthography and writing conventions;

(b) vocabulary: the high-status characters;

(c) the grammar of Shakespeare’s English (inflections, tense and aspect);

(d) the pronoun system and terms of address;

(e) vocabulary: the low-status character (alternative topic: phonological change);

(f) the grammar of Shakespeare’s English (the use of the operator and word order; the subjunctive mood)

In all of this remember you are examining a constructed text (and therefore constructed dialogues) with a particular intended audience in order to achieve particular effects.

Groups (a), (b) and (c) will present during Tutorial 8; groups (d), (e) and (f) will present during Tutorial 9. Mutually arranged swaps between groups are acceptable. The report should accompany the presentation. Two days’ delay (with no penalty) is available with permission from your tutor.

Two useful books to consult are (1) Keith Johnson's (2013) Shakespeare's English: A Practical Linguistic Guide and (2) N F Blake’s A Grammar of Shakespeare’s Language (2002), both available from the RBR.

Remember that the examination will also contain a passage from the set text.

During the presentation:

· Indicate your focus, you are not to be exhaustive.

· Introduce the extract and its context for the presentation (please read or show a video clip of at least part of it).

· Ensure that you look at the extract in detail rather than talk in general terms.

· Provide a strong conclusion.

Please check about the facilities available in the tutorial room – it might be possible to use the visualiser or computer.

Feedback: when your report has been marked, your tutor:

· will give an overall comment in words at the end of your report;

· may also give marginal comments; and

· assign a mark out of 10 for your essay (this will be your CA mark for the report): any report with 7½ and above is exceptional (pass with distinction); any report awarded 6 to 7 marks is good (pass with merit); any report awarded 5 to 5½ marks is acceptable but is weak in some aspects (pass); and any report awarded 4½ marks or below is weak in many aspects (unsatisfactory).

Tutorial attendance and participation

A total of 10 marks will be assigned for tutorial attendance and participation. If your attendance is irregular, you will receive a very low score for this, so be forewarned! We expect students to come to tutorials prepared: this means having gone through the tutorial material and completed the various readings required. We also expect students to be willing to contribute to the discussion.

This score will not be released to students, so by the end of the module, students will be able to work out 50 out of the 60 marks assigned as continuous assessment marks.

Final Exam

The final exam is on Wednesday, 8-v-2024, 9.00–11.00pm. The exam will count towards 40% of your final mark for the module. There will be two compulsory questions in the exam. I will brief you on the format nearer the time.

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