Module MELA3976: Target Language Research Project (Two Languages)

Department: Modern Languages and Cultures

MELA3976: Target Language Research Project (Two Languages)

Prerequisites

• The relevant core language modules in the languages for which the TLRP will be completed and at least two culturally oriented modules for the languages studied at levels I and II.

Corequisites

• None

Excluded Combination of Modules

• MELA3986

Aims

• To provide students with the opportunity to gain in-depth knowledge of an aspect or aspects of their studies by researching and writing a research project in the target language in an area in which the School can offer specialized supervision.
• By providing experience in planning, documenting, and writing an extended piece of work, the TLRP will increase the facility of students to express themselves at a suitable academic level in the target language, and will give them experience in presenting and referencing an extended piece of writing according to standard academic conventions.
• The TLRP will provide invaluable practice, particularly at the level of the inculcation and assimilation of primary research skills, for students taking a dissertation module in MLAC. It will also provide benefit for students wishing to progress to postgraduate study.
• The TLRP aims to develop and enhance strategies for independent learning and initiative; to foster a genuine commitment to research and the utilization of appropriate research methodologies; to provide the ability to organize and manage a longer project; and to offer the ability to write fluently and accurately in the target language.
• By focusing on questions of intercultural awareness at an advanced intellectual level, the TLRP seeks to offer a forum for academic engagement and reflection in matters of critical interest relevant to the contexts and environments under discussion.
• The TLRP seeks to enhance the employability of students by allowing them to demonstrate their ability as independent learners and researchers in the context of a research project that dovetails with the University’s principles for the development of the taught curriculum. Skills will be developed specifically through an extended enquiry-led activity that will provide students with the competences to succeed in the world of work and the ability to manage their own intellectual and professional development. By focusing specifically on questions of relevant intercultural interest, students will develop as international citizens so that they can make a positive contribution to an increasingly globalized society.

Content

• The TLRP involves researching and writing an extended piece of work in the target language in which the School can offer specialized supervision. Students will be working closely with an expert in the target language and will be developing their research skills, intercultural awareness, and strategies for independent learning and initiative.
• Students will prepare for the TLRP by taking the relevant core language modules levels I and II, by attending the School’s on-going induction programme (which focuses on the inculcation and development of key research skills), and by taking at least two culturally relevant modules in the languages in which the TLRP is to be conducted. This will give crucial developmental experience in planning and executing intellectual responses to cultural stimuli, be they literary, filmic, artistic, linguistic, or otherwise.
• To facilitate allocation, students will be asked towards the end of their second year to prepare two statements of interest of up to 100 words for each language, offering an intellectual justification for why they want to work on a particular area.
• The topics should be substantially differentiated from one another, but must make reference to the designated areas of cultural expertise outlined on the School website. As there are strict quotas as to the number of students that can be supervised by any given supervisor, students will be advised to articulate their thoughts as clearly as possible. Preferences will be ranked by the YA Officer for each language and students will be assigned to supervisors on the basis of topic selection and the availability of specialist supervision.
• In a face-to-face meeting organized in the summer term of Year II, the supervisor will help students explore and shape an approach to the TLRP, and will assist with compiling a preliminary bibliography, so that students can pursue a guided course of reading. In the light of reading and discussion with their supervisor, students will complete projects in each of the languages that they are studying.
• Finalized copies must be submitted electronically by 1 September in advance of Michaelmas Term of the final year of study.
• Students will receive written feedback by the second week of the Michaelmas Term, and key aspects of good practice applicable to the final-year dissertation will be discussed with the relevant supervisor.

Learning Outcomes

• By completing the TLRP students will have acquired greatly enhanced knowledge of a specialized subject and have gained considerably in their intercultural awareness. They will be familiar with both primary and secondary sources, and with the wider debates surrounding the cultural media/artefacts that form the basis of their analysis.

• Students will have developed their ability to express complex ideas in a suitable register in the target language and will have completed a research project envisaged specifically as preparation for the final-year dissertation module.

• Students will have acquired skill and practice in researching a subject using primary and secondary sources, planning a coherent argument with the evidence to support it, presenting these arguments clearly and cogently in a sustained piece of writing, and conforming to the norms of academic referencing.

Modes of Teaching, Learning and Assessment and how these contribute to the learning outcomes of the module

• Students will receive generic training for the TLRP through the School’s On-going Induction Programme, which addresses questions of specific relevance, notably: academic research, academic writing, evaluating and using sources, and approaches to textual analysis. Students will receive language-specific instruction as part of their second-year core language modules.
• Suggested topics for the TLRP will vary from department to department according to the availability of appropriate specialism. Each department will display a sample list of approved topic areas and/or questions from which students should select areas that harmonize with their own research interests.
• In addition to online materials accessible via the Library, materials for each topic area will be made available on DUO, and if students are travelling to destinations where internet access is limited, they will be expected to make sensible use of these in advance.
• The specific formulation of the TLRP will be discussed in conjunction with the student’s supervisor, and students will follow an agreed programme of reading whilst supplementing their work by displaying evidence of independent research skills and bibliographic initiative.
• As students are expected to spend at least four months in the host culture, it is expected that they will engage with the TLRP as soon as they arrive, and that they will work towards initial consultation with their supervisor within one month of arrival.
• Supervisors will give feedback via email at three distinct phases of production: (a) an initial proposal of no more than 200 words outlining an approach to the agreed topic area; (b) a 500-word essay plan outlining the direction to be explored in the project and listing key bibliographic items that have already proven to be useful; and (c) a 500-word sample from the essay.
• In each instance, comments and feedback will be given to the student on standardized TLRP feedback proformas, copies of which will be logged with the School Year Abroad Administrator. To ensure parity of treatment between students completing the TLRP, supervisors will not be expected to read additional drafts or to give any other form of additional guidance.
• Finalized TLRPs must be submitted electronically by 1 September in advance of Michaelmas Term. Students will receive written feedback on standardized TLRP feedback proformas by the second week of the Michaelmas Term, and key aspects of good practice applicable to the dissertation will be discussed with the relevant supervisor.
• Assessment will evaluate students’ ability to assimilate, understand, and analyse critically the primary and secondary material associated with their topics, their powers of intercultural awareness, their ability to present a sustained argument with suitable evidence, and their ability to express themselves fluently and accurately in the target language, paying due attention to the relevant conventions of academic writing.
• Students will also be expected to produce a full and proper bibliography.
• Students studying two languages at final year will be required to complete shorter TLRPs for both languages. For students taking French, German, Italian, and Spanish, the TLRP will be 2,500 words in length, while for students of Arabic or Russian, the TLRP will be 2,000 words in length.
• The TLRP is not credit-bearing, but will be graded by percentage on the student’s degree transcript. Students who pass will proceed to the BA in Modern Languages with Year Abroad; those who fail will be transferred to the non-year abroad version of the programme.

Teaching Methods and Learning Hours

Summative Assessment

Formative Assessment:

■ Attendance at all activities marked with this symbol will be monitored. Students who fail to attend these activities, or to complete the summative or formative assessment specified above, will be subject to the procedures defined in the University's General Regulation V, and may be required to leave the University