SEMINARIA LICENCJACKIE I PROSEMINARIA dla IIIBA w roku 2011-12: opisy seminariów & rejestracja online

Na III roku BA w nadchodzącym 2011-12, wybierają Państwo jedno seminarium LICENCJACKIE (na cały rok akademicki) oraz jedno PROSEMINARIUM w semestrze. Poniżej znajdują się opisy seminariów licancjackich i proseminariów na nadchodzący semestr zimowy. 

REJESTRACJA NA SEMINARIA: 
Rejestracji na wybrane seminaria dokonują Państwo samodzielnie za pomocą witryny online (link poniżej). Ilość miejsc na poszczególnych seminariach jest ściśle ograniczona, decyduje kolejność rejestracji. Można zarejestrowć się tylko na seminaria, na których pozostają dostępne wolne miejsca - każde seminarium licencjackie ma 17 miejsc, każde proseminarium 25 miejsc. Można zarejestrować się tylko na jedno seminarium licencjackie oraz jedno proseminarium z proponowanej listy. Po dokonaniu rejestracji, wybór seminariów jest ostateczny - nie ma możliwości ponownej rejestracji.

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Opisy seminariów:

SEMINARIA LICENCJACKIE dla IIIBA w roku 2011-12
STUDIA STACJONARNE

Dr Bartosz Wiland
BA Seminar in Syntax

The seminar is devoted to the investigation of English and Polish syntax from the more general perspective of the theory of Principles and Parameters. We will start from the consideration of the basic operation in grammar, i.e. Merge, which iteratively combines two items together in order to build larger and larger structures. We will then move on to discuss topics such as argument structure, case, passive, control, wh-movement, binding, relative clause, islands, quantifiers, verb movement, economy principles in grammar, cartography, adverbs, and Relativized Minimality. All topics will be discussed from the general as well as English and Polish perspective. Possible BA thesis topics can include selected aspects of English-Polish comparative syntax. 

Prerequisite: Completion of IIBA Descriptive Grammar of English: Syntax (i.e. students with 'warunek' from this course cannot enrol to this seminar)

Sample bibliography:
Chomsky, Noam. 1995. The Minimalist Program. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press. McCloskey, James. 2000. Quantifier Float and Wh-movement in an Irish English. Linguistic Inquiry 31, 57-84.
Pollock, Jean-Yves. 1989. Verb Movement, Universal Grammar and the Structure of IP. Linguistic Inquiry 20, 365-424.
Rizzi, Luigi. 1997. The Fine Structure of the Left Periphery. In: L. Haegeman, ed., Elements of Grammar. A Handbook in Generative Syntax. Kluwer, Dordrecht, etc., pp. 281–337.

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Dr Dagmara Drewniak 
BA Seminar in Canadian Literature: The quest for identity in Canadian contemporary literature

The aim of the seminar is to study the contemporary Canadian prose, with a special emphasis on the notion of identity, its roots and influence on contemporary novel. During the course students will discuss various works of the most famous contemporary Canadian writers (e.g. Margaret Atwood, Carol Shields, Michael Ondaatje and Aritha van Herk) as well as a selection of theoretical and critical essays (e.g. by Linda Hutcheon, Margaret Atwood, Wayson Choy) that will provide a certain background for our discussions and future BA papers. The seminar will introduce students to the process of writing BA papers within the field of literature. We will address a number of issues ranging from the formal aspect of writing theses to methodology of research, gathering materials and developing a critical approach to the views of others.

Candidates wishing to participate in the seminar should have good knowledge of English and American literature and an authentic interest in literature. Prior knowledge of Canadian literature is not obligatory.

Selected bibliography:
Hammill, Faye. 2007. Canadian literature. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press.
Kopcewicz, Andrzej and Marta Sienicka. 1982. Historia literatury Stanów Zjednoczonych w zarysie. 2 vols. Warszawa: PWN.
Kröller, Eva-Marie. 2004. The Cambridge companion to Canadian literature. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
New, W.H. 2003. A history of Canadian literature. Montreal: McGill-Queen’s University Press.
Sikorska, Liliana. 2007. A short history of English literature. Poznań: Wydawnictwo Poznańskie.

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Dr Aleksandra Jankowska
Teaching and learning vocabulary

The seminar will be devoted to the ways in which foreign language vocabulary can be taught and learned and will start with a brief overview of the place of vocabulary in different teaching methods. During the first semester we will discuss the processes involved in vocabulary acquisition, aspects of knowing a word, different types of vocabulary items with special emphasis on multiword units, criteria for vocabulary selection, techniques of presenting, consolidating, reviewing and testing vocabulary, vocabulary learning strategies and effective use of various types of dictionaries and corpora. Then we will examine popular ELT coursebooks and analyze the ways in which they deal with vocabulary. The students will be expected to design sets of exercises/ activities aiming at developing and testing vocabulary and keep a record of their own work on lexis.

Bibliography:
Lewis, Michael. 1995. The lexical approach. Hove: LTP.
Nation, I.S.P. 2001. Learning vocabulary in another language. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Schmitt, Norbert. 2000. Vocabulary in language teaching. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Thornbury, Scott. 2002. How to teach vocabulary. Harlow: Longman.
Willis, Dave. 2003. Rules, patterns and words. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

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Dr Maciej Kielar
Ideology, values and valuation in mass media discourse

Our everyday function is inextricably linked with the language that reaches us through newspapers, radio, television, the Internet, or magazines. At the same time, we have no doubt that ‘ideology-free’ communicates do not exist and every message that is broadcast or published is shaped according to some ideologies. 

As participants of mass media discourse almost entirely rely on language use when they construct the ideologically invested image of the world, the general aim of this course can be characterised as applying methods proposed by CDA to the analysis of authentic texts/discourses. In particular, grammatical structures, elements of lexicon and metaphors which have ideological potential will be identified in order to determine their significance for expressing ideology and valuation. The second particular aim will be deciphering values and particular spheres of life ‘hidden’ in the elements of texts in order to help in the reconstruction of ideologies that govern their production. It has to be recognised that it is the print media that are still believed to be the most influential and opinion-shaping; hence, they and/or their electronic equivalents will be the main focus of interest, as well as the source for the language material for analysis. 

An introductive reading:
Fairclough, Norman. 1989. Language and power. London: Longman. (Chapter 5: Critical discourse analysis in practice, 109–139).
Fowler, Roger. 1991. Language in the news: Discourse and ideology in the press. 
London: Routledge. (Chapter 5: Analytic tools: critical linguistics, 66–90)
Kress, Gunther. – Robert Hodge. 1979. Language as ideology. London: Routledge − Kegan Paul. (Chapter 2: Transformations and the truth, 15–37)
Krzeszowski, Tomasz, P. 1997. Angels and devils in hell. Elements of axiology in semantics. Warszawa: Energia. (Introduction :9–21)
Van Dijk, Teun, A. 1998. Ideology: A multidisciplinary approach. London: Sage 
Publications. (Chapters 5: Structures of ideology and 6: Values, 65–77)
Wodak, Ruth – Brigitta Bausch. 2004. “Approaches to media texts”, in John D. H. Downing (ed.) The Sage handbook of media studies. Thousand Oaks, London, New Delhi: Sage Publications, 105–122. 

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Prof. Geoff Schwartz
Second language speech - analysis and representation

What’s the difference between an English /i/ and a Polish /i/? Is /b/ in Polish really the same sound as /b/ in English? In this seminar, students will learn the basics of acoustic phonetics and speech analysis, and apply these fundamental skills to an examination of English both as a first and a second language. From our speech oriented perspective we shall consider how the sounds of English and Polish ought to best be represented in phonological descriptions and language textbooks. Thesis projects will be based on an instrumental study of a problematic area in the acquisition of English pronunciation designed to shed some light on phonological descriptions of what is actually acquired in the language learning process.

Useful references for the course:
Flemming, E. 2002. Auditory representations in phonology. New York: Routledge.
Harris, J. 1994. English Sound Structure
Johnson, K. 1997. Acoustic and auditory phonetics
Schwartz, G. 2009. Phonology for the Listener and Langauge Learner. Wydawnictwo Naukowe UAM.
Wright, R. (2004). Perceptual cue robustness and phonotactic constraints. In Hayes, B., R. Kirchner and D. Steriade (eds). Phonetically Based Phonology. 34-57.

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Dr Joanna Kopaczyk
Historical text-types

We gain most of our understanding about the past of any language by studying texts. These texts are not a homogenous mass of writing – they fall into different categories. Today, even at first sight, an average language user is able to distinguish a culinary recipe from a business letter, an academic paper from a magazine interview, or a legal act from a poem. These customary labels for different texts correlate with a different selection of actual linguistic features: grammar patterns, lexical choices, or discourse structure. In this seminar, we are going to explore the features of historical text-types and what information they provide for the history of English. The topics to discuss will be supported with appropriate reference material to be read by the students before each meeting. 

The tutor is going to guide the students through the process of selecting the topic and working on the B.A. paper, according to their individual interests. The participants will be asked to choose a text – or texts – from the Old English, Middle English, Early Modern English period or later (up to 1800) as the basis of their research project, and prepare a plan of their work by the end of the first semester. In the second semester, the seminar is going to be a forum for more focussed discussion, sharing problems and answering questions concerning individual research projects.

Prerequisites: All participants should have a positive mark in Introduction to Linguistics, History of the English Language and a keen interest in language history and language change. 

Requirements: Regular and active participation, systematic reading, meeting ALL deadlines, and a successful completion of individual B.A. projects.

Selected references:
Bhatia, V.J. 1993. Analysing genre: Language use in professional settings. London: Longman.
Bhatia, V.J. 2004. Worlds of written discourse: A genre-based view. London: Continuum.
Diller H-J. & M. Görlach (eds.). 2001. Towards a history of English as a history of genres. Heidelberg: Winter.
Görlach, Manfred. 2004. Text types and the history of English. Berlin / New York: Mouton de Gruyter.
Journal of Historical Pragmatics (selected papers)
Jucker, Andreas H. – Irma Taavitsainen (eds.) 2010. Historical pragmatics. Berlin / New York: Mouton de Gruyter.
Swales, J. 1990. Genre analysis. Cambridge: CUP.

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Dr Urszula Kizelbach
Pragmatic approaches to the Shakespearean drama

Dramatic text is a network of codes and signs used by dramatic characters to communicate various messages in the play. In order to better understand human emotions and motivations behind the words we need to analyze them in a wider context, which is provided by pragmatics. Pragmatics is a very concrete linguistic tool which allows for presenting complex human relations in communication, via language/dialogue, in many contexts (political, social, psychological, etc.). The aim of this BA seminar is to show some new approaches to Shakespearean drama, which will include speech act theory or (im)politeness theory. Students will first be acquainted with the pragmatic theories and later they will be asked to use their theoretical knowledge in practice, while analyzing particular Shakespearean texts. The problems to be discussed will include: politics, power, individuality and banishment. The seminar will cover mainly history and Roman plays. 

References:
Bousfield, Derek. 2008. Impoliteness in interaction. Amsterdam: John Benjamins.
Culpeper, Jonathan. 1998. “(Im)politeness in drama”, in: Jonathan Culpeper, Mick Short and Peter Verdonk (eds.), Exploring the language of drama. From text to context. London and New York: Routledge, 83-95.
Kopytko, Roman. 1995. “Linguistic politeness strategies in Shakespeare’s plays”, in:
Andreas H. Jucker (ed.), Historical pragmatics. Developments in the history of
English. Amsterdam and Philadelphia: John Benjamins, 515-541.
Rudanko, Juhani. 1993. Pragmatic approaches to Shakespeare. Essays on Othello, Coriolanus and Timon of Athens. Lanham, New York and London: University
Press of America.

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Dr Dominika Ruszkowska-Buchowska
Modernist cultures in Britain and the United States

Modernism involved experimenting with style, form and genre, denial or reassessment of the past, appearance of outrageous literary and artistic groups and declaration of violent manifestoes. It was also the emergence of new ideas which suddenly started to be inseparable elements of cultural life, such as misogyny, hybridity, queer culture, pathologies, feminism, fascism, socialism and futurism. Modernism signaled change and made it remain part of contemporary culture. It was also a time which played with boundaries between cultures and particularly enhanced interconnections between the literary and visual arts. The B.A. seminar will explore varieties of modernisms in Art, Literature, Film, Theatre and Visual Culture that have developed in English-speaking countries since 1900 until the present. Emphasis will be put not only on the works of individual artists/ authors/ filmmakers, but also on the specific cultural, social, political and literary contexts in which their works were produced. Students will be given reading assignments before each class, and will have to make two presentations related to their B.A. projects. Strong interest in cultural studies is advisable.

Selected bibliography:
David Bradshaw—Kevin J. H. Dettmar (eds.). 2006. A Companion to Modernist Literature and Culture. Malden, US, Oxford, UK, Carlton, Australia: Blackwell Publishing.
Butler, Christopher. 1994. Early Modernism. Literature, music and painting in Europe 1900-1916. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Levenson, Michael. 1999. The Cambridge Companion to Modernism, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
Lewis, Perciles. 2007. The Cambridge Introduction to Modernism, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Spalding, Frances. 1984. British Art Since 1900, London: Thames and Hudson.

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Prof. Ronald Kim
Dialects and Variation in English

Dialectology is often thought of as an old-fashioned discipline, which flourished during the late 19th and the first half of the 20th century, but has been in steady decline since the 1950s. For the first two decades after the “sociolinguistic revolution” of the 1960s, scholars focused mainly on the interaction of language and social factors, and paid little or no attention to geographical variation. Since the 1980s, however, dialect geography has come back into its own, as a growing body of data reveals that urban and regional dialects are continuing to evolve and diverge. The enormous explosion in descriptions of English varieties, especially from outside the British Isles, has also fueled this renewal of interest in dialects, dialect contact, and new dialect formation. A growing number of scholars are now attempting to combine the findings of traditional dialect research with those of variationist sociolinguistics, into a single unified model of linguistic variation and change across both spatial and social dimensions.

This seminar will first survey the methods and results of traditional dialectology, before turning to the sociolinguistic research of the 1960s, ’70s, and ’80s. Using Chambers and Trudgill’s Dialectology as a starting point, we will then explore studies from the past two decades which (more or less successfully) investigate geographical variation together with social factors such as age, gender, education, or social networks. Topics to be explored include the basic principles of dialect geography, and their explanatory power and validity; the relation between rural and urban varieties, past and present; the diffusion of changes through the social structure in different speech communities; convergence and divergence among dialects; “internal” vs. “external” causes of dialect convergence and divergence; and the results of dialect contact, dialect mixture, and new dialect formation. Although most examples will come from the English-speaking world, and no knowledge of any other language is required, we will draw on studies conducted in speech communities from across Europe and around the world.

Selected bibliography
Chambers, J. K. and Peter Trudgill. 1998. Dialectology. Second edition. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Chambers, J. K., Peter Trudgill, and Natalie Schilling-Estes. 2002. The Handbook of Language Variation and Change. Oxford and Malden, MA: Blackwell.
Meyerhoff, Miriam. 2006. Introducting Sociolinguistics. London/New York: Routledge.
Trudgill, Peter. 1986. Dialects in Contact. Oxford/New York: Blackwell.
Labov, William. 1994. Principles of Linguistic Change. Volume 1: Internal Factors. (Language in Society, Vol. 20.) Oxford/Cambridge, Mass.: Blackwell.
Labov, William. 2001. Principles of Linguistic Change. Volume 2: Social Factors. (Language in Society, Vol. 30.) Oxford/Cambridge, Mass.: Blackwell.

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PROSEMINARIA dla IIIBA w roku akademickim 2011-12 (semestr zimowy):

Dr hab. Joanna Pawelczyk
The sociolinguistics of computer-mediated communication

Electronic media are reshaping the way we communicate on a daily basis. This proseminar in particular focuses on social interaction and the internet thus investigates the computer-mediated communication (CMC) in linguistic and social perspectives. More specifically we will explore how the electronic media offer new space for constructing various identities, forming relationships and expressing social meanings. The course will start with an introduction to the face-to-face (FtF) communication as theorized by sociolinguistics and discourse analysis. Here we will focus on how various research traditions in sociolinguistics and/or discourse analysis can be applied to the CMC. The core of the readings will underline how the technologies are appropriated in the local contexts in order to perform a variety of discourse genres (cf. Androutsopoulos 2006). We will discuss a range of ways in which people use language in CMC. Topical focuses include: gender and sexuality, multilingualism, discourse of loss, health and healthcare. The practical relevance of the CMC studies to the work of practitioners (e.g., doctors, therapists) will be underscored where applicable. 

Bibliography
Androutsopoulos, J. 2006. “Introduction: Sociolinguistics and computer-mediated communication”. Journal of Sociolinguistics 10/4: 419-438.
Herring, S. 1996. Computer-mediated communication: Linguistic, social and cross-cultural perspectives. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. 
Thurlow, C., Lengel, L. and A. Tomic. 2004. Computer-mediated communication. Social interaction and the internet. Los Angeles: Sage.

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Dr Grzegorz Michalski 
Introduction to Formal Analysis in Phonology

This course is not about phonetics. This course is not about so-called descriptive grammar of English. This course is about phonology, and phonology only. During this course you will learn how to describe phonological phenomena using the language of phonology. You will see what a phonological analysis looks like and you will learn how to do it, or you will fail trying. During this course you will see a number of seemingly unremarkable features of English, Polish and other languages, and you will see how exciting they become once you look at them from the right perspective. You will also see a number of seemingly hard features of English phonology with which you struggled in your first year descriptive grammar classes, and you will realise how simple they have always been. Among the things you will go through are [±features], {SPE notation} → /_[whenever applicable], rules, rule ordering, rule feeding, rule bleeding, the phonological cycle, cyclicity and the strict cycle, cohering and non-cohering morphemes, autosegmental phonology, feature geometry, underspecification, binary and privative features, government phonology, metric phonology, and perhaps even optimality theory. And of course, you will write a short paper in order to complete the course, or you will…

Prerequisites: first year course in descriptive grammar of English: phonetics with elements of phonology, ideally if you have lots of notes from your classes; some knowledge of second year descriptive grammar of English: syntax might be useful, too.

Sample bibliography:
Gussenhoven, Carlos — Haike Jacobs. 2005. Understanding Phonology. Second edition. London: Hodder Arnold.
Gussmann, Edmund. 2002. Phonology. Analysis and Theory. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Odden, David. 2005. Introducing Phonology. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

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Dr Jarosław Weckwerth 
Working with speech on the computer

In this proseminar, we will explore the basics of working with speech on the computer. The topics will include: (1) recording speech for linguistic analysis using consumer and semi-professional equipment; (2) working with different audio formats, including basic editing tasks; (3) some basic and intermediate functions of Praat, a program for “doing phonetics by computer”, including (3a) selected aspects of acoustic analysis of speech, (3b) annotation of recordings, and (3c) forced alignment of text and audio. Time allowing, we may also discuss scripting within Praat to automate measurements and procedures, and sound manipulation for linguistic experiments.

The skills acquired during the course may prove useful not only to people interested in the acoustic analysis of speech but also to all those expecting to use audio (and video) materials e.g. in teaching, discourse analysis, etc.

Credit requirements will be as follows: (1) attend the classes; (2) complete all homework assignments; (3) participate actively in classroom work; (4) complete a simple final assignment. Basic computer skills will be indispensable.

Selected references
Boersma, P. and D. Weenink. 2011. Praat. Doing phonetics by computer. [Software.] <www.praat.org>
Thomas, Erik R. 2011. Sociophonetics. An introduction. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.

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Dr Paweł Stachura
The American Utopia between Walden and Walden Two, (1854-1949)

Walden Two is a sequel of Thoreau’s work, written by Burrhus Skinner, the behaviorist psychologist. How was it possible that Skinner, allegedly a technocrat, became an epigone of Thoreau, the worshipper of nature? We will study ten source texts written between 1854 and 1949, presenting the variety of American utopian visions.
The texts will be divided into social and religious fantasies, technological paradises, and dreams of return to nature. Each of these categories has is pessimistic counterpart, which is almost the same but negative, a sort of utopia in the reverse (distopia). We will also discuss a lot of historical background, including classical utopian texts compared with most recent American examples of utopian thought. We will also study several philosophical discussions of utopia, mostly excerpts from classics by Ernst Bloch, Karl Mannheim, and Emil Cioran.
With all this reading, you can show in your BA paper how utopian ideas influenced a literary text of your choice, even when the text is not overtly utopian, for example when it is a pessimistic (distopian) version of utopian ideas. Possible choices of literary texts: fantasy and science fiction, literatures of discontent and misplaced identities (women’s, Black, Hispanic, ethnic, Native American), social criticism in literature (naturalism, Upton Sinclair, Sinclair Lewis, John Dos Passos, George Steinbeck, Mary McCarthy, Joyce Carrol Oates, Don DeLillo), texts with religious themes, texts about return to nature (Thoreau, Jack London, Ernest Hemingway, Gary Snyder, James Dickey).
LISTA LEKTUR: ZNANE DZIEŁA STARE I WSPÓŁCZESNE, W LICZBIE OŚMIU, A DO NICH TŁO:
WALDEN (ZE SKINNEREM ITD.)
BLITHEDALE ROMANCE (Z ALCOTT)
LITTLE MEN
BELLAMY
JAMES (BOSTONIANS)
DELIVERANCE
BELOVED
LE GUIN AND GREENING OF AMERICA
NAOMI Klein
Classical utopias
(necessary background)
Plato: The Republic and Phaedon (the dialogue about Atlantis)
Campanella: City of the Sun
Thomas Moore: Utopia
Francis Bacon: The New Atlantis
Francois Fourier: Theory of Four Movements (description of the phalanstery)

History of ideas, philosophy (read fragments and find authors in an encyclopaedia): 
Bloch, Ernst. The Principle of Hope. [1959, 1986] Cambridge MA: The MIT Press, 1995.
Cioran, Emile. History and Utopia. [1960]
Fukuyama, Francis. “The End of History?” The National Interest, Summer 1989.
Kojève, Alexandre. Introduction to the Reading of Hegel: Lectures on the Phenomenology of Spirit. Comp. Raymond Queneau. Ed. Allan Bloom. Transl. James H. Nichols, Jr. Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1991.
Mannheim, Carl. Ideology and Utopia. [1926] 1949.

History of ideas:
Francis, Richard. Transcendental Utopias: Individual and Community at Brook Farm, Fruitlands, and Walden. Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1997.
Guarneri, Carl J. The Utopian Alternative: Fourierism in Nineteenth-Century America. Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1991.
Marin, Louis. Utopics: The Semiological Play of Textual Spaces. Transl. Robert A. Vollrath. Atlantic Highlands, NJ: Humaninties Press International, 1990.
Mumford, Lewis. The Story of Utopias. 1922. New York: Viking, 1962.

Many detailed discussions you can find in the Utopian Studies journal, available online through our University Library.

Source texts (some are well known, but most are of purely historical value, forgotten, read only by historian of literature.)

Social and religious utopias: The starting point is the most famous American social utopia: Looking Backward, by Edward Bellamy, written in 1889 (there are numerous reprints and editions).

Various sequels, mostly polemical social utopias and distopias, include:
Geissler, Ludvig A. Looking Beyond. A Sequel to “Looking Backward,” By Edward Bellamy, and An Answer to “Looking Further Forward,” By Richard Michaelis. New Orleans: L. Graham and Son, 1891. [Reprinted: New York: Arno Press and The New York Times, 1971.]
Roberts, J.W. Looking Within: The Misleading Tendencies of “Looking Backward” Made Manifest. New York: A.S. Barnes, 1893. [Reprinted: New York: Arno Press and The New York Times, 1971.]
Schindler, Solomon. Young West: A Sequel to Edward Bellamy’s Celebrated Novel “Looking Backward.” Boston: Arena Publishing Company, 1894. [Reprinted: New York: Arno Press and The New York Times, 1971.]
modern fiction:, Morrison’s Paradise
modern nonfiction: Naomi Klein

Technological fantasies:
Wooldridge, C.W. Perfecting the Earth: A Piece of Possible History. Cleveland, Ohio: The Utopia Publishing Company, 1902. [Reprinted: New York: Arno Press and The New York Times, 1971.]
Peck, Bradford. The World: A Department Store: The Story of Life Under a Cooperative System. Lewiston, Maine: Bradford Peck, 1900. [Reprinted: New York: Arno Press and The New York Times, 1971.]
Heinlein, Robert A. The Man who Sold the Moon. New York: A New American Library, 1949. (Or any of his short stories written before 1949, easily found.)
modern fiction: George Steinbeck
modern nonfiction: Future Shock, some shit about Internet

Natural fantasies:
The starting point could be earlier, but it is Henry David Thoreau’s Walden, 1854.
Wright, Austin Tappan. Islandia. New York: Farrar & Rinehart, [1890] 1942. [Reprinted: New York: Arno Press and The New York Times, 1971.]
Wister, Owen. The Virginian. 1902. (numerous reprints and editions)
modern fiction: Ecotopia, Surfacing
modern nonfiction: The Greening of America

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Dr hab. Paweł Scheffler
Formal grammar instruction and Second / Foreign Language Acquisition

The question of the role of formal grammar instruction in L2 acquisition has been the subject of a lively debate in recent years. The general tendency seems to have been to move away from a purely communicative framework, like that of Krashen, and to recognize some role for formal grammar instruction, at least in adult L2 acquisition.

There have been various proposals as to how formal instruction should be implemented. In a popular approach developed by Long (1991), pedagogic interventions are justified whenever learners experience communication breakdowns during the performance of some task. In another task-based paradigm, that of Ellis (2003), a leading communicative module is supposed to be supplemented by an independent grammar module, which can be implemented in a fairly traditional manner. Finally, there are SLA specialists (e.g. Johnson 1996, DeKeyser 1998) who postulate using concepts from Anderson’s skill acquisition theory in adult L2 instruction. In general, this involves learners developing conscious declarative L2 knowledge which is proceduralized as a result of practice.

In this seminar we will explore in some detail the instructional frameworks referred to above. We will pay special attention to how learners’ own languages and translation can support second / foreign language learning.

Selected bibliography
Butzkamm, W. and J.A.W. Caldwell. 2009. The Bilingual Reform: A Paradigm Shift in Foreign Language Teaching. Tübingen: Gunter Narr Verlag.
Cook, G. 2010. Translation in Language Teaching: An Argument for Reassessment. Oxford: OUP.
Doughty, C. and J. Williams. (eds.). Focus on Form in Classroom Second Language Acquisition. Cambridge: CUP.

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Dr Radosław Dylewski
"They speak really bad English Down South and in New York City" - American English, its varieties and language myths 

The aim of the course is twofold. Firstly, it will explore the major American dialects (as well as African American  English) with a focus on their distinctive patterns of pronunciation, morphosyntax, and characteristic lexical traits. The historical background of the regional and social dialects within the national pattern will be also addressed during the course. Secondly, the seminar will deal with certain language myths connected with American English and its dialects, to name a few: the supposed 'linguistic vandalisms' of Americans persistently ruining the English language, the belief that some regional varieties in the US are more 'standard' than others, and the recurrent claim that the speech of the Southern mountains is a survival of 'Shakespearian' or 'Elizabethan' English. Prerequisites include familiarity with the content of the first-year Descriptive Grammar of English and American history; genuine interest in the topic will be highly appreciated. Credit requirements: active participation in discussion, regular attendance, delivery of one class presentation per semester as well as passing of one end-of-term test on the covered material 
[The title has been borrowed from Preston's 1998 chapter which can be found here: http://www.pbs.org/speak/speech/prejudice/attitudes/]