Course Description

This course adopts a view of language as a sociocognitive phenomenon and that all texts, regardless of their mode or medium are representations of the reality around. Authors and audiences share a field of discourse in constructing representations of their world and all texts produced are grounded in a particular discourse. Texts and discourse draw on audience's semiotic and literacy competencies in order to deconstruct the ideologies, world views and histories that are embedded within. Meaning is produced through this engagement and intertextual interaction. This course will provide participants with an understanding of texts and discourse by analyzing language use in context, examining textual conventions and genres, socio-cultural determinants of significance, individual subjectivities and multiple discourses that permeate all texts.