My Second Year University Experience: Academia

We have reached the final post within my second year university experience series! (wow what a mouthful). If you haven't read my other posts, please be sure to do so.

• Social Experience
• Accommodation Experience
• Finance Experience

I saved this post until last because I was still waiting for my results to come through. My second year has been worth 25% of my final degree and I wanted to include what I got. 

For those of you who don't already know, I study BA English Language. It is a 4 year course, however placement year is optional, meaning it can be bunked down to 3 years. I decided to opt out, for many reasons and with the virus, I'm even happier that I didn't do the year abroad like I originally thought about. This is going to be a breakdown of the modules I did and how I found my course this year. If anyone is interested in studying English Language, hopefully this will give you an idea of what it's like.

M O D U L E S 

Just as I did for my post last year, I'm going to give a brief summary of each module I took and my opinions on them. 

Semester A

Written Text Analysis 

I really enjoyed written text analysis. The module looked at different types of text analysis and methods of analysing written texts. For example, discourse analysis, critical discourse analysis and genre analysis. Essentially this just means pulling text apart to understand it's function and the writer's purpose. If you don't study English this may sound really technical but it's quite easy to grasp once you get the hang of it. I loved Discourse analysis last year, so getting to look into it in further detail was great. I wrote one of my favourite essays for this module. Not only did I do really well grade wise, but I genuinely enjoyed writing it and doing research for it 

Language in the News Media 

This was another module I really enjoyed this year. If I'm being honest I loved most the modules I studied. Language in the news media looked at the importance of language in news media and how it contributes to fulfilling political agenda. We looked at journalism, accessed voices, orbital structure, news values and so many other things. It was a very jam packed module that I was so interested in. This module really taught me how well crafted news articles and political speeches are. Everything is considered, even the small things that you wouldn't assume to be. Every decision made has a psychological effect on the reader or in some way shows what the writer's views are. 

Psychology of Language and Communication

I actually wasn't the biggest fan of this module. It took me by surprise that I didn't enjoy it, because I usually find psychology really fascinating. For this module, we looked at some interesting topics but the way the lectures were set up made it hard to be enthusiastic. For one, every lecture was at 9am. BOOOO. We hate 9ams over here. Secondly, the lectures weren't very interactive, it was mainly just note-taking, and when it's 9am the last thing I want to be doing is something super scientific and intense with no fun. In this module we looked at language acquisition, memory, multilingualism, word/speech recognition etc. I definitely learnt a lot to be fair. It was one of the more difficult modules for sure. I really respect people who study psychology because it's very technical. 

Literature, Culture and Society 

Although I'm not the greatest at it, every semester I like to pick a literature module if it is available. I think it's important to not just stick to what you're good at but do things you enjoy or want to get better at. I really enjoy literature but I didn't pick it as a joint honors, because I'm better at language. With that being said, I do like to push myself every now and then. This module was so much fun. We looked at how literature reflects culture and society. For example, through identification, implied readership, pronoun choice etc. Every week we were given a new fictional text to read, which was nice since English language texts are usually non-fiction. I also really loved my lecturer, she's amazing. 

Semester B

Creative Writing 

Creative writing was another literature module that I took this year. The style of lectures was quite different to any other modules I've ever done. We would have a week of normal lecture, then the following week a guest writer would come in and do a practical workshop. We looked at poetry, prose and play-writing. It was interesting to get some writing advice and tips from people within the industry. One of our lecturers was actually a former writer for Eastenders and I really enjoyed her lectures. She was able to give us great advice about writing good stories. I wish they were longer but this module was the shortest in terms of contact hours on my timetable. 

Teaching English to speakers of other languages (TESOL)

I loved this module! As an aspiring teacher, it was right up my street. Although I'm planning on teaching English here and not necessarily people who don't speak English already, the module was all about teaching methods and what makes a good teacher. It was a very practical and engaging module for sure. We had to do a lot of simulations and role play. Some things we learnt about were how to do interactive lessons, corrective feedback, lesson planning etc. All things I'm going to find very useful in the future. This module taught me how hard it is to lesson plan and that it's not easy to teach everything you've planned. 

Working with Language Data 

Another module I wasn't too fond of. I found the lectures pretty boring I can't lie. The module was focusing on research and different ways of collecting or using data. For example, primary and secondary research, observers paradox, what makes good/bad data etc. It will be very useful for my dissertation (ew even the word is gross), however there wasn't anything too special about it. Most of the lectures I was late to because I just had no sense of urgency to go....oops. I promise I'm a good student. 

Advanced Sociolinguistics

I hated this module. It was SO difficult. When they said advanced, they meant that. The topics were interesting but it was heavily reliant on readings that I barely understood and corpus linguistics, which I'm just terrible at. Not only that but the lectures were 9ams. Why is it that the timetable co-coordinators picked the lectures that require the most brainpower to be the earliest? Typical. The module looked at language dialects and variations, indexicality and enregisterment etc. I left every lecture confused, so there's that LOL. We read some interesting case studies though so I'll give it that. Plus, my lecturer was sweet. 

L E C T U R E S 

I enjoyed a lot of my lectures this year. My course-mates made the boring ones worth going to. I'm really going to miss being with everyone! Some are doing their placement year, so I won't get to graduate with them and that makes me so sad.We also have a lot of E-lectures this upcoming semester, so less time with everyone. We plan to have regular meet ups though which is exciting. Some lectures ended up being online towards the end of the year due to covid, but I'm fortunate that I only had 2 weeks of the year before lock-down happened anyway, so things weren't massively impacted. 

We had less contact hours compared to first year and I know that will be the case for third year too. I'm not sure where my tuition is going sometimes...

Can't complain too much though because my lecturers are really helpful with resources and office hours. 

A S S I G N M E N T S 

Written Text Analysis: 1000 word portfolio 40% and 2000 word Essay 60%

My portfolio was about properties of discourse colonies that were featured in a sample text and pattern sequencing within a children's storybook. 

My 2000 word essay was a Discourse Analysis of a 2007 cosmopolitan magazine cover. 

Language in the News Media: 2500 word Essay 80% Engagement and Participation in lectures 20%

One thing I loved about this module is that it was very hands on. Every week we had to bring in a news paper, to analyse the different things we were learning in the lecture. We all brought different news papers with different scoops or the same scoop written in different ways. We talked about what we found and our opinions on them. It was nice to be graded on just sharing your thoughts. 

For my essay I wrote a comparison case study on language features used in remain/leave campaign articles during the 2016 EU referendum. 

Psychology of Language and Communication: 50% exam 50% Group Presentation

Another reason why I didn't love this module is because it involved 2 things I don't enjoy....exams and presentations. I actually did well on the exam, which still baffles me because i'm pretty sure I guessed my way through it. Studying for that exam was so boring and stressful. After I sat it, I was convinced I had failed and would have to resit but I actually passed with flying colours. 

For the presentation, my group looked at how Broca's aphasia affects speech production. 

Literature, Culture and Society: 100% 3000 word essay

For my essay, I wrote a study on how pronoun choice within an emotive narrative impacts identification of a text. The original text I used to support my study was written in first person, and I got a sample of 15 people to read the text. A group of 5 read the original text, another 5 read the text modified into second person narrative and the final 5 read a modified version in third-person. The aim was to see if one pronoun choice was more effective in creating empathy. 

Creative Writing: 100% 3000 word original work portfolio + commentary

We had to pick 2/3 styles of writing and create our own pieces. I chose poetry and prose. I did a collection of poetry associated with my faith and a prose about a mirror that sits on the wall of a university halls bedroom. It was a comedic personified piece of its experience watching what the resident does. We also had to include a commentary explaining the reason behind our piece and how we found creating it. I'm not the best writer so it wasn't the easiest of assignments for me. I enjoy being creative but I find it a lot of pressure to be graded on it, which is actually why I chose it. I wanted to push myself out of my comfort zone. This was one of the grades I wasn't the happiest with but oh well, I did enjoy the module regardless. 

Teaching English to speakers of other languages (TESOL): 50% lesson plan and 50% teaching practice + 500 word rationale

We had to create a 45 minute lesson plan for whatever level and topic we wanted. I chose a lesson on speaking and focused on pronunciation for pre-intermediate students. 

For my teaching practice I did written vocabulary for intermediate students. When we first prepared for the teaching practice, we were supposed to do it in person and I had handouts sorted, however lock-down happened and cut the academic year down unexpectedly. We ended up being given an extension so we could adapt our activities to work online. My group and I did a few practices over Skype and then recorded our final lessons over Blackboard Collaborate. It was quite weird trying to teach a class online, when it was prepared to be in person. I have so much empathy for teachers during this time. I actually did pretty well on this module despite the changes, so I'm happy about that. 

Working with Language Data: 25% Group Presentation and 75% 3000 word essay

This was another module that was effected by the virus. With it being a group presentation, we had obviously prepared to do it orally and in person however the module leaders changed the assignment to being a power-point submission. This meant it had to be VERY detailed with speaker notes. I found it so hard to get motivated for this assignment so it was a massive relief when it was submitted. My group definitely did most the work. I played my part but no where near as much as I usually would. At the start of lock-down I was just having a super hard time adjusting and felt kind of anxious about everything going on. I'm glad I had a group who were on it. We actually did our presentation on metaphor use in news to represent the coronavirus. We picked this topic back in January/early Feb, and obviously had no idea we'd be writing it in a world pandemic. Thinking about it now, maybe that's why I couldn't bare working on it. 

The 3000 word assignment was an individual piece based on the research we did and presented as a group. This was the last assignment of the year that I submitted. It was a great feeling. 

Advanced Sociolinguistics: 50% 1500 word essay and 50% Exam 

We had a range of essay titles to pick from and then had to choose a selection of case studies (given by lecturer + our own findings) to answer it. The essay I chose was 'What do the concepts of indexicality and enregisterment contribute to our understanding of speaker agency in linguistic variation? Use specific examples of variables or varieties to support your argument'. It was as hard as it sounds haha. Surprisingly I passed though so yay. Same goes for the exam.It's only God that I passed because I started studying for it about 3 days before and it was ridiculously tough content. It was originally a closed book exam and then they changed it to open book. THANK THE LORD FOR THAT. I'm just glad I never have to do it again.

I finally got my results at the end of July and I'm happy to say I finished second year with an Upper Second-class (2.1). I'm glad I have that 25% in the bag. 

S E C O N D   Y E A R   G O A L S   I   M E T

I had some personal goals that I didn't include in my first year post, just because I like to keep some things private until they're met. One of my goals was to finish the year with a 2.1 or 1st, which I met. I'm obviously happy about that. I worked so hard this year so that I would reach that goal. 

My other goal was to push myself by taking modules I would find more challenging. I was able to do that by taking literature modules and the psychology module. I knew it would be out of my comfort zone and it was nice to grow in knowledge around different areas. 

F I N A L   Y E A R ?

I would love to finish my degree with either a 2.1 or 1st class, which would mean I need to finish third year with a 2.1 at least. 

I would like to write my dissertation on a topic that I'm passionate about and be proud of the final outcome. I'm still unsure of what topic I'm going to choose but I have been noting down vague ideas over the summer. I don't want to do anything that's been overly researched, so it's going to take some real thought.

So that is the last of the series! Make sure to read my other ones if you haven't already and give me a follow to see what I talk about next year.

Thanks for reading,

Have a great day x