EKIS605 MA Thesis Seminar (5 cr)

Open the course unit brochure on Sisu

Study level:

Advanced studies

Grading scale:

0-5

Language:

English

Responsible organisation:

Department of Language and Communication Studies

Curriculum periods:

2017-2018, 2018-2019, 2019-2020

Description

Content

The seminar work focuses on gaining personal experience of scientific work, improving skills in process writing, developing critical and theoretical thinking and argumentation skills, and giving and receiving critical, constructive feedback. Students will deepen their knowledge of scientific research, including its methods and reporting conventions; advance their information searching skills; draft a research plan for a topic agreed with the supervisor; work on their MA theses according to the plan; present their projects at different stages and give feedback on other students’ projects.

Completion methods

Contact teaching (seminar)

Assessment details

Active participation in the seminar (min. 80% attendance), a research proposal or a work plan; keeping to the schedule.

Learning outcomes

After completing the seminar students will be able to

- draft a research proposal or a work plan
- understand the ethical principles of conducting research and follow those principles
- plan and control their working process according to a mutually agreed schedule
- discuss their own work, present oral and written reports of their work and explain their own choices
- give, receive and ask for feedback as part of the seminar discussion
- act as active and cooperative participants of a seminar group

Description of prerequisites

Before taking the MA Thesis Seminar, students are expected to have completed all Intermediate Studies (including BA Thesis Seminar, BA Thesis and KLSA012 / KLSA1000 Tutkimuksen teon perusteet) and most of Advanced Studies.

Completion methods

Method 1

Select all marked parts

Parts of the completion methods

Teaching (5 cr)

Type:

Participation in teaching

Grading scale:

0-5

Language:

English

Teaching

9/9/2019–5/24/2020 Seminar

Enrolment period:

8/20/2019 9:00 AM–9/5/2019 8:00 PM

Type:

Seminar

Language:

English

Responsible organisation:

Department of Language and Communication Studies

Additional information:

Group 1: Leila Kääntä
This seminar is for those students who are interested in research topics related to foreign/second language learning and teaching. The topics can range from general SLA topics to classroom/social interaction and/or multimodality to pragmatics. Students interested in studying content-based language teaching and learning are encouraged to join this group.
Group 2: Judit Hahn
This seminar is mainly offered for those students who are interested in discourse studies. A wide range of topics is welcome, especially if related to one of the following fields: 1) linguistic landscapes (including the study of online spaces); 2) discourse in marketing/advertising/business; 3) discourse and/or genre analysis of written and multi-modal digital media texts; 4) language policy. About six group meetings are planned per term.
Group 4: Sirpa Leppänen
This seminar is for those students who are interested in sociolinguistics and discourse studies. Their thesis work can relate to (i) sociolinguistic analysis of language diversity, (ii) discourse analysis of written and multi-modal media texts, (iii) language and gender, (iv) stylistic, literary and narrative analysis of fiction and film and (v) sociolinguistic and discourse analysis of popular cultural practices. Particularly welcome are students who are interested in investigating digital media as sites for language use, social action and cultural production (for more information, see www.jyu.fi/lgsd).
Group 5: Anne Pitkänen-Huhta and Johanna Ennser-Kananen
This seminar is for students who aim at becoming language teachers and who are interested in various issues related to language learning and teaching. Topics can include, for example, learning and teaching practices, learner and teacher identities, early language learning, multilingual education, language and culture education, social justice in language education, race, gender, and social class in language education, language education policies, or curriculum studies. It is also possible to design theoretically driven sets of teaching materials for specific groups of learners.
Group 6 is for the students who started their MA seminar in January 2019 with Anne Pitkänen-Huhta.

8/31/2020–5/23/2021 Seminar

Enrolment period:

8/13/2020 12:00 AM–8/27/2020 11:59 PM

Type:

Seminar

Language:

English

Responsible organisation:

Department of Language and Communication Studies

Additional information:

Group 1: Anne Pitkänen-Huhta
This seminar is for students who aim at becoming language teachers and who are interested in various issues related to language learning and teaching. Topics can include, for example, learning and teaching practices, learner and teacher identities, early language learning, multilingual education, language and culture education, social justice in language education, race, gender, and social class in language education, language education policies, or curriculum studies. It is also possible to design theoretically driven sets of teaching materials for specific groups of learners.

Group 2: Jenni Virtaluoto
This seminar is especially intended for students interested in technical communication and information design. The possible areas of research range from plain language to translation, minimalism, user guidance, documentation quality, service design, and other related issues.

Group 3: Teppo Jakonen
This seminar is primarily intended to students specializing in language learning and teaching and/or those who are otherwise interested in language and education. Possible topics include, but are not limited to, social interaction in educational settings, multimodality, embodiment, digital technology and learning, bilingual/multilingual education, content and language integrated learning (CLIL), learning materials and tasks, and code-switching/language alternation/translanguaging.

Group 4: Samu Kytölä (group starts in January 2021)
This MA seminar is intended for students interested in issues of discourse in/and society. Approaches include, broadly speaking: sociolinguistics, discourse studies, cultural studies, and diversity studies. MA theses in this group may relate to, for example,
(i) linguistic diversity and multilingualism;
(ii) language, globalization, and societal change;
(iii) language attitudes and ideologies;
(iv) ethnicity/migration/citizenship
(v) gender/sexuality/queer studies;
(vi) digital communication, digital media, online culture.
(vii) sports, popular culture, fiction, film, or other forms of art.
Multimodal / multisemiotic approaches to discourse, i.e. studies that discuss language use as one semiotic means among other semiotic means, are welcome.

Group 5: Sirpa Leppänen (group continues from spring 2020)