Stockholm university
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Bilingualism in Society

The course highlights aspects of bi- and multilingualism in the era of globalization. It examines the relationship between language and society, in particular the ways in which multilingual practices are used to construct social categories such as class, 'race', ethnicity and gender, and thus create, maintain or challenge persistent forms of inequality.

A group of students sitting on a bench indoors, chatting.
Photo: Jens Olof Lasthein

The aim of the course is to explore the theoretical and methodological frameworks that position language as a form of practice through which social relations, cultural forms, ideologies, hierarchies, and identities are constructed.

After a completed course you will:

  • have a solid grasp of  and use sociolinguistic concepts and methods that are central to multilingual research
  • apply a holistic approach across the various social aspects of multilingualism and discuss links between these aspects in a theoretically informed way
  • analyze and discuss specific social issues relating to multilingualism by using appropriate concepts, methods and theories
  • discuss and seek to resolve language policy issues in relation to  multilingualism
  • in a theoretically and methodologically informed manner independently plan, carry out and report on a small sociolinguistic investigation relevant to the field of multilingualism
  • assess accepted scientific conventions in multilingualism research in a critical way and apply new scientific approaches to multilingualism in society.

You can take the course as a freestanding course, or whitin the Master’s Programme in Language Science with a Specialisation in Bilingualism.

Do you want to know more about our master's program? Please see:

Master’s Programme in Language Science with a Specialisation in Bilingualism