LANG 2090
Exploring Language and Communication with Big Data
Course Description
LANG2090 introduces corpus linguistics, a method for studying language through large-scale data. Students learn how to uncover patterns in authentic language use by analysing existing corpora and building their own language datasets. By exploring how language functions across different domains—such as health, business, and digital communication—students will develop digital literacy, quantitative research skills, and a deeper understanding of the role of language in society.
Highlights
Learn data analytics through real communication. Investigate how language is used in health and science, business and politics, digital media and everyday communication. Students learn to move beyond personal impressions and support their interpretations with authentic language data.
Progress from guided practice to independent investigation. The course begins with accessible, hands-on activities using corpus tools. Students then analyse authentic datasets before building their own corpus and conducting an original investigation into a topic that interests them.
Develop an original data-driven project. Working in teams, students formulate a research question, collect and prepare textual data, identify meaningful patterns, visualise results and communicate their findings through a report and presentation.
Assessments
- An individual analytical essay develops skills in comparative analysis across genres or registers
- A group-based corpus project to investigate language in a domain relevant to students’ interests
Target Students
- Suitable for students from all disciplines
- No prior experience in programming or linguistics needed
- Ideal for students curious about language, communication, or data
Learning Experience
Student testimonials
- “The course introduced me to analytical tools for studying corpora, which was completely new to me.”
- “The corpus-compilation guide helped to smooth out the process and showed us how to complete the report and presentation effectively.”
- “The course improved both my English and computer skills significantly.”
Course outcomes
- practical experience working with digital language data
- transferable skills in research, critical thinking, and data interpretation
- ability to uncover hidden patterns in everyday language which equips students with valuable insights applicable to fields such as communication, education, media, and business