Students benefit from linguistic lectures at English language conference

English Language students at Solihull Sixth Form College were joined by learners from two local schools for an A level English Language Conference on campus recently, featuring three top academics.

The Conference, run in collaboration with Alderbrook School and Woodrush High School, featured a lecture from world-renowned linguist, writer, lecturer and broadcaster David Crystal (pictured), who spoke about Pragmatics, which is the study of the explanations behind language.

He explored punctuation, grammar, choice of words and sentence structure and explained that context and a variety of social factors influence the way we all speak and write.

He also invited learners to explore the discrepancies between our linguistic choices and the effect our words have on others, based on different cultures and upbringings.

There were also lectures from two local academics, Dr Mark McGlashan from Birmingham City University and Dr Krzysztof Kredens from Aston University.

Dr McGlashan spoke about the representations of gender in children 's books, with a particular emphasis on how same sex parents are portrayed in children's picture books.

Meanwhile Dr Kredens focused on forensic linguistics and how this can be used to help solve crime. He explained how linguistic profiling and the analysis of disputed meanings can aid police investigations and prosecutions.

Jane McCard, Curriculum leader for English and Modern Languages at the College, said: " We were delighted to work with Alderbrook and Woodrush Schools, so students could benefit from three outstanding visiting speakers.

“Although each academic explored very different areas of linguistics, all three were able to get our young people thinking about how language is used to convey meaning. All three lectures were fascinating and will enhance our students learning going forward."