What’s going on this year for Applied Linguistics students?

In 2020 it’s difficult for anything to avoid the shadow of COVID-19 and university life has proven to be no exception. Thousands of students across the country have spoken of their confusion and worry of returning to university, many have been forced to self-isolate in their halls of residence and things seem to be changing rapidly, sometimes even on a weekly basis. It is perhaps an understatement to say that students are worried. 

University life is undoubtedly a major transition in an individual’s life. It can be both exciting and overwhelming as students manage academic and social pressures, and now with university changed by COVID-19 and government restrictions, one must ask – How are students doing? We are faced with something unique in comparison to the generations of students that came before us. But we have no choice but to meet the challenge. Right now, It’s important to find community, and if the usual ways of finding this are on hold, we need to make our own ways. 

So, what is going on this year for Applied Linguistics students at Swansea?

After a year of inaction, some of us Applied Linguistics students have been working to revive the department’s student society. We welcome anyone to join us, suggest ideas or lend a hand.

Email us at appliedlinguistics@swansea-societies.co.uk, if you want to get involved. You can also follow us on Facebook, https://www.facebook.com/Swansea-Applied-Linguistics-Society-104424181411762 or on Twitter @AppliedSu. 

For now, see what we have planned for this year!

Academic Stuff: 

Do you have an exciting piece of work you’d like to share? Or would you just like the chance to practise your presentation skills? Are you interested in hearing about the work taking place across the department? Then join us for the Applied Linguistics Society Seminars!

Once a month, we’ll be running talks from across the department about all things linguistics: study tips, careers advice, research developments – the list goes on. Each talk will be followed by a brief networking session, which will give you the chance to meet with people across the department.

These seminars will be a student-led complement to the departmental talks. As such, we’re keen to hear from you! What topics would you like to hear about? Would you like to participate by delivering a talk? Let us know by emailing us at appliedlinguistics@swansea-societies.co.uk.

Keighley Perkins, Academic Rep

Social Stuff:

Because of the current situation regarding Covid-19, the social side of societies this year is going to be different to what people may have been used to. We are trying to think of different way we can bring our little community together, but of course we need to keep in mind the location of society members alongside the current rules in place. 

We aim to have regular Zoom sessions so everyone can get involved, but we have also thought about meeting outside – maybe join us at Swansea beach for a campfire – weather permitting! We welcome any and all ideas! Let us know what you want to do. 

Courtney Gillingham, Social Rep

The Swansea Linguistics Journal:

Now in its third edition, the Swansea Linguistics Journal is an annual publication created and maintained by students of Swansea University’s Applied Linguistics Department, dedicated to showcasing the best student work. This year’s edition was the longest yet, and was read by people as far away as Japan and French Guiana! 

This year the journal featured its first article from the field of Chinese translation and interpreting, a critical investigation of subtitling in the Disney classic, The Lion King. its author, Bihan Ma, found that errors usually crop up when the translator has to deal with dialectal features or idiomatic phrases that have to be reformulated to fit the Chinese language. Also new this year were two essays originally written for the first-year module, Applied Linguistics: Uncovering Language Myths and Linguistic Truths. Molly Chapman took on the myth that adults can’t learn become fluent in a second language, and Josh Richardson looked into whether there really are many words for snow in Eskimo languages. Also featured were articles from fields as diverse as discourse analysis, psycholinguistics, English language teaching and learning, and healthcare communication, reflecting the wide range of subjects that are studied in Swansea University’s Department of Applied Linguistics. 

Off the back of this success, we are now looking ahead to next year’s edition of the Swansea Linguistics Journal. In due course, we will begin to gather together submissions from students in every undergraduate year group, as well as from the department’s postgraduates. Any assignment which has received a grade of 70 or above will be considered for publication in the journal, so if you would like to see your work appear, please email us at lingjournalswansea@gmail.com. We will also be looking to take on editors and proof-readers to help prepare the next issue, so keep an eye out for further announcements if you’re interested! The editorial team are looking forward to another great year for the Swansea Linguistics Journal, and can’t wait to read more fantastic articles from the students of Swansea’s Department of Applied Linguistics.

In the meantime, you can visit our website, https://swansealinguisticsjournal.wordpress.com/, where you will find all three issues of the journal as well as exclusive interviews with members of staff from the department. You can also follow us on Twitter @SwanseaApplied to keep up to date with announcements regarding the journal. 

Milo Coffey and Rosie Webber, Co-Editors of the Applied Linguistics Journal