Unit Synopsis
In this unit, you will study aspects of language form, content, and use to develop an understanding of morphology, syntax, semantics, and pragmatics. You will learn how these subsystems of language help us to understand and express meaning in communication and will apply your learning to analyse English words and sentences. You will study how people acquire language, and how language varies across individuals, communities, social environments, and cultures.
Details
| Level | Undergraduate |
|---|---|
| Unit Level | 2 |
| Credit Points | 6 |
| Student Contribution Band | SCA Band 2 |
| Fraction of Full-Time Student Load | 0.125 |
| Pre-requisites or Co-requisites |
There are no pre-requisites for the unit.
Important note: Students enrolled in a subsequent unit who failed their pre-requisite unit, should drop the subsequent unit before the census date or within 10 working days of Fail grade notification. Students who do not drop the unit in this timeframe cannot later drop the unit without academic and financial liability. See details in the Assessment Policy and Procedure (Higher Education Coursework). |
| Class Timetable | View Unit Timetable |
| Residential School | No Residential School |
Unit Availabilities from Term 1 - 2026
Term 2 - 2026 Profile
Attendance Requirements
All on-campus students are expected to attend scheduled classes - in some units, these classes are identified as a mandatory (pass/fail) component and attendance is compulsory. International students, on a student visa, must maintain a full time study load and meet both attendance and academic progress requirements in each study period (satisfactory attendance for International students is defined as maintaining at least an 80% attendance record).
Recommended Student Time Commitment
Each 6-credit Undergraduate unit at CQUniversity requires an overall time commitment of an average of 12.5 hours of study per week, making a total of 150 hours for the unit.
Assessment Tasks
| Assessment Task | Weighting |
|---|---|
| 1. Online Quiz(zes) | 60% |
| 2. Essay | 40% |
This is a graded unit: your overall grade will be calculated from the marks or grades for each assessment task, based on the relative weightings shown in the table above. You must obtain an overall mark for the unit of at least 50%, or an overall grade of ‘pass’ in order to pass the unit. If any ‘pass/fail’ tasks are shown in the table above they must also be completed successfully (‘pass’ grade). You must also meet any minimum mark requirements specified for a particular assessment task, as detailed in the ‘assessment task’ section (note that in some instances, the minimum mark for a task may be greater than 50%).
Past Exams
All University policies are available on the Policy web site, however you may wish to directly view the following policies below.
This list is not an exhaustive list of all University policies. The full list of policies are available on the Policy web site .
Term 2 - 2025 : The overall satisfaction for students in the last offering of this course was 87.50% (`Agree` and `Strongly Agree` responses), based on a 33.33% response rate.
Feedback, Recommendations and Responses
Every unit is reviewed for enhancement each year. At the most recent review, the following staff and student feedback items were identified and recommendations were made.
Source: SUTE
Students requested more feedback on assessment tasks.
It is recommended that the unit coordinator provide more opportunities for feedback discussions following quiz completion.
A question‑and‑answer period was provided at the beginning of each tutorial to give students the opportunity to raise any issues or questions regarding the lecture content or assessments.
Source: SUTE
Students enjoyed the incorporation of real-world examples and practical content in lectures and tutorials.
It is recommended that the unit coordinator continue to integrate real-world examples and practical content to enhance student learning.
The lecturer continued to incorporate real‑life examples, including their own personal experiences, to highlight linguistic differences across cultures and countries, and invited students (if they felt comfortable) to share their own cultural experiences in comparison with the Australian context. The majority of tutorials also included hands‑on practice with key linguistic concepts through activities such as polls, working through examples, and other interactive tasks.
Source: SUTE
Students requested fewer quizzes in the constellation of assessments
It is recommended that the Unit Coordinator review alternative assessment formats.
In Progress
Source: Lecturer/Unit Coordinator
Student engagement during tutorials appeared low
It is recommended that the Unit Coordinator liaise with Learning Design to investigate engagement options for hybrid delivery modalities.
In Progress
On successful completion of this unit, you will be able to:
- Identify and analyse aspects of form, content, and use in simple and complex English words and sentences
- Describe how language develops and varies across time, speakers, communities, environments, and cultures
- Integrate a variety of evidence-based sources to support a claim related to language learning or diversity
- Cohesively and coherently communicate ideas using academic writing conventions
| Assessment Tasks | Learning Outcomes | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | |
| 1 - Online Quiz(zes) | • | • | ||
| 2 - Essay | • | • | ||
| Graduate Attributes | Learning Outcomes | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | |
| 1 - Communication | • | • | • | • |
| 2 - Problem Solving | • | • | • | • |
| 3 - Critical Thinking | • | • | • | • |
| 4 - Information Literacy | • | |||
| 6 - Information Technology Competence | • | • | • | • |
| 7 - Cross Cultural Competence | • | |||
| 8 - Ethical practice | • | • | • | • |
| 10 - Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Cultures | • | • | ||
| Assessment Tasks | Graduate Attributes | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 10 | |