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Corporate Language and Communication: When Sharks Work with Dolphins

Module description

In today’s corporate world, language, discourse, and communication play a key role in navigating complex work relations. Struggles with communication in unequal work environments have serious material and symbolic consequences. This module will equip you with an understanding of how linguistic exchanges play a key role in tackling crises, conflict, and everyday inequalities in corporate language. We will examine empirical studies from sociolinguistics, applied linguistic and discourse analysis and explore concepts such as language as practice, interactional sociolinguistics, and (critical) discourse analysis to analyse spoken and written language in real life scenarios including new media to explore, for example, how individuals brand themselves in corporate settings. You do not need any prior knowledge to take this module. It is suitable for non-specialist students and recommended for interdisciplinary pathways.

Module aims - intentions of the module

• Examine key theoretical frameworks such as language in use, language legitimacy, professional communication and competence, linguistic capital, language policing and rapport building in the workplace.
• Explore what corporate communication is and how you could develop ability to respond to today’s competitive work environments where hierarchies intersecting with gender, ethnicity and race play a key role in linguistic delegitimization, language policing, linguistic violence, and socio-cultural problems.
• Develop tactics to navigate through linguistic injustices in the workplace with theoretical frameworks such as corporate discourse, corporate culture, language in interaction, corporate identity, labour surveillance, language ideology, language in society, humour at work, and gendered discourse in a range of contexts pertaining to today’s workplace.
• Develop communicative competence, transform workplace inequalities, and provide with some tactics and strategies for employability.

Intended Learning Outcomes (ILOs)

ILO: Module-specific skills

On successfully completing the module you will be able to...

• 1. Apply in detail key theoretical concepts in corporate discourse and communication and appraise their relevance to real life workplace scenarios
• 2. Evaluate the production and circulation of workplace related written documents and everyday interactions in a range of online and offline settings

ILO: Discipline-specific skills

On successfully completing the module you will be able to...

• 3. Critically analyse discourses and language in use pertaining to the workplace, such as employer-employee linguistic exchanges, tensions and conflicts
• 4. Apply a range of relevant theories of sociolinguistics and applied linguistics to empirical data and produce an original piece of written work

ILO: Personal and key skills

On successfully completing the module you will be able to...

• 5. Develop effective competence in discourse analytical tools based on readings, data analysis and your own lived experiences.
• 6. Undertake an independent project, which will involve analysing written or spoken data and application of appropriate theoretical and analytical frameworks.

Syllabus plan

• Key concepts in corporate discourse and communication
• Language as practice
• Corporate talk in action
• Corporate identity and branding
• Corporate culture and discourse
• Gendered talk at work
• Critical/ discourse analysis
• Persuasion and manipulation in corporate discourse
• Legitimacy and authenticity
• Written texts, e.g. emails in corporate communication

Learning activities and teaching methods (given in hours of study time)

Details of learning activities and teaching methods

Formative assessment

Summative assessment (% of credit)

Details of summative assessment

Details of re-assessment (where required by referral or deferral)

Indicative learning resources - Basic reading

• Block D. (2018). Political economy and sociolinguistics: Neoliberalism, inequality, and social class. London: Bloomsbury.
• Breeze, R. (2015). Corporate discourse. Bloomsbury.
• Brinson, A. (2018). Swimming with Sharks in Dark Water: Having Race and Working with Grace in Corporate White America. Trafford Publishing.
• Darics, E. and Koller, V. (2018). Language in Business, Language at Work. Palgrave.
• Gumperz, John J. 1982. Discourse strategies. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.
• Holborow, M. (2015). Language and neoliberalism: language, society, and political economy. Routledge
• Jaworska, S. (2020). Corporate discourse. In: De Fina, A. and Georgakopoulou, Nunes, A. (eds.) Handbook of Discourse Studies. Cambridge University Press.

Indicative learning resources - Other resources

• Yorulmazer, D. and Kerimoglu, K. (2023). As the crow flies. Netflix.

Key words search

corporate discourse, language at work, discourse analysis, sociolinguistics