Lancaster University

Knowledge and understanding:

• Precise understanding of the modern spoken and written language studied, in its various styles and registers (e.g. colloquial, journalistic, literary etc.)
• General understanding of more specialised registers and usages of the contemporary language (e.g. business and commerce, academic, scientific).
• Extensive and detailed knowledge of the contemporary societies and cultures where the language is spoken, such as will inform and enhance its understanding, and the ability to engage in conversation and argument with educated native speakers.
• Knowledge and understanding of the major historical events and forces (social, political, intellectual) which have shaped those societies and cultures.
• Thorough knowledge and understanding of the grammar and syntax of the language, such as will inform correct and accurate expression, and enable one to explain them to others.

Intellectual skills

• Ability to express oneself fluently and correctly in both spoken and written language, conduct serious conversation, exchange ideas, put forward complex opinions and analyses, articulate arguments.
• Ability to paraphrase or translate quickly and accurately into and out of the language
• Capacity to further extend knowledge of the language through self-instruction and experience, so as to develop more precise understanding of and be able to use specialised registers and usages.
• Capacity to further extend knowledge and understanding of the societies and cultures where the language is spoken, through self-instruction and practical experience.
• Capacity to identify, respond sensitively to and reflect critically on cultural diversity in all its forms, including reappraising and developing  critical understanding of one's own culture.
• Research skills, including identifying sources of information, evaluating their quality, extracting relevant facts and ideas, being able to synthesize information from disparate sources and reach one's own, coherently expressed views.

Transferable practical skills

• Effective oral and written communication in professional contexts.
• Retrieval and critical analysis of data, regulations, concepts etc.
• Ability to extend knowledge and understanding to other fields through research and self-instruction
• Self-management, planning, motivation, adaptability and ability to work independently
• Team-working skills: ability to collaborate, contribute to, define goals and  organize group tasks.
• Interpersonal skills: listening, negotiation, persuasion, presentation.
• IT skills, including a high level of proficiency in electronic information retrieval.

Philosophy

Subject Specific Knowledge, Understanding and Skills

Most generally, on completing the programme we want to students to have:

1. A broad knowledge of philosophy in the analytical tradition together with deeper knowledge in some particular fields
2. The ability to question ideas concerning the nature of reality, value and experience that play a pervasive role in understanding the world and ourselves
3. The ability to use philosophical techniques of analysis and argumentation

More specifically, we want students to achieve the following learning outcomes at each level of study:

General Knowledge and Skills

We want students who complete the programme also to have developed the following general abilities:

1. To be able to articulate underlying issues in all kinds of debate;
2. To construct, develop and defend a valid argument, and to recognise an invalid argument;
3. To recognise and critically analyse problems, methodological errors, rhetorical devices, unexamined conventional wisdom and unnoticed assumptions;
4. To interpret texts from a variety of ages and traditions sensitively and to critically assess arguments in such texts;
5. To review unfamiliar ideas and ways of thinking with an open mind, and show willingness to change their minds where appropriate
6. To communicate complicated issues clearly and concisely.