Task

a1. English, my English
a1. "English, my English." Students describe their experience of the English language, evaluating their reading, writing, speaking, and listening proficiency. Personal, involved style. Written late January or early September.
a2. Argumentation
a2. Argumentation. Students argue for or against a statement concerning a topical issue. Formal style. Written in mid-February or early October.
a3. Reflections
a3. Reflections. Students reflect on the medium of television and its impact on people, or on related issues of their choice. Personal/formal style. Written in March or October.
a4. Literature course assignment
a4. Literature course assignment. Students choose between a discussion of theme/character/narrator and a close-reading based analysis of a set passage. Formal style. Written in early April or November
a5. Culture course assignment
a5. Culture course assignment. Students study topics in set secondary sources and compose an essay using this material, often quoting and listing these sources. Topics include issues such as 19th-century education of women, the industrial revolution, slavery, and utopias. Written in late April or November.
b1. Causal analysis
b1. Causal analysis. Students discuss causes of some recent trend of their choice. Formal style. Suitable in content and style for comparison or combination with essay a3.
b2. Argumentation
b2. Argumentation. Students present counter-arguments to views expressed in articles or letters to the editor.
b3. English Linguistics
b3. Short papers in English linguistics, on various topics, e.g. loan words in English, English spelling, British and American English, the semantic properties of synonymous pairs. Academic style. Lengthy tables, lists of words, and appendices, irrelevant to the study of learner English, were removed (the place was marked in the document). Essays may still contain words in other languages than English, or from earlier periods of English, items quoted directly from dictionaries, and lists of references.
b4. English Literature
b4. English literature. A discussion of character, theme etc., produced in a survey course, dealing with Shakespeare's Julius Ceasar or contemporary novels. Essays may contain quotations, sometimes also references to secondary sources. Academic style.
b5. American literature
b5. American literature. Similar to b4. Essays formed part of a course on American contemporary novels and may contain quotations and references to secondary sources. Academic style.
b6. Taboo, not taboo
Taboo, not taboo.
b7. Politics and education
b7. Politics and education.