92974 - English Language (C Language) For Interpreters

Learning outcomes

Upon successful completion of the course, students will be able to:

• demonstrate an advanced understanding of the linguistic, discourse and pragmatic resources that underpin effective spoken communication in contemporary English;
• rapidly comprehend, analyse and reformulate authentic spoken English across a range of professional and academic communicative contexts, demonstrating sensitivity to discourse organisation, communicative purpose and audience;
• identify and analyse recurrent linguistic patterns in spoken English, including formulaic language, discourse markers, information structure and multimodal resources, and explain their contribution to successful communication;
• communicate fluently, accurately and appropriately in complex communicative situations, adapting language, register and information density to different audiences and communicative purposes.

Course contents

The course develops advanced spoken English for professional communication through the analysis and production of authentic spoken discourse. It focuses on how proficient speakers design spoken communication to support real-time comprehension, facilitate information processing and achieve communicative goals in academic and professional settings. The course provides advanced language training that complements, but does not teach, interpreting techniques.

Drawing on a socio-cognitive and usage-based perspective, the course views language as both a cognitive system and a form of social action. Students investigate authentic spoken English from a range of professional genres, including conference presentations, public lectures, interviews, panel discussions, institutional communication and other multimedia contexts. Particular attention is given to the ways speakers organise information, signal discourse relations, exploit recurrent linguistic and multimodal patterns, and adapt specialist knowledge to different audiences and communicative contexts.

Topics include:

• discourse organisation and information structure in spoken English;
• recurrent constructions, lexical bundles, formulaic language and discourse markers;
• spoken grammar and pragmatic strategies;
• audience design, register variation and reformulation;
• variation across Englishes and international professional communication;
• multimodal communication, including the interaction of speech, prosody, gesture and visual support;
• cognitive principles underlying spoken communication, including prediction, chunking, processing constraints and communicative efficiency.

Throughout the course, students analyse authentic spoken discourse and develop the ability to summarise, reformulate and communicate complex information accurately and appropriately for different audiences.

Readings/Bibliography

Texts (articles, multimedia) will be made available on the Virtuale platform during the course of the semester.

Additional readings (recommended but not required)

Gillies, A. (2024). Conference Interpreting. A student's practical book. Routledge

Hilpert, M. (2014). Construction Grammar and its application to English. Edinburgh University Press.

 

Teaching methods

Teaching is workshop-based, evidence-informed and performance-oriented. Through deliberate practice, students develop advanced listening and spoken production skills by analysing authentic spoken English, identifying recurrent discourse patterns, summarising complex information and reformulating specialist content for different audiences.

Learning activities combine guided linguistic analysis with repeated spoken production and reflection. Students work individually and collaboratively to examine how linguistic choices influence comprehension, processing and communicative effectiveness. Particular emphasis is placed on noticing recurrent patterns in authentic language, developing flexible lexical and phraseological repertoires, and strengthening the rapid comprehension and reformulation skills that underpin professional communication.

Although the course does not teach interpreting techniques, it develops the advanced spoken English competence and language awareness required for postgraduate interpreter education.

Assessment methods

Mid-term assessment (contributes to 25% of the course grade)

Students select an authentic English-language speech (approximately 5–10 minutes) and prepare:

• a speech map illustrating its discourse organisation;
• two presentation slides;
• a five-minute oral presentation analysing:
  • communicative purpose;
  • audience;
  • discourse organisation;
  • three examples of linguistic or multimodal choices that contribute to communicative effectiveness.

Grading Criteria for the Midterm: Criterion 1. Understanding and Analysis of the Speech (0–8); Criterion 2. Organisation/Timing of the Presentation (0–6); Criterion 3. Spoken English (0–8); Criterion 4. Language Awareness (0–8)

Grade Descriptors for the Mid-term Assessment 

30L Outstanding analytical and communicative performance.

30 Excellent.

28–29 Very good.

26–27 Good.

24–25 Satisfactory to good.

22–23 Adequate.

20–21 Borderline adequate.

18–19 Minimum acceptable performance.

Final Exam (75% of course grade)

The final examination consists of an individual laboratory-based oral assessment designed to evaluate students' ability to comprehend, analyse and communicate authentic spoken English.

Students will listen to an authentic English-language audio/audio-visual (e.g. a conference presentation, TED Talk, public lecture, institutional speech or interview). The duration of the audio/audio-visual will be approximately 5 minutes (adjusted where appropriate according to language profile). Students will have a short period of preparation before recording their response. Note-taking systems are not permitted.

The assessment comprises three integrated tasks:

The final examination consists of an individual laboratory-based oral assessment designed to evaluate students' ability to comprehend, analyse, reformulate and communicate authentic spoken English.

Students listen once to an authentic English-language audio or audiovisual text (approximately five minutes). Following a short preparation period, they complete three integrated tasks:

1. Oral summary (4–5 minutes)
   Produce a coherent spoken summary of the speech, accurately conveying its main content, organisation and argument.
2. Audience adaptation (approximately 2 minutes)
   Reformulate one key concept or section of the speech for a specified audience (e.g. first-year university students, educated non-specialists or members of the general public), demonstrating appropriate register and information management.
3. Language awareness reflection (approximately 1 minute)
   Briefly discuss one linguistic or communicative feature of the speech—such as discourse organisation, audience engagement, formulaic language, multimodal communication or information structure—and explain how it contributes to communicative effectiveness.

Grading Criteria for the Final Exam: Criterion 1. Comprehension and Content (0–8) Criterion 2. Discourse Organisation (0–7) Criterion 3. Spoken English (0–8). Criterion 4. Audience Adaptation and Communicative Effectiveness (0–7)

Grade Descriptors for the Final Exam

30L Outstanding. Exceptional comprehension, highly effective communication, sophisticated language use, excellent audience adaptation. Performance exceeds course expectations.

30 Excellent. Near-professional spoken communication with only negligible weaknesses.

29 Excellent with very minor shortcomings.

28 Very good. Strong command of spoken English and discourse organisation. 

27 Very good. Confident performance with some minor weaknesses.

26 Good. Secure performance demonstrating solid communicative competence.

25 Good. Effective communication despite occasional inaccuracies.

24 Satisfactory to good. Meets learning outcomes comfortably.

23 Satisfactory. Competent but uneven performance.

22 Adequate. Meets minimum expectations with noticeable weaknesses.

21 Adequate. Communication generally successful but limited flexibility.

20 Borderline adequate. Several weaknesses but overall communicative purpose achieved.

19 Weak pass. Significant weaknesses although minimum competence demonstrated.

18 Minimum pass. Basic comprehension and communication achieved.

 

     

Teaching tools

Classes are held in a fully equipped multimedia language laboratory with individual listening and audio recording facilities. Teaching materials include instructor presentations, scientific articles, audiovisual materials, transcripts, authentic spoken and written texts, and other multimodal resources.

Office hours

See the website of Giulia Bencini