78667 - English for Specific Purposes 1 (LM)

Learning outcomes

The global aim of this course – which includes lectures and language classes - is to improve students’ communicative skills and provide them with a sophisticated knowledge of selected aspects of the English language and culture in order to allow them to compete for jobs in the international sector . More particularly, lectures will enable students to think critically about specific varieties of English in connection with their context of production and of reception. This aim will be achieved by providing students with theoretical knowledge taken from linguistics and sociolinguistics, as well as through close readings of real texts. Specific varieties of English taught in this course are aligned with the aims of this degree and may include two or more of the following varieties of English: the language of tourism, the language of politics, legal English and the language of economics. Language classes aim at improving students’ linguistic competence; over the two year period students’ knowledge of English should reach the level C2 according to the European framework in all four abilities. These classes will work in connection with the lectures to improve students’ writing skills in particular.

Course contents

This course focuses on the language of tourism as one of the several varieties of the English language for specific purposes. The critical perspective is threefold: a linguistic perspective, a contextual perspective focusing attention on the birth of modern tourism, or mass tourism, and the development of new forms of tourism.

In the first part of the course the language of tourism will be analyzed in relation to other forms of English for specific purposes to define its similarities and differences. The second part of the course will focus attention on the context in which modern tourist discourse begins. It will show that tourism develops as a form of consumerism, and its discourse has the aim of persuading the masses to buy a service that is not strictly necessary. In this perspective, the course will provide some reflections on the similarities between the language of advertisement, linguistic techniques of propaganda and the language of tourism. The dramatic changes that  tourism and its writing has undergone in the contemporary period will be taken into consideration:  from mass tourism to cultural tourism and eco-tourism, from travel writing, to pamphlets, tourist guides and e-tourist discourse.  

After this introductory part, examples of tourist discourse will be analyzed closely in seminars and group work. These will focus on multimodal texts, that is to say texts that include also visual images, in consideration of the importance and pervasiveness of images in tourist discourse.

 

Language Classes

During language classes, students will be able to put into practice analyses of discursive and communicative strategies/modalities in modern and contemporary discourse. They will be able to understand and produce various typologies of specific and specialist languages such as those of tourism, media and institutions.

These classes aim both to consolidate and expand students' language skills, with particular emphasis on oral and writing skills, and to broaden critical reading skills of specialized texts f.

During language classes students will practice argumentative and expository academic writing, and will be asked to produce essays using academic english .

 

Readings/Bibliography

Graham M.S. Dann The Language of Tourism. A Sociolinguistic Perspective, (CAB International 2001); chapters 2, 3, 4 and 7 [main textbook]

Maurizio Gotti "The language of tourism as Specialized Discourse" in Palusci e Francesconi (a cura di) Translating Tourism: Linguistic/Cultural Representations, Trento: Università degli studi di Trento, 2006. (Chapter in book)

Sabrina Francesconi "Touring tourism discourses: the case of 'Scotland underground'" in O. Palusci, S. Francesconi (a cura di),Translating tourism: linguistic/cultural representations, Trento: Università degli studi di Trento, 2006, p. 57-71. (Chapter in book)

Gunther Kress e Theo van Leeuwen Reading Images. The Grammar of Visual Design(Routledge 1996) [main textbook for visual images]

Adam Curtis, The Century of Self, BBC 2010 (Video)

All books and articles will be available in the Departmental Library (Via Cartolerie, 5) and/or in the materiali didattici on line

LANGUAGE CLASSES

 

Material for the course will be available  on line and in the copyshops in via Cartoleria

 

Teaching methods

Lectures, seminars, group works

Assessment methods

LECTURES

The exam consists in one of the following:

1. a written exam (tesina) and a twenty minute presentation in class

2. a written exam (tesina) and a twenty minute oral exam on issues discussed in the tesina

3. Project. It consists of a short brochure in English. The content must be original that is to say it has to focus on a place or cultural event that has never been talked about in English. Alternatively the student can present an original translation of a brochure or other turistic material from Italian into English. The oral part consists in a brief discussion of the project

The written exam (dissertation) is a 2500 word dissertation. Students should discuss the topic with the teacher before starting working on it. This should focus on a tourist phenomenon/text. This dissertation should be sent in attachment to me on dates that will be notified on the almaesami page; it must be in doc or docx format.  Evalutation of the dissertation will take into consideration : grammar , syntaxis and lexis; 2. Students' ability to organize arguments and information in a clear way; 3. Use of specialized and academic language; 4: appropriate use of critical material covered in class. This dissertation can be the product of a collective work (3 students max), in this case the length must be 2000 words per student. Students will received the essays back with comments and corrections.

 

 LANGUAGE CLASSES (WRITTEN EXAM)

For all students, those who attend and do not attend the language classes, the written exam will consist of a 500-word essay on a topic that has been discussed with during the course. The written exam lasts 90 minutes and is held once per exam session. Students have to pass this written exam before being able to register their overall final mark on almaesami. The essay will be marked according to standards that refer to the C2 level of the Common European Framework. In particular evaluation will take into consideration the following: appropriateness of argumentation relating to the topic; presentation (layout, spelling, punctuation); structure/organization (application of academic writing criteria, cohesion/coherence), and lexicogrammatical and discursive accuracy pertaining to standard academic English.

The final mark is calculated as follows:

Dissertation/ Project mark plus Oral/ Presentation mark; the result is divided by two. It is then multiplied by two and to this is added the mark of the esercitazioni. The result is divided by 3.

Example: Dissertation mark 25; oral exam mark 28; esercitazioni mark: 23

25+28= 53:2= 26,5 x 2 = 53+23= 76:3=25,3 Final mark 25.

 

Teaching tools

Dynamic presentations in Prezi and Power Point Presentations will be used to show and explain in a clear and accessible way complex theories from linguistics and socio-linguistics for the analysis of tourist discourse. Seminars and group discussions on texts will take place once a week

Office hours

See the website of Monica Turci