69396 - English Language and Culture II (Second Language)

Learning outcomes

Students should have a good basic level of English and be able to recognise and understand the various different aspects and levels of culture. Talking fluently about the subjects in question and answering questions about the various issues covered during the written exam.

Course contents

Students will attend 2 lectures a week for an introduction to English Language and Culture in which they will explore English and Englishes across a variety of written and audiovisual texts (Prof. Bron).For the series of lectures on Language and Culture a basic frame to carry through the various themes is the question:

What’s Your Story?

Students will examine the English language and cultural issues surrounding its use and will look at both Plain English and other more poetic, artistic or even urban uses of language, for issues relating to Culture the ‘story-telling’ frame will also take us on a journey through issues of ‘branding’ and copy writing, encouraging students to engage and improve their ability to speak and write analyse texts flexibly as they look at the 'story-telling' present in the Anglo-American writing and media. (News, TV, Books, Films, Debates web etc.) We shall also look briefly at the link between other non-spoken languages and the spoken word via a look at (music, body language, art, semiotics) which will be explored while analysing films, videos and prescribed texts, with a special focus on the different varieties of language.

We will take a short ride through the greats of narrative theory, touching on the ideas of Propp, Todorov, Campbell, Levi-Strauss et al. as well as looking at theories on culturally driven behaviour. (Hofstede et al)

What makes the English so English and how can we compare and contrast the behaviour of the English with that of other nations?

Students must also attend a weekly laboratory class on the nuts and bolts of grammar, syntax and pronunciation. The English language course ("lettorato") is usually taught by Allan Bennett. Each student will have 20 hours of lessons during the semester. As for the lectures on Language and Culture, course attendance is obligatory and students must take part in at least 70% of lessons.

The aim of the English Language course is to improve students' writing ability. The students will be expected to write a series of formal essays on topical issues. The course will focus on aspects of writing such as cohesion, relative clauses and subordination.

At the end of the written language course the students will have a test which consists of writing a formal essay.

At the end of the series of lectures on Language and Culture students must first pass the written exam before they can access the oral exam.

For the oral exam students will be asked to present a film or advert of their choice and analyze its contents according to the language and culture parameters discussed during the course, they will also be asked about some of the books or essays given as suggested reading.

In the second semester students will take the interpreting course (trattativa) with Ira Torresi who will teach her course together with a native speaker of the English language.

The course requires students to practice at sight translation as well as interpreting for various improvised scenarios such as negotiations for trade fairs and conferences etc.

Students must pass the Language and Culture module before they can take the exam for the interpreting course. (see exam details)

Course attendance is mandatory.

 

 

Readings/Bibliography

A reading list and other information will be provided during the first lessons and uploaded on Moodle.

Two key books for starting you off include:

The five-minute Linguist. Bite-sized Essays on Language and Languages. Equinox 2006 edited by E.M. Rickerson and Barry Hilton (also available as downloads for listening)

Watching the English Kate Fox. Hodder 2004

Other essays may be handed out during the course, and students will be encouraged to look at methods for managing glossaries for technical language.

Some of the essays from last year include the following, taken from The Routledge Language and Cultural Theory Reader (ISBN-13: 978-0415186810):

Robin Lakoff-Talking like a lady

Deborah Cameron- Naming of parts

Levi Strauss- Linguistics and Anthropology

William Labov. The logic of non-standard English

The essays given as handouts may vary as I like to build flexibility into the course adding essays as we follow our interests, but the above four essays give some key insights into some of the areas we will be looking at.

Other seminal texts and theories include:

J.G. Fraser (The Golden Bough 1915) Propp (Morphology of the Folktale 1928), Todorov (Equilibrium Theory 1969), Campbell Hero’s Journey / The Hero with a Thousand Faces (1949), Levi-Strauss Binary Opposition Theory.

These somewhat heavy tomes are not obligatory reading but I will provide references to the relevant parts and extracts during the course of the year to interested parties, and key parts will be given as handouts in class.

Teaching methods

Lectures and group discussion, and student presentations in class.

Feedback from students is encouraged with an emphasis on not only teacher student correction but also peer to peer correction.

As well as the 'sage on a stage' lectures from yours truly there will be a flipped classroom scenario in which students will get to lecture their professor (in groups) with presentations on the themes which we are exploring in class.

These presentations will help students to practice public speaking in English and will help prepare the students for making their presentations for the final exam.

Students who require extra language tuition (either in Italian or in any of their other languages) can contact me for information about extra tuition.

Course attendance is mandatory.

Assessment methods

Written and oral exam. Details of all exams will be given in class.

Before the final exam students will have ample opportunity to practice their presentation skills via a series of 3 group presentations linked to course themes during the lessons.

At the end of the written language course the students will have a test which consists of writing a formal essay.

At the end of the series of lectures on Language and Culture students must first pass the written exam before they can access the oral exam.

For the oral exam students will be asked to present a film or advert of their choice and analyze its contents according to the language and culture parameters discussed during the course, they will also be asked about some of the books or essays given as suggested reading.

Details for the interpreting exam in the second term will be explained during the second module.

The course ends with a written exam (laboratorio linguistico) and oral exam (Lingua e Cultura 2) are added together to count as 50% towards the final exam result. A further 50% will be the result of the exam in 'mediazione linguistica' in the second term which will be added to the results from term one to create the final grade.

 

Teaching tools

Reading materials including books suggested on the reading list, video-clips, podcasts, electronic devices. Download readings of short essays from Moodle.

Office hours

See the website of Alison Rachel Bron