B3178 - English Language and Laboratory (G.A.)

Learning outcomes

At the end of the course students should reach a minimum level of B1 (Council of Europe framework) for listening skills and reading skills, while the ideal level is B2. In particular, students should be able to follow a lesson in English, to listen and report on specific information, to read a complex text and make a fluent oral report on it.

Course contents

The 40-hour course is divided into two modules. The first module is dedicated to the reading and analysis of complex written texts, drawn from a wide range of text types on current issues and relevant to the political, historical, social and cultural interests of the course of study. Part of the module will also be dedicated to listening activities, in particular BBC World News. The listening activity will continue in the second module, which will be largely devoted to the analysis of persuasion in political discourse.

Readings/Bibliography

A dossier containing texts to be analyzed during the course will be made available online (Virtuale).

A monolingual dictionary of your choice. E.g.:
The Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary. Oxford: OUP
The Collins Cobuild English Language Dictionary. London:Collins

Teaching methods

Lectures are aimed at developing skills in order to comprehend and interpret written and oral texts of average difficulty, as well as to analyze strategies of persuasion and rhetorical features of political discourse. The course will be held in English. The G.A. Course (Advanced Group) is aimed at B2 level students.

The language laboratory is aimed at improving fluency and accuracy in speaking skills in order to allow students to reach a good command of linguistic and communicative competence. It will be conducted in relatively small groups.

Assessment methods

ATTENDING STUDENTS

The exam includes 3 intermediate tests structured as follows:

• an intermediate test of analysis of the written text (reading comprehension) and composition of a summary
• a final test in 2 parts: comprehension of the oral text (listening comprehension - BBC Worls News) and analysis of an extract from a political speech.

  The final average is calculated on the evaluations of the 3 written tests and the laboratory evaluation. The laboratory evaluation is based on participation/interaction in class and on the presentation of a project on power point. In the absence of a laboratory evaluation, an integrative oral test on 2 chapters is foreseen (2+1 chapters from selection or 3 chapters from one of the short books *see below).

  NON-ATTENDING STUDENTS

  The exam includes 2 written tests and an oral examination, as follows:

• Reading comprehension test (multiple choice or short answer questions on grammatical, lexical and text comprehension elements related to a book review) + summary writing
• Listening comprehension test (open questions on a passage from BBC World News)
• Oral examination based on the study of 4 chapters (2+2 chapters or a very short book from selection *see below).

Chapters' selection:

Chapters from: B. Jones, P. Norton (eds.), Politics UK , Routledge 2021

Ch.1 (Changing context of UK politics); Ch. 2 (The UK, the world and Europe); Ch. 3 (The social and economic context); Ch. 4 (Ideology and liberal tradition); Ch. 5 (Political Ideas: the major Parties); Ch. 10 (Mass media and political communication) ; Ch. 11 (Gender and British Politics).

Chapters from: J. Atkins, A. Finlayson, J. Martin, N. Turnbull, Rhetoric in British Politics and Society, Palgrave 2014

• The Rhetoric of Rhetoric — Political Rhetoric as Function and Dysfunction
• Rhetoric and Parliamentary Leadership — Prime Minister’s Questions
• Rhetoric and Political Intervention — Churchill’s World War II Speeches in Context
• Rhetoric and Party Politics — Looking Beyond the Leader
• Rhetoric and Multiculturalism — David Cameron’s ‘King James’ Speech and the Crisis of Multiculturalism
• Rhetoric and Race — David Starkey and the 2011 English Riots
• Rhetoric and Satire — Spitting Image and Political Comedy

SHORT BOOKS:

• Deborah Cameron (2019) Feminism. London: Profile Books.

  Danny Dorling & Carl Lee (2016) Geography. London: Profile Books.

  Richard Bellamy (2008) Citizenship. A very short introduction. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

  Andrew Clapham (2007) Human Rights. A very short introduction. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

  Andrew Dobson (2016) Environmental Politics. A very short introduction. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

  Jack A. Goldstone (2014) Revolutions. A very short introduction. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Students with learning disorders and\or temporary or permanent disabilities: please, contact the office responsible [https://site.unibo.it/studenti-con-disabilita-e-dsa/en/for-students] as soon as possible so that they can propose acceptable adjustments. The request for adaptation must be submitted in advance (15 days before the exam date) to the lecturer, who will assess the appropriateness of the adjustments, taking into account the teaching objectives.

Office hours

See the website of Anna Marchi