12987 - English Language (Third Language)

Academic Year 2018/2019

  • Teaching Mode: Traditional lectures
  • Campus: Forli
  • Corso: First cycle degree programme (L) in Intercultural and Linguistic Mediation (cod. 8059)

Learning outcomes

Students will be able to use and exercise critical thinking skills and intermediate grammatical features, punctuation conventions as well as appropriate vocabulary when responding to and composing texts/interactng in conversation. They will also be able to verbally express their researched opinions and present in front of an audience. 

Course contents

The English Language (Third Language) course  is intended for students who have not formally studied English as either their first or second language during their undergraduate studies. It will focus on english language enrichment throught the analysis and study of commnuications practices in the media and the ways that events are framed with regards to Contemporary Issues in the United States. 

The course consists of 1 weekly lesson spread over the first  and second semesters.


Readings/Bibliography

It is advised that students familiarize themselves with these texts and authors. Most of these texts are open source and can be found for free online or in the library. Other materials will be handed out during class and/or uploaded to the course’s Moodle page. Students are asked to stay up to date on domestic and international current events and news stories generated from these events.

Blackmore, Susan. (2000). The Meme Machine. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Chandler, Daniel (2007) Semiotics: The Basics. London: Routledge.
http://visual-memory.co.uk/daniel/Documents/S4B/

Dawkins, Richard (2006). The Selfish Gene (30th anniversary ed.). Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Hall, Stuart. (1980). Encoding/decoding. Culture, media, language, 128-138. Retrieved from: http://www.hu.mtu.edu/~jdslack/readings/CSReadings/Hall_Encoding-n-Decoding.pdf

Herman, E. S., & Chomsky, N. (1988). Manufacturing consent: The political economy of the mass media. New York: Pantheon Books.

McLuhan, Marshall (1964) Understanding Media. London: Routledge.

Miller, Toby. (2001) What it is and what it isn't: Introducing…Cultural Studies, in A Companion to Cultural Studies (ed T. Miller), Blackwell Publishing Ltd, Malden, Massachusetts, USA. (via Moodle)

Podcast: http://www.socialsciencespace.com/2012/12/toby-miller-on-cultural-studies/

Postman, Neil. (1986). Amusing ourselves to death: Public discourse in the age of show business. New York: Penguin Books.

Shifman, Limor. (2014). Memes in Digital Culture. MIT Press.

Tyler, Tim. (2011). Memetics: Memes and the Science of Cultural Evolution. CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform. http://memetics.timtyler.org

Teaching methods

The course will blend theory and praxis therefore one class a week will be dedicated to traditional lectures on past and current theortical concepts while the second class will be a more practical, "hands on" approach utilizing audiovisuals and group work with open class discussions/debates.

Opportunities to talk, present, listen, read, and write in lecture settings, conversation/debate and basic writing exercises all done in English.

 

 

Assessment methods

At the end of the course there will be a written (50%) and oral (50%) exam. The written part will be on a topic covered in the course of the students' choosing. The oral will be a synthesis of the written part put into a Power Point format which the students will present.

Students are required to attend a minimun of 70% of total classes while those unable to attend due to Erasmus/study abroad must contact Prof. Mitzel ahead of time and keep up to date with material shared on the course's IOL page if they intend to sit the L&C exam in the following semester.

Teaching tools

Course specific PPT presentations, documentaries, websites, and social media applications. Assignments and activities will be carried out both in class and at home with a focus on enriching students' grasp and mastering the relevance of modern digital age communication.

Most if not all printed and audiovisual material used in class, as well as resources for the specific topics tackled in class, will be made available on the IOL e-learning site. (see Readings/Bibliography)

Office hours

See the website of Anthony Dion Mitzel