30085 - English Language (LM)

Learning outcomes

The student will be expected to have an in-depth knowledge of discourse strategies and a basic familiarity with linguistics in the English language in a diachronic as well as a synchronic perspective, and will be able to apply these skills to text-analysis and translation. Through practical exercises, their communicative competencies in all the abilities, active and passive, will reach a C2 level of the European Common Framework which will provide them with sufficient skills to effectively interpret socio-linguistic and cultural codes of people involved in a communicative rapport.

Course contents

In this module we will be looking at some of the key sectors, notions, issues and theories in English Language Studies, acquiring a ‘panorama view’ of English Studies over the last few decades.

During the course of the semester, the students will acquire a broad, general view of some of the main sub-disciplines and key issues within English Language Studies, especially Descriptive/ Prescriptive Linguistics, Sociolinguistics, Pragmatics (including politeness/Face theory and Cooperation theory), Discourse Analysis /Critical Discourse Analysis, differences between Spoken vs. Written discourse, Institutional/Professional/Academic vs. Conversational language, Non-verbal language, English as a Lingua Franca and Cross-cultural Communication. Some of the macro-areas that emerge during the course of this panoramic overview are: Language and Identity, Language and Power and Language Manipulation.

In addition to providing a general overview of the English Language, we will also be focussing more specifically on media discourse, as one practical realization of the general framework described above. This will give the students the opportunity to study spoken and written texts at a theoretical level as well as to put into practice that knowledge concretely.

In the light of the intensity of events on the international political scene over the year or so, we will be looking at media discourse and the use of manipulative and persuasive language as it was employed in the US and UK political elections (and post-election period), analyzing the persuasive language strategies used. Significant language issues that continue to emerge, such as 'post-truth' and 'fake news', will be addressed. The students will analyse written and spoken/visual discourse of key international players (esp. through BBC World News, CNN etc) in class and at home and discuss their findings with the rest of the class.

To complete the theoretical and analytical knowledge base acquired during the class lectures ("lezioni frontali"), students will have the opportunity to examine aspects of professional/ technical/ institutional English; they will have ample opportunity to practise practical language production skills in the in the practical language classes ("esercitazioni"; "lettorato") where they will be discussing sector-specific (medical, business, legal) terminology.

The course seeks to strike a balance between theoretical knowledge (a very broad panoramic overview of English Language Studies) and practical work to help each student improve his or her written and oral production skills in English. In order to strengthen their production skills, alongside the practical work already mentioned, the students will practise public speaking and debating and error analysis (typical mistakes in academic writing).

Given its function and status as a global language, the students will be given a lesson on English as a global language and listening exercises aimed at improving thire comprehension of ‘non-standard' varieties of English, especially African and Asian varieties (Nigeria and India).

The students will be invited to take an active part in the lessons through practical exercises to improve their speaking skills and presentation skills. Theory will be alternated with practical language exercises throughout the course. The practical work will be structured in the following manner:

1) spontaneous and/or prepared public peaking exercises;

2) preparation in groups of dialogues on subjects assigned to the class by the course teacher;

At least one lesson on academic writing and how to prepare and write the academic essay that constitutes one of the exam components is also included in this course.

The course programme and the written test are the same for those students who attend lessons as for non-attenders.

 

"Esercitazioni/Lettorato" Language classes

Language classes aim, on the one hand, at building on and expanding students' language skills and, on the other, at broadening students' knowledge of language and discursive aspects of English. Through the classes students' practical communicative skills in oral and written production (aslo Power Point presentations ot the class) will be developed.

 

Study material will be available online (portal Prof. Rudvin) and at the Master Copy and Ecrire  copy centres  in via Cartoleria and on the School's website.

 

Teacher: Nigel James.

Office hours: office 136, 4th floor, staircase B. Tel: 051-2094241. Email: nigel.james@unibo.it

 

Readings/Bibliography

Required textbooks:

Thomas, Linda & Wareing, Shan, 1999, Language, Society and Power, Routledge: London

Braber, Natalie, Cummings, Louise and Morrish, Liz, Eds., 2015, Exploring Language and Linguistics, Cambridge University Press: Cambridge

 

Suggested Further Reading

Lieber, Rochelle, 2010, Introducing Morphology, Cambridge University Press: Cambridge

Radford, Andrew, Analysing English Sentences, Cambridge University Press: Cambridge

Carter, Ronald & Goddard, Angela, 2016, How to Analyse Texts, Routledge: London

Carter, Ronald, 1998, Vocabulary. Applied Linguistic Perspectives, Routledge: London

Fairclough, Norman, 1989, Language and Power, Routledge: London

Kuiper, Konraad and Allan, W Scott, An Introduction to English Language: Word, Sound and Sentence, Palgrave Macmillan: London

Cutting, Joan, 2002, Pragmatics and Discourse, Routledge: London

Senfit, Gunter, Ostman, Jan-Ola, Verschueren, Eds., The Pragmatics of Interaction, John Benjamins: Amsterdam

Cummings, Louise, 2015, Pragmatic and Discourse Disorders. A Workbook, Cambridge University Press: Cambridge

Heather Bowe and Kylie Martin, 2007, Communication Across Cultures. Mutual Understanding in A Global World . Cambridge University Press

Supplementary reading material will be available in the library and in the photocopying shop in Via Cartoleria (MasterCopy). Some material will also be made available online.

All of the books on this list can be found in the Department library.

 

Teaching methods

As well as lectures, much of the course will be interactive, based on the active participation of the students through discussions, oral presentations, role-play and various class exercises.

Assessment methods

The exam consists of a written and oral test.

The evaluation of the students' competencies and abilities acquired during the course consists of a written test and and an oral test aimed at ascertaining the students' oral language skills and knowledge of course material. The written exam and essay will test the students' writing skills and their ability to produce a text in the English language using correct orthography, morphology, syntax, semantics and clarity of expression. The student must demonstrate an appropriate knowledge of the bibliography in the course programme. Students will also be encouraged to give an oral presentation in class relating to the specific subjects contained in the course programme, although this is not compulsory.

Those students who are able to demonstrate a wide and systematic understanding of the issues covered during the lessons, are able to use these critically and who master the field-specific language of the discipline will be given a mark of excellence. Those students who demonstrate a mnemonic knowledge of the subject with a more superficial analytical ability, a correct command of the language but not always appropriate, will be given a ‘fair' mark. A superficial knowledge and understanding of the material, a scarce analytical and expressive ability that is not always appropriate will be awarded a pass mark or just above a pass mark. Knowledge gaps in the subject matter, inappropriate language use, lack of familiarity with the literature in the programme bibliography will not be given a pass mark.

Exam - language classes ('Esercitazioni')

The exam accounts for 25% of the student‘s final mark.  The paper is compulsory for all students whether they attend language classes or not during the semester.

Papers will be assessed on the basis of language requirements at the C1 level of the Common European Framework and graded according to the degree of appropriacy of the topic's exposition; presentation of the information; adherence, as far as possible, to linguistic elements of the source text; lexico-grammatical accuracy.

Teaching tools

The course professor will luse Power Point slides, internet sources, videos as well as photocopies and audio-visual material for the practical exercises.

For the Language Exercises (course professor Nigel James) photocopies and audio-visual material will be used.

 

Office hours

See the website of Mette Rudvin