31495 - English Language - LM

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

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.

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.

Moreover, There will be two formats of the exam for the different english levels. These level will be self assessing.

Format #1 (Medium to upper level A2/B2+)
Format #2 (Medium to low level A1-A2)

For both attending and non-attending students

You will have a choice of:
Format #1: Writing a 500-1000 word essay on a topic of the student’s choosing based off of material covered in class or on the classes website. The essay will be done at home then submitted at the oral exam.
Format #2: Multiple choice test based off of a short text and cultural material that can be found on the class's webpage. The oral exam will be a short conversation about the written exam. https://iol.unibo.it/course/view.php?id=28124

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 Moodle e-learning site. (see Readings/Bibliography)

Office hours

See the website of Anthony Dion Mitzel