97273 - ADVANCED ENGLISH I AND LABORATORY

Academic Year 2021/2022

  • Teaching Mode: Traditional lectures
  • Campus: Forli
  • Corso: First cycle degree programme (L) in International relations and diplomatic affairs (cod. 8048)

Learning outcomes

At the end of the course the student can understand the main ideas of complex written and oral texts in the field of social and political sciences. Can interact with a degree of fluency and spontaneity and can express and negotiate viewpoints . Can produce clear, detailed texts on a wide range of subjects and explain a viewpoint on a topical issue giving the advantages and disadvantages of various options.

Course contents

The course is composed of 40-hour lectures and a 40-hour laboratory.

The laboratory is aimed at developing oral and presentation skills.

The 40-hour course is organized into two modules. The first module will be focussed on the development of students' reading skills by exposing them to a wide range of text types, namely reviews for the general public, essays, editorials, specialized articles, etc. Topics covered will include the analysis of the argumentative structure, references, modals, linkers and conjunctions, evaluative lexis, synonymy and polysemy, morphology. The second module will be focussed on listening skills as well as the analysis of strategies of persuasion in political speeches.

Readings/Bibliography

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

Recommended reading:

B. Jones, P. Norton (eds), Politics UK , Routledge 2018

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

All books are available at the Biblioteca Ruffilli

Dictionaries (to choose from):
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 medium-high difficulty as well as at analyzing strategies of persuasion and rhetorical features of political discourse. The course will be held in English.

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.

As concerns the teaching methods of this course unit, all students must attend the online Modules 1, 2 on Health and Safety [https://www.unibo.it/en/services-and-opportunities/health-and-assistance/health-and-safety/online-course-on-health-and-safety-in-study-and-internship-areas ].

Assessment methods

ATTENDING STUDENTS

Assessment will be made through written tests (mid-term test and final exam) and a final oral exam.

The mid-term test includes a reading test with multiple choice questions. Questions will include text structure, function of references, conjunctions and linkers, modality, synonyms in context and the language of evaluation. The final exam includes both a listening comprehension and a linguistic analysis of political speeches.

Spoken English will be assessed in an oral examination on selected parts from one of the texts in bibliography.

For the students attending the lab as well as the course the oral examination is vocational (2 chapters).

For the students attending the course but not the lab the oral examination is mandatory (3 chapters). A selection of Chapters will be published in due course.

 

NON-ATTENDING STUDENTS

- Written tests: Listening and Reading Comprehension

- Oral exam

a discussion on a selection of chapters from the books in bibliography (about 100 pages). The selection of chapters will be published in due course.

 

Teaching tools

Power Point presentations, video projector, Internet.

Office hours

See the website of Sofia Cavalcanti

SDGs

Quality education

This teaching activity contributes to the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals of the UN 2030 Agenda.