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 key areas in English Language Studies. The students will be encouraged to reflect on how they can use the knowledge and strategies acquired during the semester to teach English during their own future careers. The teaching of English as a foreign language will thus underpin this course.

During the semester, the students will acquire a broad view of some of the main sub-disciplines and key issues within English Language Studies, especially 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 and English as a Lingua Franca.

We will also be focussing on media discourse as one practical realization of the general framework described above. In the light of political events in the UK and US since 2016, we will be looking at the use of manipulative and persuasive language. The students will analyse written and spoken/visual discourse of key international players through BBC World News, CNN etc. in class and at home and discuss their findings with the rest of the class.

This will give the students the opportunity to study spoken and written texts in a broad variety of ‘englishes’ as it is spoken around the world, giving the students the opportunity to reflect on and increase their comprehension of varieties and accents of English and to put into practice that knowledge. At a theoretical level it will give them the opportunity to reflect on how this spectrum of spoken English mirrors cultural and political features of English-speaking societies.

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

1) spontaneous and/or prepared public peaking exercises;

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

The students will be required to give a presentation, individually or in groups, during the course.

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

Readings/Bibliography

Required textbooks:

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

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

 

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, 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 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 be required to give an oral presentation in class relating to the specific subjects contained in the course programme.

Evaluation

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 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

Power Point slides, internet sources, videos as well as photocopies and audio-visual materia

 

Office hours

See the website of Mette Rudvin