78667 - English for Specific Purposes 1 (LM)

Learning outcomes

The global aim of this course - which includes lectures and language classes - is to improve students’ communicative skills and provide them with a sophisticated knowledge of selected aspects of the English language and culture also in order to allow them to compete for jobs in the international sector. More particularly, lectures will enable students to think critically about specific varieties of English in connection with their context of production and of reception. This aim will be achieved by providing students with theoretical knowledge taken from linguistics and sociolinguistics, as well as through close readings of authentic texts. This course focuses on the language of tourism as a specific variety of English. Language classes aim at improving students’ linguistic competence; over the two-year period students’ knowledge of English should reach level C2 according to the European framework in all four abilities. These classes will work in connection with the lectures to improve students’ writing skills in particular.

Course contents

LEZIONI FRONTALI

This course will focus attention on a wide range of tourist texts and travel literature. These will be the object of close linguistic analysis that takes in consideration the contexts of their production and reception. In the last 50 years, these text types more often than not include also images and for this reason, along with linguistic theories pertinent to the language of tourism, this course will also offer some elements of visual literacy taken from socio-semiotics with particular reference to tourism. After a brief introduction on the theory of Language for Specific Purposes, this course will take into consideration the way tourist texts in English have developed from the modern era to post-modernity and the present. Most course will concentrate on the present and the wide variety of tourist texts in use. These encompass different textual typologies from articles on newspapers, to travel guides and to blogs . Attention will be concentrated on texts communicating alternative forms of tourism to the mass and entertainment tourism, such as cultural tourism, sustainable tourism, heritage tourism, and experential tourism, as well as the lastest developments in the sector. The tutor, an expert in translation studies, will co-teach a part of the course with me providing some theories and practical exercises on the translation of tourist texts.

LANGUAGE CLASSES

Through the language classes, students will be able to put into practice analyses of discursive and communicative strategies/modalities in modern and contemporary discourse. They will be able to understand and produce various typologies of specific and specialist languages such as those of tourism, the media and institutions. The classes aim, on the one hand, to consolidate and expand students' language skills, with particular emphasis placed on oral and writing skills. On the other, they aim to broaden critical reading skills of texts from the sectors. The language classes will train students in argumentative and expository academic writing, involve class discussion on notions presented in written work. For exam preparation, emphasis will be placed on writing extended essays and academic essays in English.

Readings/Bibliography

This  bibliography contains the main textbooks. Additional material will be uploaded during the course  

Graham M.S. Dann The Language of Tourism. A Sociolinguistic Perspective, (CAB International 2001); chapters 2, 3, 4 e 7 [main textbook]

Gunther Kress; Theo van Leeuwen Reading Images. The Grammar of Visual Design (Routledge 1996) [main textbook] 

Sabrina Francesconi Reading Tourism Texts. A Multimodal Analysis (Channel View Publications, 2014); chapter 1

 

These books are in the Departmental library. If you are not in Bologna and unable to find them, I can send you an electronic version

 

LANGUAGE CLASSES

 

Material for the course will is uploaded in Virtuale as file pubblico

 

Teaching methods

LEZIONI FRONTALI

Lectures, regular group work among students in small team groups. Flipped classes and class presentations. Support will be available for these during special tutorials in office hours

 

*** PLEASE NOTE ***

As per instructions from the Department half of the course will be online. The other half will adopt "modalità mista": teaching in small groups and distance teaching. You can opt for distant teaching if you like. For more information on the "modalità mista", see the updates and info from the Univeristy. The teacher will also inform you on didattica mista for this course.

 

Assessment methods

LEZIONI FRONTALI

You can decide to do part of the assessment during the course - this is an in itinere assessment - or at the end of the course. 

The assessment for this part of the course consists in a written and in an oral part. As you will see, these are closely connected. If you choose the in-itinere assessment there are 3 possibilities you can choose from

1.after a group work of your choice, you may decide to have an extended presentation in which you report work done by the group and some reflections of your own concerning issues you would like to investigate furher and the reasons for this. This extended presentation would count for the oral part and should last for 15 minutes. The written part consists in a dissertation in which you expand and do some research of the topics of your presentation. You can hand in the dissertation when you want but before the end of the January exam session. The dissertation should have 2500- 3000 words maximum

2. You can decide to do a flipped class on a topic that is relevant to the course but that has not been investigated in depth. The flipped class would count as your oral part and should be 20 minutes long. The written part consists in a dissertation on the same topic. You can hand  in the written part when you want but before the end of the January exam session. The dissertation should have 2500- 3000 words maximum

3. A translation from Italian into English of texts provided by the tutor and a presentation of the translation strategies used and problems encountered. This will be available only to a limited number of students. It is highly reccommended that you opt for the translation only if you have some knowledge of translation theories and practice in active translation. The translation is 3000 words maximum

If you decide to the exam at the end of the course, you have one option only: take home dissertation and oral exam. The dissertation should focus on an aspect of tourism and/or the analysis of an original English text about tourism. It should be 2500/ 3000 words. The oral exam focuses on the dissertation, its aim is to clarify, expand or explain some aspects of the dissertation. It lasts 15/20 minutes

CRITERIA FOR THE EVALUATION OF THE ORAL PART:

Criteria include:  use grammar; pronunciation; fluency and capacity to involve listeners and answer questions from the audience/teacher

CRITERIA FOR THE EVALUATION OF THE WRITTEN PART:

Criteria include: spelling; grammar; syntax; organization and cohesion of the text; use of academic language

Overall criteria for the evaluation include students' capacity to reflect critically on aspects that have emerged during the course and to  engage with additional scholarly material

The exam can be the collective work of a group of max 3 students

For further details, see the forum on assessment in Virtuale 

 

LANGUAGE CLASSES (WRITTEN EXAM) Prof. James

For all students, those who attend and do not attend the language classes, the written exam will consist of a 500-word essay on a theme connected to topics dealt with during the course. The written exam lasts 90 minutes and is held once per exam session. Students have to pass the exam before being able to register their overall final mark on almaesami. The essay will be assessed at the C2 level of the Common European Framework from various aspects: appropriateness of argumentation relating to the topic; presentation (layout, spelling, punctuation); structure/organization (application of academic writing criteria, cohesion/coherence), and lexicogrammatical and discursive accuracy of the standard academic English required.

The final mark is calculated as follows: The final mark for the lezioni frontali is an average of the marks of the oral and the written parts. This is multiplicated by 2, added to the esercitazioni mark and divided by 3. The lezioni frontali final mark will take into consideration students' active participation in class. The esercitazioni mark will take into account work handed in during the course

Teaching tools

Multimedia material and Power Point Presentations will be used to show and explain in a clear and accessible way complex theories from linguistics and socio-linguistics that will be applied to the analysis of tourist discourse.

Office hours

See the website of Monica Turci