2017/2018

2017/2018

DM270

L-LIN/12 (ENGLISH LANGUAGE AND TRANSLATION)

DEPARTMENT OF HUMANITIES

MODERN LANGUAGES AND CULTURES

Linguistico-filologico-letterario

1°

1st semester (25/09/2017 - 10/01/2018)

9

36 lesson hours

English

WRITTEN AND ORAL TEST

FREDDI MARIA (titolare) - 9 ECTS

Placement Test (on-line, following enrollment)

The course aims at lexico-grammatical competence at B1/B2 CEFR level with special emphasis on reading skills and the description of the functioning of sentence structures in diverse contexts and text-types. Throughout the course students will do speaking, listening, writing and reading activities aimed at developing proficiency and language awareness (at B1/B2 CEFR level).

The teaching programme consists in the course, taking place in the first term, and supplementary recitation classes throughout the a.y. (see below).
The course (first term) introduces English grammar in natural contexts from a functional perspective. More in detail, it describes parts of speech (closed vs. open word classes), words combinations into groups or phrases (verbal, nominal, adjectival, adverbial, prepositional), clause types and interdependencies, sentence structure with emphasis on word order (unmarked vs. marked word order: fronting). Description of these features of English grammar will be related to a variety of text genres (narrative, expository, argumentative, etc.) both written and oral to show how different structures correspond to different communicative purposes and rhetorical effects.
At the end of the course interested students can participate in the proceedings of the 28th European Systemic Functional Linguistics conference, which will take place in Pavia from 5 to 7 July 2018 and have an opportunity to practice text and multimodal analyses of a variety of genres under the guidance of specialists coming from all over Europe, and improve analytical skills as well as language competence.
Students will have to practice their grammatical analysis with reference to texts of their own choosing (class assignments). To this purpose, a series of tutorials will also be scheduled. Throughout the course students will also do speaking, listening, writing and reading activities aimed at developing proficiency and language awareness (at B1/B2 proficiency level).
The teaching programme also includes year long classes taught by Collaboratori ed Esperti Linguistici (CEL) in the first and second semesters.

Lectures, classwork with guided tasks, homework assignments, recitation classes, tutorials.

Set texts:

Selected chapters from:
Downing, A. and P. Locke (2006) English Grammar: A University Course, 2nd edition. London: Routledge

All units in:
Foley, M. and D. Hall, 2012. My Grammar Lab, Intermediate B1/B2 (with keys). London: Pearson Longman

The set texts contain the detailed lexico-grammatical syllabus that will be tested both in the written and spoken parts of the exam.

Workbook (optional):

Lipson, M. and M. Freddi, 2006, Practice in Functional Grammar. A Workbook for Beginners and Intermediate Students (with keys). Bologna, CLUEB

The workbook has exercises on lexico-grammar in a variety of text-types. It is recommended for self-study and tutorials.

Use of one of the following monolingual dictionaries is highly recommended (free on-line consultation is available):
Cambridge Advanced Learner's Dictionary
(http://dictionary.cambridge.org/us/dictionary/british/)
Collins Cobuild Learners Dictionary of English (http://www.collinsdictionary.com/dictionary/english-cobuild-learners);
Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English (http://www.ldoceonline.com);
Macmillan English Dictionary
(http://www.macmillandictionary.com);
Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary (http://www.oxfordlearnersdictionaries.com)

Recommended bilingual dictionary:
Grande Dizionario Hazon di Inglese 2.0 con WEB-CD

Oral examination and preliminary test

In the oral examination students will be assessed on the linguistic competence attained with reference to the course contents and objectives (see lexico-grammatical syllabus in the set books). During the oral exam students will be asked to read and analyse the texts analysed in class and contained in the set readings. In order to sit the oral examination students will have to pass a preliminary test, comprising a reading comprehension & text analysis, which assesses the attained language knowledge holistically (with both multiple choice and open-ended questions) and assessments. The reading comprehension & text analysis test is held in the Summer, Fall and Winter sessions. Students who regularly attend CELs' classes (at least 70%) will be able to choose the in itinere evaluation (assessments). The assessments calendar will be handed out at the beginning of the course. Non-attending students (those who will not reach 70% of CELs' classes) will have to sit all the assessment tests in the form of a global test held in the Summer, Fall and Winter sessions. Students are not allowed to sit the final oral exam unless they have previously passed all preliminary tests.
N.B. All the preliminary tests, if passed, are valid for 13 months.

Oral examination and preliminary test

In the oral examination students will be assessed on the linguistic competence attained with reference to the course contents and objectives (see lexico-grammatical syllabus in the set books). During the oral exam students will be asked to read and analyse the texts analysed in class and contained in the set readings. In order to sit the oral examination students will have to pass a preliminary test, comprising a reading comprehension & text analysis, which assesses the attained language knowledge holistically (with both multiple choice and open-ended questions) and assessments. The reading comprehension & text analysis test is held in the Summer, Fall and Winter sessions. Students who regularly attend CELs' classes (at least 70%) will be able to choose the in itinere evaluation (assessments). The assessments calendar will be handed out at the beginning of the course. Non-attending students (those who will not reach 70% of CELs' classes) will have to sit all the assessment tests in the form of a global test held in the Summer, Fall and Winter sessions. Students are not allowed to sit the final oral exam unless they have previously passed all preliminary tests.
N.B. All the preliminary tests, if passed, are valid for 13 months.