Ateneo - UPO

Varieties of English/es around the world: standard and 'non-standard', new varieties, post-colonial Englishes and the British Isles.
Code-switching e code-mixing. Main concepts and case studies.

COMPULSORY HANDBOOKS (all the students)

- Hickey, Raymond (ed.), 2015 [2012], Standards of English. Codified Varieties Around the World, Studies in English Language, Cambridge University Press.
- Schneider, Edgar W., 2020 (2nd. ed.), English Around the World. An Introduction, Cambridge Introductions to the English Language, Cambridge University Press.

READING LIST (compulsory), choose one out of four:

1. Curzan, Anne, Fixing English. Prescriptivism and Language History, CUP, 2014.
2. Hickey, Raymond (ed.), Legacies of Colonial English. Studies in Transported Dialects, CUP, 2005 (Part I and II, or Part I-III-IV)
3. Machan, Tim William, What is English? And Why Should We Care? OUP, 2013. (Part One, Three, and Four)
4. Ogilvie, Sarah (ed.), The Cambridge Companion to English Dictionaries, CUP, 2020 (pp. 155-323)

FURTHER READING (optional for self study)

- Lindsey, Geoff, 2019, English after the RP. Standard British Pronunciation Today, Palgrave MacMillan.
- Mair, Christian, 2006, Twenty-Century English. History, Variation, and Standardization, Cambridge University Press.
- Reinders, Hayo, Marylin Lewis & Linh Phung, 2017 (2nd ed.), Studying in English. Strategies for Success in Higher Education, Palgrave Study Skills, Red Globe Press, MacMillan International.

This course aims at introducing and discussing the notion of variety, (language variation vs. language standard/s, and standardising issues, diatopic and diastratic perspectives, etc.). This approach will also introduce the debate on the role of English in different socio-linguistic contexts of use (class, age group; institutional, professional contexts, etc.), at different levels of variation (spelling, phonetics/phonology, vocabulary, morpho-syntax), and for different functions (ENL,ESL, ESL, etc.).
Some case studies will also be analysed, both in the British Isles and around the world (well-established and new emerging varieties). The approach is synchronic, the diachronic perspective will be only considered and used to explain some specific linguistic aspects of contemporary English/es.

The approach is metalinguistic.

The course general contents and specific topics, language skills and activities, the end-of-course examination, as well as the assessment criteria applied, refer to B2+/C1 level of the CEFR (Common European Framework of Reference).

English Language II
(Practical classes + English Linguistics A)

Lectures

The course will be held in the first semester, October 2024-January 2025.

The use of handbooks for the theoretical approach will be supported by authentic materials for the analysis. Authentic materials will be drawn from magazines, newspapers, websites, audio and video files, etc.

Students with physical disabilities, Learning Disabilities or Special Education Needs can request specific services and tools via the Staff Sviluppo e Coordinamento Carriere e Servizi alle Studentesse e agli Studenti, consulting the University webpage: https://www.uniupo.it/en/services/services-
students-physical-or-learning-disabilities

Students with disabilities, learning disabilities or special education needs, once they have contacted the University Staff, can refer to the tutor in charge of the course to define the examination modalities, concerning academic aspects.

ASSIGNMENT:

In-depth study of one of the books from the Testi di Riferimento, Reading List section (see above). Students will highlight the main contents, concepts and methodological approaches of the selected reading (book).
Concepts and notions treated in the book will be the starting point for further in-depth discussion and detailed exemplification at the oral exam: these concepts/notions have to be related to the course contents/topics (handbook resources, academic articles, slides).

The discussion of the Reading list book contents, concepts, and methodological approaches is worth 40% of the assessment process, course contents are worth 60%.
Students will pass their exam if they get 18/30 in both their book review and the oral discussion of course contents.
The final grade is calculated on a weighted assessment basis.
With reference to the 'Intended learning objectives' (see below), the following grades correspond to different skills: 18-22/30-sufficient, 23-25/30-satisfying, 26-28/30 good, 29-30 lode-very good.

ORAL EXAM:
oral interaction and discussion on the course contents, concepts, notions, texts, starting from the book of your choice from the Reading List above.

On the occasion of the English Linguistics B exam, professor E. Lonati will also assess oral interaction skills, language competence, and fluency (discourse structure, pronunciation, lexis, morphosyntax, and linguistic appropriateness).

ORAL EXAM ASSESSMENT CRITERIA: 1. appropriate presentation and discussion of topics, notions, and concepts; 2. discourse organisation; 3. lexical richness and accuracy; 4. lexical propriety; 5. lexical variety; 6. detailed text analysis (especially related to spelling variants, phonological system, and morpho-syntax of the varieties examined and discussed); 7. discourse skills.

See 'Contenuti'/'Contents' and ‘Obiettivi formativi’/ ‘Aims of the course’.

“Gender balance”
The course is aimed to investigate, listen to, exemplify and discuss the many different accents and varieties of English along with their specific sociolinguistic dimensions and gender issues.

KNOWLEDGE AND UNDERSTANDING
Students are expected to explain and exemplify the complex notions introduced and discussed during the English Linguistics B course (variety; diatopic/regional/geographical issues; diastratic/social, cultural or educational/sociolinguistic issues; diachronic/historical factors);
to discuss the main linguistic standardising processes; to highlight the linguistic and extra-linguistic relevance of variants at the basis of linguistic change, and differentiation processes.

APPLIED KNOWLEDGE/SKILLS
Students will also identify the main distinctive features between varieties; listen, understand, and analyse spoken interaction and written texts from a number of sources (case studies).

Linguistic knowledge and language understanding will be used at a practical level, and applied to the many disciplinary research and professional contexts.