Ateneo - UPO

- Text and discourse: lexis, text coherence and text cohesion. The multiplicity of texts and discourse construal. - Types of texts and genres: rhetorical strategies and language features. - Register and style: popularizing texts, knowledge dissemination and scientific contents.

COMPULSORY HANDBOOKS (all the students) 1. BIBER, Douglas and Susan CONRAD, 2019 (2nd ed.), Register, Genre, and Style, Cambridge Textbooks in Linguistics, Cambridge University Press. 2. CANNING, Patricia and Brian WALKER, 2024, Discourse Analysis. A Practical Introduction. Routledge. READING LIST (compulsory), choose one out of four: 1. BURNETT, Dean, The Idiot Brain: A Neuroscientist Explains What Your Head is Really Up To, Guardian Faber, 2016. 2. FRANCIS, Gavin, Adventures in Human Being, Profile Books, Wellcome Collection, 2016. 3. JURAFSKY, Dan, The Language of Food: A Linguist Reads the Menu, Norton, 2014. 4. LEITH, Sam, Talkin' to me?: Rhetoric from Aristotle to Trump and Beyond ..., Profile Books, 2019. 5. SHEPHERD, Gordon M., Neurogastronomy: How the Brain Creates Flavor and Why It Matters, Columbia University Press, 2013. 6. SPENCE, Charles, Gastrophysics: The New Science of Eating: The Science of Dining from Restaurant Music to Sonic Crisps, Viking, 2017. 7. WRIGHT, John, The Naming of the Shrew. A Curious History of Latin Names, Bloomsbury, 2014. FURTHER READING (optional for self study) - FAIRCLOUGH, Norman, 2003, Analysing Discourse. Textual Analysis for Social Research, Routledge. - JONES, Rodney H., 2024 (3rd ed.), Discourse Analysis. A Resource Book for Students, Routledge. - McENERY, Tony, Richard XIAO and Yukio TONO, 2006, Corpus-Based Language Studies. An Advanced Resource Book. Routledge.

This course aims at introducing and discussing the notion of text and discourse, along with their linguistic features (ex. use of lexis, text coherence and text cohesion, discourse construal, etc.). The focus is placed on knowledge dissemination, with a view on the popularization of scientific contents in different socio-linguistic contexts for a non-expert target audience (i.e. general audience). Some case studies will also be exemplified, analysed and discussed from a linguistic perspective, and from a variety of primary sources: monographs, newspaper articles, other sources (ex. websites). 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 2025-January 2026. 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 (i.e. Testi Obbligatori/Compulsory Handbooks, academic articles, other materials). The discussion of the Reading list book contents, concepts, and methodological approaches is worth 30% of the assessment process, course contents are worth 70%. 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: 1. Oral presentation and discussion of one of the books in the Reading List (see above, section Testi di riferimento/Textbooks) 2. Oral presentation and discussion of all the contents in the two Compulsory Handbooks (see above, section Testi di riferimento/Textbooks) 3. Text and discourse analysis of the primary sources analysed during the course and retrievable on DIR. 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 exemplify, investigate, and analyse different text types and their related discourse features, along with their specific sociolinguistic dimensions and gender issues.

KNOWLEDGE AND UNDERSTANDING Students are expected to 1) explain and exemplify the complex notions introduced and discussed during the English Linguistics B course (i.e. the notion of text, text types, coherence and cohesion, register and style, popularisation and knowledge dissemination, etc.); 2) discuss the most relevant processes of discourse construal, with reference to popularising texts of scientific content for a non-expert audience; 3) explain the rhetorical strategies and the correspondent linguistic features to communicate a variety of contents. APPLIED KNOWLEDGE/SKILLS Students will also be able to identify and apply different registers and styles, and choose the most appropriate rhetorical strategies and language features for the production of popularising texts in a variety of non-specialised contexts. Their writing skills will be supported and improved by the many sources analysed and discussed (case studies). Linguistic knowledge and language understanding will be used at a practical level, and applied to the many disciplinary research and professional contexts.