Ateneo - UPO

MAIN TOPICS: Text and discourse; Types of texts and genres; Register and style. In-depth study of the English language in use, of complex language structures and communicative strategies, for writing and oral interaction. Decoding and encoding processes of medium length/complexity texts.

ENGLISH LINGUISTICS B

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.

ENGLISH LANGUAGE TRAINING B (practical classes) THIRD YEAR - GR A/1 or GR B/2

GR A/1 - GENERAL ENGLISH

COMPULSORY TEXTS (all the students)
1. M. Vince, Language Practice New Edition C1 Student's Book Pack with Macmillan Practice Online and Answer Key. ISBN 9780230463813. (per il 2° e 3° anno)
2. Siew Hean Read, 2018, Writing Skills for International Students, Bloomsbury Academic-MacMillan. (per il 2° e 3° anno)
3. Stella Cragie, Ian Higgins, Sándor Hervey, Patrizia Gambarotta, 2016 (2nd), Thinking Italian Translation. A course in translation method: Italian to English, Routledge
Further materials on translation and essay writing will be provided to students during the year, and uploaded to the webpage DIR (Didattica in Rete).
For further details, see also the syllabus for Group A.

GR B/2 - BUSINESS ENGLISH

COMPULSORY TEXTS (all the students)
1. Business Benchmark ADVANCED - Student's book ISBN 9780521672955 - Language Practice for Advanced 4th Edition Student's Book and MPO with key Pack (new edition 2014) by Michael Vince ISBN - 978-0-230-46381-3
2. Bailey, Stephen, 2020 (3rd ed.), Academic Writing for International Students of Business and Economics, Routledge. (2nd-3rd year BA)
3. Report Writing dispensa.
Further materials will be provided to students during the year, and uploaded to the webpage DIR
(Didattica in Rete).
For further details, see also the syllabus for Group B.

Handbooks will introduce students to theoretical and metalinguistic approaches to the language; Readings will highlight the popularizing strategies used to disseminate linguistic notions and concepts; and Student’s Books will be used for practical activities.

METALINGUISTIC AWARENESS AND LANGUAGE SKILLS.This course aims at introducing and discussing the notion of text and discourse, along with their linguistic features. 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. English Language III aims to develop complex lexical, grammatical, morpho-syntactic, and discursive skills of contemporary English, in relation to everyday topics and events, or more specialized contexts and usages. 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 (English Linguistics B) and practical classes (English Language 3 year ‘esercitazioni’).

The course will be held from October to June. English Language III assessment process includes a written task and an oral discussion (English Linguistics B), and a written test (English Language 3 year practical classes). 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://uniupo.it/en/services/services-students-physical-or-learning-disabilitiesStudents 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.

The written test and the oral exam will be on site for both English Language 3 year practical classes and English Linguistics B, respectively. The oral exam is a discussion on English Linguistics B course contents. Oral interaction skills, language competence, and fluency (discourse structure, pronunciation, lexis, morphosyntax, and linguistic appropriateness) will be assessed when students sit the English Linguistics B exam. English Linguistics B oral exam and language assessment are worth 60%, English Language 3 year practical classes written test is worth 40%. Students will pass their exam if they get 18/30 in both these didactic units. 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. Further information on the assessment process is included in English Linguistics B and English Language 3 year practical classes specific syllabi, General English o British English.

ENGLISH LINGUISTICS B (metalinguistic approach):An introduction to discourse: spoken and written interactionContext an sociolinguistic perspectivesText and discourse: thematic structure and syntaxText types, genres, register/sRhetorical strategies and popularising issuesCoherence, cohesion and the seven standards of textualityCross-references, intertextuality, ellipsis, reiteration, deixisMeaning construction: lexis and semantic fieldsMeaning and/in contextCorpus linguistics and corpus-based approaches to analyse text and discourse: investigating a variety of written texts with the software AntConc 4.3.1.ENGLISH LANGUAGE 3 PRACTICAL CLASSES (use of English):Grammatical structures with a view on contrastive aspects (Italian vs. English): simple and complex sentences, relative clauses (full and reduced) in structuring a written text.Lexical expansion (general vocabulary and specialised terminology): combining noun words and adjectives to denote and connote.Tense consolidation: combining verbs and adverbs.The expression of modality in English: modal verbs and adverbs of manner.Writing paragraphs and longer texts: practising cohesion beyond sentence level.Describing events and circumstances: textual consistency.Summarising, paraphrasing, and reformulating skills: language competence (grammar, lexis, and morpho-sytax).

KNOWLEDGE AND UNDERSTANDINGStudents will also be able to identify and understand different registers and styles, to identify and explain the most appropriate rhetorical strategies and language features used for the production of popularising texts. Students will also be able to read and understand complex texts of contemporary English at an advanced level, of general and/or specialized content. APPLIED KNOWLEDGE AND UNDERSTANDINGStudents are expected to 1) explain and exemplify the complex notions introduced and discussed during the course; 2) discuss the most relevant processes of discourse construal; 3) explain the rhetorical strategies and the correspondent linguistic features to communicate a variety of contents. They will also be able to translate texts and write descriptive essays of medium length and complexity on general topics, to write reports of medium length from an outline, and to have a conversation in the same general/specialized domains. Linguistic knowledge and language understanding will be used at a practical level, and applied to the many disciplinary research and professional contexts.