ENGLISH I
- Overview
- Assessment methods
- Learning objectives
- Contents
- Delivery method
- Teaching methods
- Contacts/Info
Level B1 according to the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages – CEFR.
The students’ knowledge will be assessed through a final level B2 written and oral test that will take place online on the same day. It is necessary to pass the written test to access the oral part.
PLEASE NOTE THAT, at the course start, a placement test will be administered to all the course attendees. Depending on the results, students will have to use an online software to practice their English skills. If they achieve the required level, they will be allowed to access the written and oral tests.
The written test lasts about 1 hours and will allow the lecturer to assess the level of grammar competences and specialised English for the media acquired during the course. It consists of:
1) sentences containing a mistake to be corrected;
2) ‘Fill in the gaps’ sentences concerning either a technical or a current news topic to be completed with a given verb at the infinitive mood, which has to be conjugated in the correct tense, person and voice;
3) sentence to be built based on some given, non-modifiable lexemes;
4) sentences of English for the media to fill in with a specialised term of the students’ choice;
5) journals’ headlines to be classified according to the linguistic/communicative strategy they make use of.
6) journals’ headlines to be turned into formal English;
7) specialised definitions concerning the media field to be matched with a correct definition.
The final mark is calculated in 30ies. Pass mark is 18, which will allow students to access the oral part of the exam. If it is less than 18, the test is not passed and students will have to take the exam again during the following session.
As for the oral exam, students are required to orally analyse and describe 5 authentic documents in English excerpted from paper or online journals according to the methodologies and contents studied during the course:
a) An advertisement.
b) A 500-word editorial.
c) and d) Two 500-word news articles excerpted from newspapers or magazines.
d) A music review.
These materials will be chosen by the students themselves and described/analysed during the oral interview. Examples of media analysis are in the assigned book "Cambridge English for the Media" and on some websites that will be presented in class.
For the oral exam the following will be evaluated:
1) knowledge and understanding of the topics studied and the documents selected by students for the oral exam (8 pts); 2) the ability to apply on the selected texts the linguistic-communicative tools of analysis learnt during the course, with particular attention to grammatical correctness and lexical variety (8 pts); skills of elaboration, critical thinking and evaluation (5 pts); communication skills (5 points); learning ability (4 points).
The final mark is calculated in 30ies. Pass mark is 18. If it is less than 18, the exam is failed and students will have to take the oral exam again.
After passing the oral exam, the final mark will be added to that of the written test, which will result in a final, average mark.
The course aims at developing receptive and productive skills in English language at an upper-intermediate level (B2 – Vantage according to the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages – CEFR) with regard to speaking, comprehension, listening and use of English, as well as some writing strategies, and to get students started to the use of English for the media.
In particular, students are required to:
- learn, know and use the main morphosyntactic structures of English at an intermediate level;
- read and understand specialised texts, identify and use the basic specialised lexicon of and for the media (i.e. magazines, newspapers, advertising, music, communication and technology);
- use basic writing strategies to write specific sentences for the media;
- speak about current events as dealt with by international media.
Students will have to learn how to consult specialised bibliographic material, databases, pronunciation dictionaries, online monolingual dictionaries.
The course is divided into three modules:
A) Upper Intermediate language practice (20 hrs). This module focuses on the lexico-grammar competences of English at an upper intermediate level. Listening, speaking, reading and writing are here practised based on the following grammar and functional areas. Special attention will be drawn on speaking and listening:
Time and Tense
- The simple present
- The present continuous
- The past simple
- The past continuous
- Used to and would
- The present perfect simple
- The present perfect continuous
- The past perfect
- The past perfect continuous
- Going to and will
- Present tenses for talking about the future
- Modals
Sentences
- Word order
- Reported speech and reporting verbs
- Relative clauses
Other verb forms
- Verbs followed by the infinitive or the -ing form
- First, second and zero conditional sentences
- The third conditional, wishes and regrets
- The passive
- Get/have something done
- Basic phrasal verbs
Naming and describing
- Articles
- Personal, possessive, reflexive and demonstrative pronouns
- Countable and uncountable nouns and expressions of quantity
Functional Areas
- Ways of comparing
- Possibility in the present and in the past
- Present, past and future obligation and necessity
B) The Language of the Media (36 hrs). In this module, through the analysis of authentic texts and the participation in oral (i.e. role plays) and written (i.e. functional exercises of English for special purposes – ESP, brief samples of translations from Italian into English) activities, students are got started in the use of specialised English for the media, the web and multimedia technologies, crisis communication, based on the following main topics:
- Magazines
- Newspapers
- Advertising
- Music
The activities will be carried out through lectures, in which the teacher will illustrate the contents of the course, requiring the interactive participation of the students through exercises, listening to authentic texts in language, reading, conversation and short simulations (mock test) with guided correction.
Office hours upon appointment via email:
alessandra.vicentini@uninsubria.it