ENGLISH LANGUAGE

This is one of the basic courses within the Degree Course in Languages, Cultures and Societies of Asia and Mediterranean Africa. The course aims to provide students with tools for education, training and work in international and multicultural contexts. In particular, the course aims to train and develop students’ ability to understand specialized texts on intercultural communication, as well as the ability to analyse and present contents on intercultural themes in written and oral academic English.

Knowledge and understanding:
At the end of the course, students will have acquired:
- knowledge of the main intercultural communication theories
- knowledge of the concepts of ‘culture’, ‘context’ and ‘cultural orientations’
- understanding of the importance of intercultural competence for effective communication in international and multicultural contexts
- knowledge of the features and problems of English as a lingua franca (ELF)
- knowledge of the features of academic English

Applying knowledge and understanding
At the end of the course, students will be able to:
- critically discuss the concepts of ‘culture’ and ‘context’ and the relationship between the two
- apply the knowledge acquired on intercultural theories to everyday communicative situations by means of linguistic analysis

Making judgements:
At the end of the course, students will be able:
- to identify elements of potential ‘conflict’ in communication

Communication:
At the end of the course, students will be able:
- to adopt suitable communicative strategies to communicate effectively in multicultural and international contexts

Learning skills:
At the end of the course, students will be able to apply what they have learnt regarding intercultural communication to study, research and analyse linguistic and cultural differences autonomously

Students are required to possess a B1-B2 level on the Common European Framework, along with an interest in developing their critical thinking and improving their communicative competence.

The monographic course is divided into three modules.
In the first module the concepts of ‘World Englishes’ and ‘English as a Lingua Franca’ (ELF) will be introduced, and models for representing English speakers in the world will be analysed. The concept of ‘linguistic politeness’ will also be presented, with a particular focus on how this may vary according to different communicative situations.
The second module aims to analyse the definition of the concept of ‘culture’, the ‘Cultural Iceberg’ model, and the concept of ‘cultural orientations’, so as to raise students’ awareness of the complexity of culture.
The third module is dedicated to applying intercultural models for developing intercultural skills, which will enable students to overcome and re-interpet culture shocks using intercultural resources.

Selected readings from these volumes:
• Galloway, Nicola & Rose, Heath (2015) Introducing Global Englishes. London/New York: Routledge.
• Hall, Edward T. (any edition) The Silent Language.
• Holliday, Adrian, Kullman, John & Hyde, Martin (2017) Intercultural Communication: An Advanced Resource Book for Students, 3a edizione. London/New York: Routledge (a downloadable pdf file will be available on Moodle https://moodle.unive.it/course/view.php?id=6394 - the password can be requsted by email to mariaelisa.fina@unive.it)
• Meyer, Erin (2016) The Culture Map: Decoding How People Think, Lead, and Get Things Done Across Cultures, New York: PublicAffairs.

and additional materials supplied by the lecturer.

Suggested text for academic writing practice:
- Oshima, Alice & Hogue, Ann (2006) Writing Academic English, 4th edition (The Longman Academic Writing Series, Level 4). New York: Person/Longman, Parte I – Writing a Paragraph.

Written exam (45 minutes):
- 8 multiple-choice questions,
- 3 open questions (min. and max. number of words specified).

Exam questions will concern the topics dealt with in class, individual and/or group assignments included. Example questions and mock tests will be provided during the course.

The course will take place in in the 1st semester (30 hours). During the course traditional teaching methods are combined with activities on authentic materials and examples that require active student participation. Student interaction in class is highly encouraged.
Additional materials will be provided on-line so that students can explore topics further.
Readings and exam practice will be assigned weekly and will be discussed in class.


Both attendees and non-attendees must sign up to the Moodle course https://moodle.unive.it/course/view.php?id=6394 - the password can be requested by email to mariaelisa.fina@unive.it)
All the teaching materials, assignments and practice are part of the exam contents.

The course will be held in dual mode (a limited group of students will be in the classroom, the others will follow the lesson from home using Zoom). The lessons will be recorded and made available for students for no more than 7 days. All students are warmly invited to read the following information about Ca' Foscari's guidelines for infection prevention:
https://www.unive.it/pag/40644/ (Covid-19: le misure di Ca’ Foscari)
https://www.unive.it/pag/fileadmin/user_upload/ateneo/lavora_con_noi/covid-19/protocollo-anticontagio-covid19-31-7-2020.pdf Protocollo anti-contagio
https://www.unive.it/pag/40185 Covid-19: informazioni per studenti

written

This subject deals with topics related to the macro-area "International cooperation" and contributes to the achievement of one or more goals of U. N. Agenda for Sustainable Development