Corsi di Studio del Dipartimento di Culture, Politica e Società

Students may take the course from the second semester of their second year in the degree program. To attend the course, you need to have an intermediate level of proficiency in English.

REQUIREMENTS TO ACCESS THE LINGUA INGLESE EXAM: To take this exam, students must have passed the B2 English Lettorato test (prova finale del lettorato di inglese di livello B2). Once you have passed the Lettorato test, your mark will be valid for three years.
Lectures can be attended by students who have already passed the B2 Lettorato test or are attending classes in preparation for the B2 Lettorato test.
Students are advised to take the B2 Lettorato test during their first year or in the first semester of their second year in the degree program (attending classes is recommended but not compulsory).
Carefully read the online pages and FAQ document on English lettorato courses and tests: from www.didattica-cps.unito.it , go to the top bar and select Studiare>Lettorati di lingua>Inglese.

Students with an English language certification that:

a) is recognized as valid by the CPS Department,
b) corresponds to a B2 level of the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages, and
c) was obtained no more than three years prior to the month when they choose to take the Lingua Inglese (English Language) exam,

may get in touch with the teacher by email, attaching a copy of the certification. The teacher will review the document and confirm to the student(s) whether the certificate is acceptable or not. If it is accepted, the student(s) will be allowed direct access to the course and its related exam (no Lettorato test required).

Educational goals

The main goal of the course is to provide students with a set of basic tools from English linguistics that will allow them to access resources produced in English within the fields and disciplines characterising their degree course. Students will be able to access and elaborate such information through critical and personal thinking.

In order to achieve this goal, students will need to develop:

• An intermediate level of English, corresponding to a B2 level of the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages;
• The ability to read scientific texts written in English;
• The ability to take notes;
• The ability to analyse and grasp the main concepts of a text in English – particularly, of texts about topics concerning their own disciplinary fields;
• The ability to reformulate a text/present a scientific argument in a logical and consistent way.

Developing such skills will be useful to make valuable contributions in professional interactions, especially in disciplinary contexts related to their degree course.

Expected learning outcomes

Students will have to demonstrate that they have fully acquired and can critically apply knowledge of the course content, concerning both linguistic concepts and other subjects related to their degree course.

At the end of the course students will have developed a greater awareness of communicative strategies employed in the contexts analysed throughout the course. They will also be able to contribute to the writing and editing of outputs concerning the fields of knowledge which characterise their degree course.

Module 1: Introduction to the analysis of language.

Module 2: case study: advertising discourse

Module 3: Innovation, technology, society and our future: how can we think of the recent technological innovations and our current global situation

Module 4: General language proficiency and office language (focus on the language of meetings).

All lectures will be in English except for the first one, which will be dedicated to a general description of the course and initial assessment of the class group.

Please note: even though not mandatory, given the subjects and contents covered we strongly advise you to attend the lessons.

The course consists in 36 hours of frontal lectures (March-April 2024, Thursdays 11 am-2 pm and Fridays 11 am-2 pm).

The assessment will be the same for both attending and non-attending students, namely an oral interview consisting of two main parts:

1.A small individual project consisting in a 5 to 7-minute oral presentation in English. In this presentation, students will have to further develop/expand/elaborate on a topic or aspect related to the course syllabus through a brief description/analysis or argumentation.  More specific guidelines on how to prepare the presentation are provided here (Moodle).

2.An English-language interview on the contents of the course syllabus.

Please note that an additional service of personalized tutoring has been activated for certified students with specific learning disabilities (SLD). The person in charge is Prof. Elana Ochse. Follow this link and select "Tutoraggio Inglese per studentesse/studenti DSA" for further information.

Recommended readings and references, as well as specific material, will be provided by the teacher in the Moodle course page (link in the “Vai a Moodle” button at the bottom of the page). It is recommended that you check that page regularly.

Office hours: in person or online (Webex), by appointment only. To book an appointment, please email the teacher.

Teachers do not reply to emails that are not signed, or inquire about information that can be easily retrieved through the official sources of our department. We would also like to remind you that emails are not a replacement for meetings during office hours.

It is recommended that students enrol for the course in this Campusnet page (“registrati a questo insegnamento” link at the bottom of the page) as well as in the corresponding Moodle course (“Vai a Moodle” link at the bottom of the page).

Course calendar

Thu 07/03/2024 11:00-14:00
Fri 08/03/2024 11:00-14:00
Thu 14/03/2024 11:00-14:00
Fri 15/03/2024 11:00-14:00
Thu 21/03/2024 11:00-14:00
Fri 22/03/2024 11:00-14:00
Thu 04/04/2024 11:00-14:00
Fri 05/04/2024 11:00-14:00
Thu 11/04/2024 11:00-14:00
Fri 12/04/2024 11:00-14:00
Thu 18/04/2024 11:00-14:00
Fri 19/04/2024 11:00-14:00