| Module Identifier |
IT30310 |
| Module Title |
THE LANGUAGE OF CURRENT AFFAIRS |
| Academic Year |
2004/2005 |
| Co-ordinator |
Dr Antonietta Feroldi |
| Semester |
Semester 2 |
| Other staff |
Dr Roberta Sartoni |
| Pre-Requisite |
(Normally) eligibility for entry to Level 3 Italian. |
| Co-Requisite |
(Normally) IT30130 |
| Course delivery |
Other | 15 Hours Contact Hours. (10 one-and-a-half hour lessons/seminars) |
| Assessment |
| Assessment Type | Assessment Length/Details | Proportion |
|---|
| Semester Exam | 2 Hours Written exam. (One translation and one summary from Italian into English and/or a comprehension.) | 60% |
| Semester Assessment | Continuous Assessment: 10 written assignments OR 7 written assignments PLUS one web page production exercise | 40% |
| Supplementary Exam | 1 x 2 hour examination if continuous assessment submitted. 1 x 3 hour examination if no continuous assessment submitted | |
|
Learning outcomes
On successful completion of this module students should be able to:
At the end of this course, students should
-
have become familiar with the language of Italian newspapers, with its often highly metaphorical and rhetorical quality;
-
possess a knowledge of those elements of Italian political life and structures and of cultural issues that will allow them to understand current newspaper and magazine articles;
-
be able to summarise or translate into English articles from Italian magazines and newspapers.
Brief description
This module aims to familiarise students with the language of current affairs (typically, as it appears in daily newspapers and weekly magazines). It also hopes to broaden the students' awareness of and curiosity towards the reality of contemporary Italy.
Lectures will be based, on a rota, on current newspaper or magazine articles or on material available in Robert Lumley' text (see below), which covers topics such as racism, political satire, terrorism, and the Tangentopoli scandal.
Students will be asked to prepare the material beforehand for discussion in class and then produce one piece of homework per week consisting, alternately, of a translation, a summary, or answers to the exercises in the Lumley text.
N.B. As an alternative to handing in three of the above pieces of work, students will be given the opportunity (and, if required, the necessary technical support) to produce a web page based on a current affairs article, with links explaining or illustrating relevant aspects of Italian culture, history, or politics.
Reading Lists
Books
Lumley, Robert (1996) Italian Journalism. A Critical Anthology
MUP
[Selection of recent articles appearing in the Italian national press.]
Notes
This module is at CQFW Level 6