First Year English  for the curriculum  Languages and Linguistics
Lingua Inglese I annualità per il curriculum Lingue e Linguistica

Topic: Englishes of the world: similar forms, similar mentalities?
(NOTE: This course may merge, for logistics, with the First Year English course for OCI students: Seeing and saying things in English.  For the schedule in that case, click here.)

Regulations, credits - Regolamenti, CFU> 
Assessment - Esame: contenuti e date> 
Roll - Registro iscrizioni-presenze-voti> 
Office hours - Ore di ricevimento> 

 <Programma e testi - Syllabus, set texts
 <Sunto delle lezioni - Recap of lessons
 <Attività di ricerca - Research tasks
 <Notizie, avvisi - News, Messages

Mon. 1-3 pm, Room B 
Lunedì,  13-15,  aula  B  

Wed. 1-3 pm, Room 18 
 Mercoledì, 13-15, aula 18  

Fri. 1-3 pm, Room B 
Venerdì 13-15, aula B

*  NEWS
* Click on the newspaper to see the archived (old) news items

Students'  Message Board
To communicate with the other students (or with the teacher),
click on one of the orange rectangles:
 
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  ROLL*
*ENROLLMENT,  ATTENDANCE,  MARKS

Enrollment form and instructions (in Italian)>             (Informativa sulla privacy> )
You must be enrolled in this course if you want to count as a frequentante, participate in the activities and take the mid-term tests (esoneri).  Otherwise it is not necessary. 
 
 
  PC HELP: Problems using your PC?*   Phone a student for help> 
*A common question: "I don't have a PC or money to buy one. But you use the Internet in your teaching. And I'll need a PC to write up my findings for the Research Tasks and, later, for my tesi. What to do?" For some answers in English, click here>      (In Italiano>  ) 
 
 
  Students enrolled  (Last update: )>   
 
 
  Photos (by groups)>   
 
 
   Attendance >   
 
 
  Marks for the Research Tasks: 1>    2>    3>    4> 
 
 
Mid-term test ("esonero") marks: 1st>     2nd> 
Although you must be enrolled in this course (see the enrollment form above) in order to take the mid-term tests (esoneri), no booking is required since they are not "real"exams -- they serve to reduce the study load for the final exam (for which booking is necessary).  Each mid-term test you pass in this course eliminates one of the two monographs from the final exam and counts for a part of your final mark.  But only the final mark goes on your libretto.

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ASSESSMENT

Non frequentanti   Final exam contents: As a non-attender, you are responsible for all texts (book, monographs) on the Reading List.> 

    Criteria determining your mark, see here> 

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Frequentanti   Final exam contents: Class discussions (if you don't remember the topics, they are listed here> )  plus a third of the book on the Reading List>    (the pages to study will be announced in class).
Also the two monographs if you didn't eliminate them by taking and passing the mid-term tests (esoneri).
 Criteria determining your mark (out of a maximum of 30 points*):
   4 automatic points for attendance and completion of all assignments
+ total of marks received for the Research Tasks (out of 20)
+ average of marks received for the mid-term tests (out of 10)
+ mark (from -2 to +3) on the final exam (for an explanation, see here> ).
    *The sum of of all the points listed here is more than 30. This increase is meant to compensate for the fact that, in the Italian grading system, rarely do students get more than 8 out of 10 on partial tests and assignments.  Yet graduate schools and employers expect at least 25 out of 30 on undergraduate exams, and the university itself requires at least 28 out of 30 for an Honors Degree.

The partial marks for the various Research Tasks and mid-term tests may be found in the section  ROLL : click here>   



    Calendar for final exams (appelli): Summer session, June/July 2005> 
There are regulations governing when you can take the exam and in what order you must take each component of this course (the Module, the Exercises), as well as the extra "Lab credit" (if you want English to be your major or "prima lingua"). See the regulations under the heading Prerequisites on the main menu or simply click here>.


   Computerized exam booking> 
No booking is required for the mid-term tests (esoneri) since they are not "real" exams (their purpose is to "exonerate" you from some of the material on the final exam) and the mark you get for them does not go on your libretto.

Booking is required, however, for the final exam -- and at least 10 days in advance.  Click on the orange button above to connect to the booking site, usually active 20 days before the exam period.  If your computer breaks down during the booking period, there are two "dedicated" PCs for booking next to the portineria.  (N.B.   For the written [Lettori] exams, which cover the Exercise component of this course, use instead the registers outside the Lettori Room for your booking.)


 

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SYLLABUS,  SET TEXTS,  HANDOUTS 
 

Syllabus 

 
If there is a merger, the course will not be Englishes of the world: similar forms, similar mentalities? but rather:
Seeing and saying things in English

Knowing English means having learned not only to say things but also to see things as a native speaker of English might.  This does not imply trying to imitate a "perfect Anglo speaker" (an impossible goal since the species does not exist).  It does however imply undergoing a transformation of consciousness -- something much more ambitious than just "thinking in English" (the goal that ESL students often say they wish to attain). 

More precisely, learning English means acquiring a new mode of being, consonant with the kind of person one wishes to be as a speaker of English and thus -- since one does not normally learn a language to speak to oneself -- consonant with some reference group of speakers of English, however marginal: the group one wishes to be able to "talk sense" to and to "understand from within".  Neither task is simple, but both are feasible.  Indeed, since "understanding from within" requires not only reassigning word meanings but reconstructing reality -- culture B's "sense" being culture A's nonsense -- clearly the acquisition of English (or any other language) becomes immensely easier if it is experienced as the acquisition of a mind set in tune with one's new interlocutors.  This in fact is what learning one's native language was fundamentally all about.  And yet linguistics and literary studies either ignore this dimension or attempt to describe it from without -- the first like a person deaf from birth who, out of whim, has learned to comment orchestral scores as combinations of signs; the second like an inhibited music teacher who explains the history of an orchestral genre but not how to compose in it (which would require helping them "get into it").

Acquiring a cross-cultural capability in English is important not only because it clarifies the nature of language, but also because it clarifies the nature of communication and, what is more, the nature of the phenomenon we call "English".  From a practical standpoint, it enables learners to create not just understanding, but entente.  This ability is what a post-industrial economy needs: while entente is not necessary to export TV sets or computer hardware (specifications speak for themselves), it is necessary to export TV programs or computerized staff evaluation systems, the value of which must be understood in terms that ‘talk’ to foreign interlocutors within their linguistic-cultural value system.  This means having mastered their language and mind set -- fundamentally the same thing, when languages are taught as culture.

How might "English" be taught as a cultural mind set?

     In this Module we shall examine what language is "beyond words and syntax" -- a move toward a linguistics of parole alongside the traditional Saussurian linguistics of langue.  Then, on the basis of our wider definition of language, we shall attempt a cultural description of "English" -- or rather, Englishes, as they exist in today's globalized yet fragmented world.

     For the organizational aspect of the module -- requirements and credits, evaluation criteria and so on -- see the main menu.   As for the Reading List, it follows.
 

 Set texts
("programma")

If there is a merger, the course will not be Englishes of the world: similar forms, similar mentalities? but rather:
Seeing and Saying Things in English

a. Book: D. Crystal.1997. English as a Global Language. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.  
Available at university book stores.
Note: Attenders read two chapters (indicated during the lessons); non attenders read all chapters (1 to 5).
 
b. Monograph: P. Boylan, 2004, 'Seeing and Saying Things in English' 
To read the text click here>    To download the text click here> . 
Note: For both attenders and non attenders.   
 
c. Avviso sull'esame 
To read the text click here>    To download the text click here> . 
Note: Although aimed at non-attenders, the text constitutes exam material for all students since it analyzes what it means to "know" English in the context of the exams for this Course.  (International students: read the English version; Italian students: read the Italian version as it discusses your particular situation in more detail).
 
 
 

 Handouts 
 
("Dispense per i soli frequentanti -- i non frequentanti NON devono leggere questi testi.")

<cliccare                     "Learning language as culture" (in italiano)
 
Documento storico di 20 anni fa: è il Manifesto (la prima dichiarazione di principio scritto in lingua italiana) di una nuova concezione di apprendimento delle lingue vive, basata sull'introiezione culturale.
La pagina riprodotta è la Postfazione al volume Accenti sull'America di Patrick Boylan, Roma: Armando Curcio Editore, 1987, p. 387. In glottodidattica, "Learning language as culture" viene chiamato anche "l'approccio comunicativo-culturale".

 
Linda Beamer – Cultural Parameters Illustrated: How to predict communication friction. Warning: To see this text, your computer must have a Power Point Viewer (most do). You can get one free at www.microsoft.com.
 

 
Common European Framework of Reference (CEF)
You'll hear teachers at Roma Tre (and elsewhere) speak of the Common European Framework (CEF) levels of competence in a second language. For example, our university entry test is targeted for Level B1 in reading ability and A2 in speaking ability. What does this mean? Click the orange dot if you want to know more about the system (which many people criticize as simplistic, so it will probably undergo change in the near future).
 

Learn English on the Internet... FREE (no fees to teachers or schools!)
Clicking on the orange dot will open a page full of Internet sites where you can practice and extend your English. But you have to know how to distinguish what sites are most useful to you. This means asking yourself (1.) what learning English really means and thus (2.) what kinds of competence you need to acquire and only then (3.) what exercises are best for you.

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LESSONS 

                                         Room 18

           Seating Arrangement of groups
 
Groups consist of 6/8 students, 3 (or 4) in front and as many behind, like this:
                   
This arrangement allows everyone to participate in the group discussions.
 

     
AFTER EACH LESSON, SEE HERE FOR THE SLIDES/NOTES USED.
 

 Overall purpose of course: see handout Learning language as culture

 Please form groups of 6-8 students and
sit together in one of the colored areas below:
 

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TASK 1
Due date:

 The first task will be announced at the beginning of the course.
 

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