Unit ENGLISH FOR INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS
- Course
- International relations
- Study-unit Code
- GP000932
- Curriculum
- Cooperazione internazionale e state building
- Teacher
- Federico Zanettin
- Teachers
-
- Federico Zanettin
- Hours
- 63 ore - Federico Zanettin
- CFU
- 9
- Course Regulation
- Coorte 2020
- Offered
- 2021/22
- Learning activities
- Caratterizzante
- Area
- Linguistico
- Academic discipline
- L-LIN/12
- Type of study-unit
- Type of learning activities
- Attività formativa monodisciplinare
- Language of instruction
- English
- Contents
- The course of English for International Relations comprises two modules. The first module concerns the use of online tools for reading and writing texts in English, e.g., dictionaries, language corpora, MT systems, etc., with the aim of fostering proficiency and autonomous learning. The second module concerns the analysis of news translation.
- Reference texts
- Attending students:
- Federico Zanettin (2018) “Electronic Tools and Resources for Translating and Writing in the Digital Age.” inTRAlinea 20, http://www.intralinea.org/specials/article/2295.
- Federico Zanettin (2021) News Media Translation, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Other materials will be supplied in class or made available on the UniStudium platform, or will be researched autonomously by the students.
Non-attending students:
Jennifer Jenkins, (2015) Global Englishes. A Resource Book for Students, 3rd Edition, New York & London: Routledge.
- Federico Zanettin (2021) News Media Translation, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. - Educational objectives
- A first aim of the course is to help student with a higher intermediate language competence develop reading, writing and translation skills. A second objective is to provide an introduction to news translation and production practices.
The main acquired knowledge will be:
- Knowledge regarding news production practices
- Knowledge regarding text analysis
- Reinforcement of knowledge of lexical and syntactic features of the English language
The main acquired skills will be:
- Autonomous learning and self-study skills
- analytical skills about the processes of textual transformation in the journalistic context
- Written comprehension and production skills. - Prerequisites
- In order to attend the course students are required to have at least a B2 level of proficiency before attending the course. The level of proficiency can be certified by the Language Center of the University of Perugia (CLA) or by an international certificate validated by the CLA. The CLA certificate expires after 24 months, international certificates expire after 36 months.
- Teaching methods
- The course has a practical approach to learning. During the first module the online resources will be introduced and then students will try them out in practical writing and translation activities.
The second module will comprise both theoretical lessons and the analysis of translated news texts. Students will have to study part of the textbook at home and then applied notions studied to the analysis of texts in class. - Other information
- Attendance is not mandatory. However, in order to attend the course students are required to have a valid B2 certificate before the beginning of the course. Attendance status will be conferred only to students with a valid B2 certificate who attend 75% of the course and will take the written tests. All other students will take the exam as non-attending students. To register for the exam, go to https://unipg.esse3.cineca.it/Home.do.
- Learning verification modality
Assessment criteria differ for attending and non-attending students.
Attending students: The overall evaluation is determined by three different elements. The first of these consists in writing a 150 word summary of a news story of about 1500 words. This test will last 90 minutes and will take place in the computer lab at the end of the first module. E second element will be an essay of between 3 and 4,000 words on the analysis of a translated article published on a newspaper or magazine, on a topic previously agreed with the professor. The essay shall be handed in within three weeks after the end of the course. The final evaluation factor will be a score obtained in the B2 test at the University Language Center (CLA). 70% of the overall evaluation will be determined by the two written exams, the remaining 30% by the score obtained in the B2 test at the CLA.
Non-attending students: Non-attending students will be assessed through and oral interview which will last about 20-25 minutes, on the contents of the two course books listed for non-attending students. Students will have to answer open questions and show they have read and fully understood the material covered in the course books, and that they are able to discuss an academic topic (uses and functions of global Englishes, news translation) in English. The overall evaluation will be determined by the interview (70%) and by the score obtained in the B2 test at the CLA (30%).
For information on support for students with disabilities see http://www.unipg.it/disabilita-e-dsa- Extended program
- The course comprises two modules. The first of these is mainly practical, the second includes a theoretical and descriptive component. The first module aims to provide students with the knowledge and tools for improving their written comprehension and production skills. Through the use of online resources such as dictionaries, search engines, language corpora, encyclopedias and MT systems students will be guided to develop metalinguistic and self-learning skills.
The second module will consider the translation of information in the media. This is one of the most consequential forms of translation in the present time. It is through newspapers, TV news shows, websites and the social media that we get to know what happens in the world, and this knowledge is intrinsically tied to translation activities and practices. It is to a large extent through translation that we learn about people and events in distant locations, and any attempt to understand how international news is produced and received must take into account the extent to which interlingual translation is constitutive of it. However, translation also informs the production of local information in our increasingly multilingual and multicultural virtual and physical shared space. As digital communication has multiplied the occasions for translation in the news media, the study of how translation affects the way information is produced, disseminated and interpreted has become of primary importance not only for academic research, but also for practitioners, whether they be professional journalists, active citizens reading and producing the news, or professionals working in the field of international relations. During the course we will discuss in detail some news articles published in translation, with translation understood as the main text transformation mechanism through which the news is produced and disseminated in the current globalized context of communication.
Non-attending students: Non-attending students will prepare for the exam on the two textbooks listed. The first provides comprehensive coverage of research in the field of World Englishes, English as a Lingua Franca and English as an international language. It explains key concepts connected to the historical and contemporary spread of English and explore the social, economic, educational and political implications of English's rise as a global language. The second textbook concerns the fundamental role of translation in the transmission and diffusion of information, which has been increased by globalization and the development of information technologies.