ENGLISH LANGUAGE

Academic Year 2019/2020 - 3° Year - Curriculum Educatore nei servizi per l'infanzia and Curriculum Educatore sociale di comunita'
Teaching Staff: Paola Clara LEOTTA
Credit Value: 10
Taught classes: 60 hours
Term / Semester: One-year

Learning Objectives

The course aims at consolidating and deepening students’ linguistic skills particularly concerning the grammatical, morphological and phonological aspects of language (B1 level of the Common European Framework), the ability of reading comprehension and the comment on specialized texts belonging to the fields of education and pedagogy.

Entry level: A2.

Achievement level: B1.


Course Structure

Lectures + Lab.


Detailed Course Content

Grammatical, morphological and phonological analysis of texts of different typologies; reading comprehension activities with a focus on scientific lexicon on Education and particularly on the following topics:

- Learner-centred pedagogy (The Reggio Emilia Approach - Italy, Summerhill - England, Sudbury Valley School - the USA, T. Makiguchi - Japan)

- Technology in Education (Wake Forest University, The Modern Student, Internet Linguistics)

- Stories and Immigration (Reading Pinocchio, Pinocchio in America)

- Education and English-language varieties: Indian English in Bend it like Beckham, American English in Freedom Writers' Diary

- The Education System​ in the UK and the USA.

By the end of the course students will be able to:

- Identify and properly use the grammatical and syntactical structures dealt with during lessons.

- Recognize and properly use the most frequently recurring elements of specialized lexicon.

- Read, translate and comment on texts about education and pedagogy.

- Sum up information found in texts/films.


Textbook Information

Grammar and language skills:

- M. Swan, C. Walter, D. Bertocchi, The Good Grammar Book for Italian Students, Oxford U.P., 2015 (only for reference)

– M. Hancock, A. McDonald, English Result, Pre-Intermediate, Oxford U. P., 2010 (about 100 pp.)

Monographic course:

-Leotta, P.C., The Challenge of Mediating: from English to the New Englishes. Cultural Otherness in Bend it like Beckham, Englishes 41/2010, pp. 51-61.

- Leotta, P.C., “The transportation of British, American and Indian cultures to Italian-dubbed films. Conventionality and creative solutions”, in V. Bonsignori, G. Cappelli, E. Mattiello (eds), Worlds of Words: Complexity, Creativity, and Conventionality in English Language, Literature and Culture, Vol. 1 (Language), Pisa University Press, Pisa, 2019, pp. 187-201.

- S. Notini, H. Monaco, Issues in Education, Clueb, Bologna 2001 (pp. 61-144)
- Handouts (Internet Linguistics, Makiguchi, Freedom Writers' Diary)

Students who don’t attend the course, are kindly requested to meet the Professor, during office hours.