Learning objectives
As well as further developing written and oral language skills and translation strategies (from English into Italian and Italian into English) acquired during previous years of study, the course aims to provide students with solid general and specific knowledge of the methods of analysis of written and oral texts relating to the analysis of data banks (corpora) and spoken and written texts in the field of translation studies.
During the course students will learn to:
.express themselves appropriately in both the spoken and written mode in presenting and discussing their own work, and continue to develop these skills in the context of lifelong learning;
.become completely autonomous in the learning of the language by acquiring the necessary linguistic competence with a view to using receptive and productive skills in a future professional context;
.recognise the pragmatic intent of diverse text genres according to various linguistic devices; decode the primary and secondary meanings of terms in context and in the co-text; identify the forms of cohesion, lexis and relative discourse structure, and so on, peculiar to the text genre;
.understand and analyse texts in the original language, the complex nature of which is expressed not only in terms of formal and informal characteristics of the language, but also in the discursive-ideological content expressed;
.develop the critical reflection necessary to develop strategies for the translation of various text types, also at a contrastive level, and use the technological tools in support of the writing and translation process;
.research without assistance further information on the topics discussed in class, retrieving both traditional paper and digital texts and presenting their findings on the Moodle platform made available for the course;
.present their research in English and formulate reasoned judgments and opinions after a thorough analysis of the text, even with regard to complex phenomena;
.communicate and discuss in English at the level C2 of the Common European Framework of Reference, contents, analyses and theories in an appropriate register, i.e. making the necessary lexical and syntactic choices;
.apply the skills developed during the course to the analysis of various text types characteristic of diverse levels of meaning, provide clear documentation of analysis by interrogating both representative and specialist corpora, and justifying interpretation on the basis of a close examination of the data retrieved.
Prerequisites
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Course unit content
The course, which will be held in English, intends to examine different text genres (literary, economic, scientific, and legal), even at a contrastive level, in order to identify the linguistic marker sand lexico-grammatical features that distinguish each genre. Furthermore, it will introduce the use of corpus linguistics as a tool for develop their analytical skills by interrogating representative and specialised corpora in the search of meaning in context and in the co-text of the text genres chosen (by means of collocation, colligation, semantic preference, positive and negative semantic prosody). Regarding the development of translation strategies, the use of a mono and/or bilingual dictionary will be considered as only one of the many tools available to the writer and translator in their search for meaning. The aim of this course then is to introduce the student to the analysis of the English language by means of corpus linguistics, with a view to developing is writing and translation skills in the pre- during and post stages of the translation process.
As far as practical language competence is concerned, the students will attend throughout the academic year classes held by foreign language assistants. They will also be required to develop their self-study skills for a minimum of 6 hours in the multimedia laboratory, following a programme discussed with the lecturer responsible for the course.
Full programme
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Bibliography
Preliminary reading for the study of Corpus Linguistics with reference also to Translation:
Maeve Olohan 2004. Introducing Corpora in Translation Studies, Abingdon: Routledge.
John Sinclair 2003. Reading Concordances, Harlow: Pearson.
A detailed bibliography of texts (the object of study) will be given during the course and clearly indicated in the examination programmeto be distributed.
Texts for further developing language skills will also be indicated by the foreign language assistants at the beginning of the year.
Teaching methods
In class, the lecturer will present the main elements of corpus linguistics with reference to its application in the field of translation, indicating a series of prescribed readings that will be made available or indicated on the LEA / LALO platform. Further suggestions will be given during the course for individual study and analysis with a view to stimulating in the student a high level of independence in approaching textual analysis as indicated by the lecturer.
Students will also attend practical lessons held by foreign language assistants throughout the whole academic year. They will also be required to develop their self-study skills for a minimum of 6 hours in the multimedia laboratory, following a programme discussed with the lecturer responsible for the course.
Assessment methods and criteria
Evaluation of the knowledge and skills acquired during the course will be carried out by means of a preliminary written test and oral examination at the end of the academic year. The knowledge and competences that will be evaluated are as follows:
. written and oral competence in the English language corresponding to the level C2 (Common Eropean Framework of Reference) and, in particular the acquisition of all language skills (written and spoken) as well as translation strategies from English to Italian and Italian to English in a register appropriate to the text genre and which reflects the communicative functions of the source text;
. knowledge of text features and context, formal, informal and ideological issues relating to the text genre and object of study;
. an ability to study independently, re-elaborate the contents imparted during the course, propose individual research complementary to the topics discussed during lectures, solve problems relating to the retrieval of information and decoding of complex texts, to formulate individual judgements and opinions.
With a view to verifying whether such knowledge and level of competences have been achieved, the aim of the oral examination is to evaluate the ability of the student to re-elaborate, reformulate such knowledge as well as the ability to apply the knowledge and skills he /she has gained to text analysis and to corpus interrogation of one or more kinds of corpora, and also to apply them at a contrastive level.
The preliminary written text evaluation will be considered insufficient if the student is found lacking in any of the language or translation skills; an evaluation of insufficent (less than 18/30) does not permit access to the oral examination.
A final evaluation of insufficient is determined by the lack on the part of the student: to demonstrate a minimum knowledge of the contents of the course; to express him or herself adequately in English (expected level of C2) on the topics of the course; to discuss and solve problems regarding the retrieval of information and decoding of complex texts, and to formulate independent critical judgements and opinions.
The final evaluation takes into account the competences gained and mark awarded in the preliminary written test.
A final evaluation of sufficient (18-23/30) is determined if the student is able to show that he / or she has mastered the basic notions and contents of the course and is sufficiently able to express them, even simply, at a level of English that at least corresponds in part to the C2 level. An average mark of (24-27/30) is awarded to the student who can demonstrate he / she possesses a more than sufficient command of the language and theoretical knowledge (24-25/30) or good (26-27/30) according to the above criteria of evaluation. The highest marks ( 28-30/30 and merit) are likewise awarded on the basis of a very good to excellent command of the language and theoretical knowledge according to the above criteria of evaluation.
Other information
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