English I and Mediation

The entry level required for this course is the B1 level of the CEFR. This course aims to strengthen the knowledge of lexical, morphological, syntactic and phonological structures of English, as well as to introduce the concept of mediation for intercultural communication. Particularly, the course aims to provide students with a practical as well as metalinguistic understanding of the English phonology in its British variant (received pronunciation, or RP), also compared to other variants, whereby practical understanding refers to listening and production skills, and metalinguistic skills refer to the ability to describe and analyse language phenomena. The goal is for students to become familiar with the English varieties spoken in different geographic areas (also in terms of lexical variations) and with the sociolinguistic dynamics that characterise the use of the language. In order to introduce the principles of specialised communication, particular attention will be paid to the tourism sector, which offers a practical example of intercultural communication. By the end of the course, students will have reached proficiency in general English at B2+ level under the CEFR and acquired theoretical and practical knowledge with regard to intercultural communication.

By the end of the course, students will be able to apply linguistic knowledge to understand and produce non-specialised texts and tourism texts at B2+ level under the CEFR. Particular focus will be on oral communication, in order to develop listening and interaction skills. They will be able to recognise the different English accents and their respective geographic areas, as well as to understand the dynamics of interaction in intercultural communication. In the specialised field of tourism, students will be able to recognise and adopt the correct linguistic strategies to be used in different contexts and situations according to the communicative goals to be reached, and to discuss on such themes by adopting a pertinent academic language.