L0700 - ENGLISH LANGUAGE AND TRANSLATION I

courses

ID:

L0700

Duration (hours):

54

CFU:

SSD:

LINGUA E TRADUZIONE - LINGUA INGLESE

Located in:

PESCARA

Url:

Course Details:

MODERN LANGUAGES, LITERATURES AND CULTURES/CORSO GENERICO Year: 1

Year:

2025

Course Catalogue:

https://unich.coursecatalogue.cineca.it/af/2025?co...

Date/time interval

Annuale (03/10/2025 - 31/05/2026)

Course Objectives

The course concurs to the achievement of the academic goals of the BA in Modern Languages, Literatures and Cultures at both cultural and professional levels. Students will acquire knowledge of the main translation theories and the current debate on issues like translation and ideology, translation and foreign language teaching, AI, ethics, and will refine their meaning-making process. The translation of literary and functional texts will enhance the students’ linguistic and professional competencies.

Moreover, covering key aspects of ELT will provide students with some introductory notions and ideas for class activities to be further developed in future courses, should they decide to prepare themselves for secondary school teaching.
LEARNING OUTCOMES
Knowledge and understanding – Applying knowledge and understanding: By the end of the course, students will have acquired knowledge and understanding of

- the main translation theories

- the cultural debate around translation

- translation-oriented text analysis

- online resources, translation software, post-editing

- issues of functional equivalence, context-dependent rendering and gender inclusive language

- some key aspects of English language teaching

and will be able to

- analyze a text highlighting its linguistic, textual and socio-cultural properties

- translate a text without misinterpretations or L1 mistakes, using language and style that are suitable to the text type and its function

- plan, carry out and evaluate secondary school language activities.
Making judgements: By the end of the course, students will be able to

- adopt adequate target language text-type conventions

- adopt the most suitable translation strategy/ies

- explain their translation choices

- define the learning objective/s of an activity, prepare it and evaluate its efficacy.
Communication skills: By the end of the course, students will be able to

- discuss translation in its various dimensions using the relevant terminology and language competence at CEFR level C1

- interact with learners and explain a language activity.

Course Prerequisites

CEFR B2+

Teaching Methods

Lectures, PowerPoint presentations and videos; translation and editing practice, both individually and as group work; class discussion of translational choices; students' presentations of assigned topics; group work and role-play in L2 teaching activities. Language practice classes (lettorato): sessions held by language instructors (CEL).

Assessment Methods

WRITTEN AND ORAL EXAM

WRITTEN EXAM The written part, to be taken in one of the three sessions available (May, September and January) consists in:

1. C1 level language activities (lettorato)

2. a translation into Italian

3. a question on language activities for the foreign language class (in English).

Monolingual and bilingual dictionaries as well as thesauruses are only allowed for the translation.

ORAL EXAM The oral can be taken after passing the written exam and consists in:

1. language assessment (general English at C1 level: CEL)

2. discussion of the topics covered during the course (in English);

3. presentation and discussion of the translations carried out individually

FINAL GRADE The final grade is obtained by averaging the results of the written and oral parts. Grades will be expressed as follows: 1-17 fail, 18-21 satisfactory, 22-24 fairly good, 25-27 good, 28-29 very good, 30-30 with honours excellent.

Texts

- Brusasco, P. (2016). Approaching Translation. Theoretical and Practical Issues. Torino: Celid.
Gambier, Y., van Doorslaer, L., Handbook of Translation Studies, Amsterdam/ Philadelphia: John Benjamins. Vol. 1 (2010): pp. 22-27; 185-190; 285-293. Vol. 5 (2021): pp. 159-164; 177-184. - Scrivener, J. (2011). Learning Teaching: The Essential Guide to English Language Teaching (third edition). London: Macmillan. Ch. 1 (pp. 9-20, 31-32); 6 (pp. 123-146), 7, 8. - The texts for translation that are not included in the coursebook will be available on Moodle. LANGUAGE PRECTICE CLASSES (LETTORATO) Coursebook/s and any other material indicated by the Language instructor/s.

The course focuses on advanced text analysis and contextualization in preparation for translation, especially of literary texts. Translation practice will be carried out against the backdrop of theory: the main approaches to translation; the debate on the relationship between translation and ideology, foreign language teaching and AI; the concept of equivalence; the role of the translator; the interpretive process leading to meaning making. Students will identify the main characteristics of a source text, and reflect on suitable renderings or on the translation brief for the target text, thereby evaluating its effect from both a linguistic and a cultural perspective. While focusing on literary texts, usually characterized by greater complexity and richness than “functional” ones, other text types will be translated so as to identify different conventions and terminological domains; particular attention will be given to aspects like functional equivalence, culture-specific items, gender-inclusive language, humour, and pragmatic dimensions. Finally, reflections on the recent re-introduction of translation in foreign language teaching will usher in some key features of an integrated functional-notional approach to teach grammar and lexis, and develop communication skills as described in the Common European Framework of Reference for languages (CEFR).

In order to both achieve the C1 level of language proficiency as described in the CEFR and to better perform at the Lingua e traduzione inglese I exam, we recommend attending the language practice classes (lettorato) held by CLA’s mother-tongue language instructors.

Course Language

ENGLISH (and Italian in translation practice)

More information

The course is complemented by language classes taught by language instructors (CEL). Further information can be found on the University Language Centre (CLA) website. All information and communications about the course, such as the reading list, the exam structure, supplementary readings, slides, etc. can be found on the e-learning platform FAD (fad.unich.it).