ITAN203 - Italian for Social and Professional Purposes

Year

Credit points

Campus offering

Prerequisites

ITAN202 Intermediate Italian B or equivalent

Unit rationale, description and aim

Proficiency in an additional language enhances employment opportunities and cross-cultural awareness.

This unit is designed for independent users of Italian and is linked to B2 on the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (CEFR). It aims to provide students with the ability to interact with Italian speakers with ease and confidence. Students at this level can correct their own mistakes and repair misunderstandings in spoken interactions. They should understand lectures or presentations in their professional or academic field and write a brief academic paper.

Upon completion of this unit, students should have a reasonable command of the grammatical, lexical and syntactic elements of Italian so that they can communicate complex ideas with little inaccuracy.

Upon completion of this unit, they should be able to write clear and detailed passages of text, understand complex and technical texts in their field, debate and explain a viewpoint (for example, following a course taught in Italian, participating in a professional meeting, presenting a paper).

The Unit will include an intercultural reflection, allowing students to demonstrate their intercultural awareness and their ability to effectively interact in Italian.

Learning outcomes

To successfully complete this unit you will be able to demonstrate you have achieved the learning outcomes (LO) detailed in the below table.

Each outcome is informed by a number of graduate capabilities (GC) to ensure your work in this, and every unit, is part of a larger goal of graduating from ACU with the attributes of insight, empathy, imagination and impact.

Explore the graduate capabilities.

On successful completion of this unit, students should be able to:

LO1 - Demonstrate knowledge and use of Italian (its sound system, vocabulary and grammar) in professional and academic contexts such as listening to a lecture, attending a meeting, writing a short paper (GA5)

LO2 - Demonstrate intercultural knowledge and the capacity to reflect on intercultural interactions and students’ own interactions in Italian (GA4)

LO3 - Communicate in Italian with members of Italian-speaking communities at the level of proficiency inked to ‘can do’ statements at B2 on the Common European Framework of Reference (CEFR). For example, students should be able to communicate complex ideas, write detailed passages of text, explain and debate a viewpoint (GA5, GA6)

LO4 - Demonstrate the ability to solve problems and combine ideas collaboratively in a professional context (GA7)

LO5 - Demonstrate independent learning skills and strategies to continue developing language proficiency and intercultural awareness (GA4, GA5, GA7).

Graduate attributes

GA4 - Think critically and reflectively 

GA5 - Demonstrate values, knowledge, skills and attitudes appropriate to the discipline and/or profession 

GA6 - Solve problems in a variety of settings taking local and international perspectives into account

GA7 - Work both autonomously and collaboratively 

Content

Topics may include:

• Academic culture
• Professional and academic communities
• Genres in academic writing
• Academic vocabulary
• Italian cultural influences
• Italian art history
• Geography and city landscapes

Language Functions and Competencies:

• Listening and notetaking
• Researching and presenting a short paper
• Developing an argument
• Outlining and defending a point of view
• Comparing and contrasting
• Reflecting on cultural differences

Learning and teaching strategy and rationale

Mode: 4 hours per week (8 hours per week in intensive mode). The usual semester pattern is 2 hours by video conference/virtual classroom across campuses and 2 hours face-to-face laboratory sessions. Presentation of new materials will be available for review on LEO.

Duration: 12 week-semester or equivalent in intensive block mode.

Students should expect to undertake 150 hours of study for this unit, including class attendance, weekly online exercises in LEO, interactive language practice and assignment preparation.

The approach to language learning and teaching is communicative with new language material presented in context using video and audio dialogues and readings. Students are expected to be active participants in all class activities including individual, pair and group work. Students will have the opportunity to demonstrate their independent learning skills and strategies, and their ability to reflect upon intercultural communication, by completing their Italian Portfolio.

Assessment strategy and rationale

A range of assessment procedures will be used to meet the unit learning outcomes and develop graduate attributes consistent with University assessment requirements.

Overview of assessments

Representative texts and references

Students will be advised of textbook requirements in the first week of semester.