The course's aim is to introduce students to the discursive strategies of economic texts, mainly taken from newspapers  and magazines. The first part of the course presents the features of critical discourse analysis and the rhetoric, in order to critically read the texts. In the second part, the focus is on the characteristics of corporate discourse and on business narratives. 

Students will be introduced to the economic culture of the Anglophone world, that is not only United Kingdom but also its former colonies like Australia, Canada, India, Nigeria and South Africa, in order to explore the variety and specificity of English in relation to different areas of the English-speaking countries. 

Students are required to read and analyze texts about finance, business and economics according to the theoretical instruments of the critical discourse analysis, which will be applied to website narratives and corporate discourse too, and in reference to the promotion and information of companies, private and public institutions, and tourist associations.

After a brief and general presentation of the contemporary Anglophone world, the course focuses on the variety of texts that are analyzed in class and on the linguistic theories and practices that are used, mainly critical discourse analysis, with a specific focus on rhetoric and figures of speech.  Each Anglophone area and some of its commercial, financial and economic matters, will be considered through the texts chosen for that specific country, taken from newspapers, websites, audiovisual material. As for corporate narratives, a confrontation between Italian and Anglophone website pages is included in the program.

Texts are discussed and analyzed in class and students are asked to actively participate, in order to better understand the practical application of linguistic theories, and to better prepare for the final exam.

At the end of the course, the students will have acquired analytical abilities and a good working knowledge of critical discourse analysis. They will be asked to apply those abilities and that knowledge to various texts regarding economics and business. They will be expected to be able to form independent judgments in their analyses, and to expound the same both in written and in spoken form. More specifically:

Knowledge and understanding: at the end of the course, the students will be required to show extensive knowledge of the linguistic theories and economic issues.

Applying knowledge and understanding: the students must be able to apply their knowledge of these theories to the analysis of various texts regarding economics and business.

The teaching material prepared by the lecturer in addition to recommended textbooks (such as for instance slides, lecture notes, exercises, bibliography) and communications from the lecturer specific to the course can be found inside the Moodle platform › blended.uniurb.it

See the blended learning platform.

Teaching

Ex-cathedra teaching alternates with discussion and debates with the students. Course books and the material that the teacher uploads every week on the blended platform are available for the exam preparation.

Attendance

Attendance is highly recommended, in order to actively participate to discussions and analyses in class.

Course books

N. Fairclough, Critical Discourse Analysis, Essex, Longman, 1995 (Introduction and chapters 1, 2, 3, 5)

Ruth Breeze, Corporate Discourse, London, Bloomsbury Academic, 2013 (chapters 1, 2, 5, 6)

George Lakoff, Mark Johnson, Metaphors We Live By, University of Chicago Press, 2003 (pp. 3-60).

Sam Leith, You Talkin' to me? Rhetoric from Aristotle to Trump and Beyond, Profile Books, 2019 (pp. 1-16, 117-142,172-207, 218-234).

Assessment

Written test: guided textual analysis of a text. Use of monolingual dictionaries is allowed. The final assessment will be based not only on the validity of the analysis, but also on methodological relevance (references to the course books) and on the student's argumentative abilities in English. In practice, in their written tests, the students will have to demonstrate notions in the field of linguistic theory, to apply these notions to their analysis, to exercise their own judgement in their analytical choices, and to show a good command of written English (at the level required by the course).

Disability and Specific Learning Disorders (SLD)

Students who have registered their disability certification or SLD certification with the Inclusion and Right to Study Office can request to use conceptual maps (for keywords) during exams.

To this end, it is necessary to send the maps, two weeks before the exam date, to the course instructor, who will verify their compliance with the university guidelines and may request modifications.

Teaching

As far as the course programme and the material are concerned, there are no differences between attending and non-attending students. See course books and the material that the teacher uploads every week on the blended learning platform.

Course books

N. Fairclough, Critical Discourse Analysis, Essex, Longman, 1995 (Introduction and chapters 1, 2, 3, 5)

Ruth Breeze, Corporate Discourse, London, Bloomsbury Academic, 2013 (chapters 1, 2, 5, 6)

George Lakoff, Mark Johnson, Metaphors we live by, University of Chicago Press, 2003 (pp. 3-60)

Sam Leith, You Talkin' to me? Rhetoric from Aristotle to Trump and Beyond, Profile Books, 2019 (pp. 1-16, 117-142,172-207, 218-234)

Assessment

Written test: guided textual analysis of a text. Use of monolingual dictionaries is allowed. The final assessment will be based not only on the validity of the analysis, but also on methodological relevance (references to the course books) and on the student's argumentative abilities in English. In practice, in their written tests, the students will have to demonstrate notions in the field of linguistic theory, to apply these notions to their analysis, to exercise their own judgement in their analytical choices, and to show a good command of written English (at the level required by the course).

Disability and Specific Learning Disorders (SLD)

Students who have registered their disability certification or SLD certification with the Inclusion and Right to Study Office can request to use conceptual maps (for keywords) during exams.

To this end, it is necessary to send the maps, two weeks before the exam date, to the course instructor, who will verify their compliance with the university guidelines and may request modifications.