2026/2027

Английский язык для специальных целей. История искусств - 1

Статус: Факультатив

Кто читает: Школа иностранных языков

Где читается: Факультет гуманитарных наук

Когда читается: 1, 2 модуль

Охват аудитории: для своего кампуса

Преподаватели: Кирьянова Анна Николаевна

Язык: английский

Кредиты: 3

Контактные часы: 48

Course Syllabus

Abstract

This elective course is designed for first-year undergraduates majoring in History of Art. The syllabus and assessment methods adhere to HSE University's Concept of Developing Foreign Language Communicative Competence and comply with the University's Regulations on Current Control and Interim Assessment. The course provides a comprehensive linguistic and historical foundation, tracing the origins of artistic expression from prehistoric cultures to the ancient civilizations of Egypt and the Near East. Students investigate the emergence of primitive art, examining the lifestyle, everyday practices, and cultural heritage of the Old and New Stone Ages while exploring both ancient and modern interpretations of the concept of art. The curriculum then advances to the ancient world, analyzing how specific cults, beliefs, and historical contexts shaped the monumental architecture and portable art objects of the Egyptian Kingdoms, as well as the Sumerian, Akkadian, Assyrian, and Persian empires. Through its instructional design, the course integrates language acquisition with art historical inquiry. Students enhance core receptive and productive skills by engaging with diverse reading and listening assignments. The linguistic focus progresses logically from speculating about abstract concepts and refining ideas to describing artifacts and constructing explanatory texts. Furthermore, students hone their professional voice through structured monologues, collaborative group discussions, and formal presentations. Written competencies are systematically built through the production of summaries, short descriptive texts, and academic essays, while continuous reading and listening assignments, alongside thematic quizzes and lexicogrammatical tests, ensure the precise mastery of specialized terminology. Prerequisites: English at the Independent User level (Upper-Intermediate). To enroll in this course, students must achieve a minimum score of 70 points on the university Placement Test. Course Assessment: Attendance* 0.1 + English Grammar and Vocabulary Test* 0.1 + Home Assignments* 0.1 + Written Assessment (WA)* 0.2 + Oral Assessment (OA)* 0.2 + Final Assessment (FA): * 0.3 No blocking elements

Learning Objectives

• To advance English language proficiency by building a robust linguistic foundation for effective communication across the socio-cultural, professional, academic, and scholarly spheres of art history.
• To foster critical intercultural awareness and actively engage with the dialogue of cultures by examining diverse historical contexts, belief systems, and material heritage of early civilizations, thereby developing the capacity to critically interpret and articulate cross-cultural artistic narratives.
• To develop Professional Intercultural Communicative Competence (PICC) by participating in simulated academic and professional scenarios, producing discipline-specific texts, delivering structured presentations, and collaboratively executing art-historical projects through the strategic application of digital archives and AI tools.

Expected Learning Outcomes

• The student accurately applies specialized English vocabulary and grammatical structures to describe, categorize, and analyze prehistoric artifacts, including cave paintings, portable art, and megalithic architecture from the Old and New Stone Ages.
• The student comprehends and extracts key information from authentic English-language texts and audio lectures regarding the lifestyle, cultural heritage, and ritualistic practices of early human societies.
• The student delivers structured monologues and actively participates in group discussions to speculate about the origins of art, describe visual elements of primitive visual culture, and articulate ancient and modern interpretations of the concept of art.
• The student produces clear, cohesive written summaries and descriptive texts in English that accurately synthesize information about the Neolithic Revolution, symbolic rituals, and the emergence of aesthetic expression.
• The student articulates and defends speculative hypotheses about prehistoric visual culture in academic discussions, employing appropriate hedging, comparative structures, and critical thinking to evaluate its social and spiritual functions.
• The student accurately applies specialized English vocabulary related to Ancient Egyptian and Near Eastern art, including architectural terms, materials, and religious concepts, in both written and spoken discourse.
• The student comprehends and extracts key information from authentic English-language texts and audio lectures regarding the history, cults, beliefs, and artistic traditions of Ancient Egypt and the Ancient Near East.
• The student delivers structured monologues that precisely describe the physical characteristics of ancient artifacts and explain their cultural, religious, and political functions within their original context.
• The student produces clear, cohesive descriptive texts and explanatory essays in English that accurately analyze the relationship between art, power, and religion in ancient civilizations, utilizing appropriate spatial prepositions, material vocabulary, and cause-and-effect structures.
• The student actively participates in group discussions comparing the artistic traditions of Egypt and the Near East, employing comparative language and explanatory structures to articulate the similarities and differences in their visual cultures.

Course Contents

• English for Specific Purposes. History of Art - 1 / Section 1
• English for Specific Purposes. History of Art - 1 / Section 2

Assessment Elements

• Attendance
  A student's presence in class impacts the quality of their learning
• Home Assignment
  HA includes oral and/or written tasks that are assigned to students for independent completion and submission. Students do the tasks at home and either turn them in to their teachers or submit them via Smart LMS for grading.
• Written Assessment (WA)
  WA refers to written tasks that students complete in class. WA consists of minimum 4 tasks of different types, including interim ones (for example, essays, graph descriptions, reviews, reports). WA can also include annotations, emails, listening and reading tasks, grammar and vocabulary tasks at the end of a section or topic.
• Oral Assessment (OA)
  OA consists of minimum 3 tasks of different types, including interim ones (for example, a monologue for 1-year students as well as dialogues and presentations) that students do in class.
• English Grammar and Vocabulary Test
  Students take English Grammar and Vocabulary Test in class.
• Final Assessment (FA)
  What is included: listening tasks, summary

Interim Assessment

• 2026/2027 2nd module
  0.1 * Attendance + 0.1 * English Grammar and Vocabulary Test + 0.2 * Oral Assessment (OA) + 0.1 * Home Assignment + 0.3 * Final Assessment (FA) + 0.2 * Written Assessment (WA)

Bibliography

Recommended Core Bibliography

• History of Art. Western Europe and Russia : учеб. пособие, Миньяр-Белоручева А.П., 2009
• Prehistoric man. Vol.1: ., Wilson, D., 2013
• Prehistoric man. Vol.2: ., Wilson, D., 2013
• Williams, G. (2014). “Art writing in the Second Machine Age: from Andy Warhol to Kenneth Goldsmith” —— How to Write about Contemporary Art, talks and workshops. Retrieved from http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&site=eds-live&db=edsbas&AN=edsbas.45F9BA9C

Recommended Additional Bibliography

• Atlas of Ancient Near East : from prehistoric times to the Roman imperial period, Bryce, T., 2016
• English for specific purposes: art and design (B2-C1) : учебное пособие, , 2021
• Pointon, M. R. (2014). History of Art : A Student’s Handbook (Vol. 5th edition). New York: Routledge. Retrieved from http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&site=eds-live&db=edsebk&AN=733711

Authors

• Rokotianskaia Liudmila Iurevna