Master 2021/2022

English for the Current Social Agenda

Category 'Best Course for Career Development'

Category 'Best Course for Broadening Horizons and Diversity of Knowledge and Skills'

Type: Compulsory course (Foreign Languages and Intercultural Communication)

Area of studies: Linguistics

Delivered by: School of Foreign Languages

Where: School of Foreign Languages

When: 1 year, 1-4 module

Mode of studies: distance learning

Open to: students of one campus

Instructors: Белятинская Екатерина Валерьевна, Alexandra Nagornaya, Sergey Ryabchun, Evgenia Vasilyeva

Master’s programme: Иностранные языки и межкультурная коммуникация

Language: English

ECTS credits: 6

Contact hours: 110

Course Syllabus

Abstract

The goal of the course is to allow the students to improve their oral and written communication skills in English, and to develop the skills of perception and analysis of information in the process of working with original texts on the most pressing problems of the modern world. The discipline is subdivided into several aspects. The aspect 'English Communication Perspectives (Levels 1 and 2)' is aimed at developing and refining speaking and writing skills when communicating in English with a special emphasis on using contemporary vocabulary and on following current trends in the use of grammar. It is also supposed to develop the skills of processing and analysing information when working with authentic texts (academic papers, newspaper and magazine articles, TED Talks) which cover a wide range of socially and culturally relevant topics revolving around the issue of social inclusion. The course develops both language and critical thinking skills, as the students are required to collect, analyse and discuss materials on a number of trendy and highly controversial topics (inclusive education, body positivity, animal rights, etc.). The aspect 'Communicative Grammar' is a verb-centred course which consolidates the practical grammar skills acquired by the students at the Bachelor's level.

Learning Objectives

• The aspect 'Communication grammar' of the course is an advanced-level course for those students of the Master’s Programme who wish to revise and consolidate the grammar of EFL at the advanced (C1/C2) level. The students are expected to have developed a command of EFL at the intermediate level.
• The aspect 'English Communication Perspectives' is aimed at teaching the students basic critical thinking skills through selection, analysis and discussion of materials within the framework of the course; enhancing general speaking skills, expanding and improving speaking and writing vocabulary; developing reasoning skills when discussing topical social issues; developing translation and rendering skills.

Expected Learning Outcomes

• The students are expected to conduct debates on the issue under study
• The students are expected to develop translation and rendering skills
• The students are expected to employ specialist vocabulary in oral and written speech
• The students are supposed to construct logically sound and well-reasoned arguments
• The students are supposed to demonstrate a refined skill of constructing logically sound and well-reasoned arguments
• The students are supposed to demonstrate an increased ability to employ evidence from different sources in conducting an analysis of an issue
• The students are supposed to explain the issue comprehensively relying on a variety of sources
• The students are supposed to understand the concept of social inclusion
• The students should be able to critically assess current social trends
• The students should be able to identify and properly describe current social trends
• The students will know about certain stylistic devices.
• The students will know about various registers.
• The students will know about various usage problems.
• The students will know lexical categories.
• The students will know the basic sentence structures.
• The students will know the grammatical structure of phrases.
• The students will know the rules of punctuation.
• The students will know the syntactic structure of sentences.
• The students will think of a language as a structure with certain rules for combining elements into larger units.

Course Contents

• Defining Social Inclusion
• Poverty as a Driver of Social Exclusion
• Disability Inclusion
• Gender Equality: Should Anatomy Be Destiny?
• Say No to Ageism
• Challenges of Inclusive Education
• Social Inclusion and Language Rights
• Immigrant Inclusion: Issues and Debates
• Body Positivity: Embracing Physical Diversity
• Animal Rights in an Inclusive Society
• Grammar overview
• Parts of the simple sentence
• Word classes
• Grammar of phrases
• Sentences and clauses
• Usage problems
• Elements of style
• English in use
• Punctuation

Assessment Elements

• home assignment
• presentation
• essay
• roundtable discussion

Interim Assessment

• 2021/2022 1st module
  0.2 * presentation + 0.2 * roundtable discussion + 0.2 * essay + 0.4 * home assignment
• 2021/2022 4th module
  0.2 * roundtable discussion + 0.2 * 2021/2022 1st module + 0.2 * essay + 0.2 * home assignment + 0.2 * presentation

Bibliography

Recommended Core Bibliography

• Aimee Howley. (2020). Inclusive Education: A Systematic Perspective. Information Age Publishing.
• Asking the right questions : a guide to critical thinking, Browne, M. N., 2012
• Barbara Wejnert, & Eunice Rodriguez. (2015). Enabling Gender Equality : Future Generations of the Global World. Emerald Group Publishing Limited.
• Beyond words : movement observation and analysis, Moore, C.-L., 2012
• Cities and social movements : immigrant rights activism in the United States, France, and the Netherlands, 1970 - 2015, Nicholls, W. J., 2017
• Civil society and global poverty : hegemony, inclusivity, legitimacy, Gabay, C., 2013
• Critical thinking and language : the challenge of generic skills and disciplinary discourses, Moore, T. J., 2013
• Critical thinking for strategic intelligence, Pherson, K. H., 2013
• Critical thinking skills. Developing effective analysis and argument, Cottrell, S., 2011
• Critical thinking, Moore, B. N., 2012
• Disability and community, , 2011
• Disability and social theory : new developments and directions, , 2012
• Disability in Eastern Europe and former Soviet Union : history, policy and everyday life, , 2014
• Ending global poverty : a guide to what works, Smith, S. C., 2008
• Erdman B. Palmore, Laurence Branch, & Diane Harris. (2016). Encyclopedia of Ageism. Routledge.
• Erdman Palmore, P. (1999). Ageism : Negative and Positive, 2nd Edition: Vol. 2nd ed. Springer Publishing Company.
• Grossman, J. L., & McClain, L. C. (2009). Gender Equality : Dimensions of Women’s Equal Citizenship. Cambridge University Press.
• Healey, J. (2019). Global Poverty and Wealth Inequality. The Spinney Press.
• Immigrant adaptation in multi-ethnic societies : Canada, Taiwan, and the United States, , 2016
• Immigrant integration in federal countries, , 2012
• Inclusive education, politics and policymaking, Liasidou, A., 2012
• Jay Timothy Dolmage. (2014). Disability Rhetoric: Vol. First edition. Syracuse University Press.
• Kate Scorgie, & Chris Forlin. (2019). Promoting Social Inclusion : Co-Creating Environments That Foster Equity and Belonging: Vol. First edition. Emerald Publishing Limited.
• Language rights : from free speech to linguistic governance, Pupavac, V., 2012
• Lionel Wee. (2011). Language Without Rights. Oxford University Press.
• Marta Russell, & Keith Rosenthal. (2019). Capitalism and Disability : Selected Writings by Marta Russell. Haymarket Books.
• Medical sociology and old age : towards a sociology of health in later life, Higgs, P., 2009
• Politics and old age : older citizens and political processes in Britain, Vincent, J. A., 2001
• Psychology for inclusive education : new directions in theory and practice, , 2009
• Ramparsad, N. (2019). Gender Equality at Work : Some Are More Equal Than Others. KR Publishing.
• Rising tide : gender equality and cultural change around the world, Inglehart, R., 2003
• Social inclusion : possibilities and tensions, , 2000
• Social indicators : the EU and social inclusion, Atkinson, T., 2002
• Tay K. McNamara, & John B. Williamson. (2019). Ageism : Past, Present, and Future. Routledge.
• The new politics of gender equality, Squires, J., 2007
• Vicky Plows, & Ben Whitburn. (2017). Inclusive Education : Making Sense of Everyday Practice. Brill.
• Walton, E. L., SAALED (Society), Moonsamy, S., & UNESCO Chair in Teacher Education for Diversity and Development. (2015). Making Education Inclusive. Cambridge Scholars Publishing.

Recommended Additional Bibliography

• A new deal for old age : toward a progressive retirement, Alstott, A. L., 2016
• A to Z of critical thinking, , 2012
• Basil Bernstein : the thinker and the field, Moore, R., 2013
• Dionyssis Balourdos, & Maria Petraki. (2019). Immigrant Social Inclusion in Europe: A Descriptive Investigation. Europa XXI : Spatial Justice in Europe: Territoriality, Mobility and Peripherality, 37, 105–124. https://doi.org/10.7163/Eu21.2019.37.7
• Ellie D. Berger. (2021). Ageism at Work : Deconstructing Age and Gender in the Discriminating Labour Market. University of Toronto Press, Scholarly Publishing Division.
• Gender equality on a grand tour : politics and institutions - the nordic council, Sweden, Lithuania and Russia, , 2017
• Global poverty, ethics and human rights : the role of multilateral organisations, McNeill, D., 2009
• Immigrant families in contemporary society, , 2007
• Immigrant workers and class structure in Western Europe, Castles, S., 1973
• Kristin A Goss. (2013). The Paradox of Gender Equality : How American Women’s Groups Gained and Lost Their Public Voice. University of Michigan Press.
• Learning a new land : immigrant students in American society, Suarez-Orozco, C., 2008
• Migliaccio, J. N. (2019). The Ageism Within and How to Counter It. Journal of Financial Service Professionals, 73(2), 26–31.
• Mirici, I. H. (2020). The Needs of Adult Immigrants in Europe for Social Inclusion through Language Education. Journal of Language and Linguistic Studies, 16(2), 552–564.
• Parenting and inclusive education : discovering difference, experiencing difficulty, Rogers, C., 2007
• Richter, D. (2012). Language Rights Revisited - The Challenge of Global Migration and Communication. Berliner Wissenschafts-Verlag.
• Rousseau, S. V. (DE-588)143329731, (DE-627)704455811, (DE-576)336485018, aut. (2019). The construction of indigenous language rights in Peru a language regime approach Stéphanie Rousseau and Eduardo Dargent.
• Welply, O. (2020). Inclusion across Borders: Young Immigrants in France and England. FIRE: Forum for International Research in Education, 6(1), 40–63.