2023/2024

English for Specific Purposes. History of Art - 2

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

Type: Optional course

Delivered by: School of Foreign Languages

When: 3, 4 module

Open to: students of one campus

Instructors: Marina Chashko

Language: English

ECTS credits: 5

Contact hours: 80

Course Syllabus

Abstract

The discipline refers to the variable educational tracks offered to students of the curricula for bachelor's and master's degree at choice while mastering the optional course of English in accordance with the Concept of developing English communicative competence of students of Higher School of Economics — National Research University. The course “English for Specific Purposes (History of Art)”-1 is designed for the 1st year Undergraduate (BA) students that study History of Art. The course adheres to the Regulations for Interim and Ongoing Assessments of Students and the Concept of Developing Foreign Language Communicative Competence of Undergraduate, Specialist and Master's Students of the National Research University "Higher School of Economics". The main goal of this course is to develop students’ professional intercultural communicative competence (PICC) that is referred to as the “integrative ability of solving professional tasks with the help of foreign language”. The types of learning activities, methods of instruction and the materials of the course enable to model social and professional context of the future graduates’ career paths in the field of Art and engage students into the process of using English as a tool of solving professional tasks while developing their hard and transferrable skills, cultivating ability to analyze and think critically, work with different types of information autonomously, cooperate with others, set goals, create new products, work on projects and reflect on their own experience. Students learn to work with various digital sources about art - search, read, comprehend, analyse and process the information in text, audio and video formats in English. Together with practicing receptive language skills, students develop their writing and speaking skills through creating brief descriptions of art objects, solving thematic quizzes and tests, writing summaries and essays, as well as giving talks, participating in discussions and making presentations about art. The course supports guided and autonomous learning engaging on-line/distance learning sources, develops professionally valuable skills and competences and provides tools for undertaking life-long learning activities. Pre-requisites: • intermediate level of the English language (B2 level / Independent user according to CEFR). According to the HSE regulations students should either successfully pass the Placement Test with not lower than B2 level result or possess a Certificate for the appropriate level of one of the international English language tests.

Learning Objectives

• This course is aimed at developing BA History of Art students’ professional intercultural communicative competence (PICC) that is referred to as the “integrative ability of solving professional tasks with the help of foreign language” . Development of the PICC, as an integrative goal of this course, ensures plunging students as active participants into the process of solving a variety of professionally-oriented tasks with the help of the English language that model a broad diverse social and (quasi-)professional context of their future career paths.
• Engaging students in such quasi-professional activities allows to set the following learning objectives of the course: • provide an opportunity to discover various genres, formats, strategies, purposes and means of learning and narrating about the History of Art, as well as describing and interpreting art works of different styles and periods, creating and presenting art-related projects in English using Information and Communications technology (ICT);
• • give a chance to work with different sources and types of information for finding new solutions to the existing problems and designing innovative creative and personally meaningful research, educational and professional projects related to their future professional field;
• • practice analytical and critical thinking skills;
• • help acquire an ability to cooperate in a team and work autonomously;
• • enable to reflect on their own and their team work and experience;
• • develop problem solving skills and creativity.

Expected Learning Outcomes

• Students are expected to develop listening skills: - to improve understanding of dialogues and polylogues on both familiar and unfamiliar topics; - to develop understanding of lectures and learning context; - to develop skills of using basic listening techniques (predicting, understanding main ideas and details); - to form skills of note-taking.
• Students are expected to develop reading skills: - understanding of articles, reports, straightforward and specialised texts concerned with contemporary problems at the threshold/vantage/effective operational proficiency level - understanding of text structure - skills of using basic reading techniques skimming and scanning (predicting, understanding main ideas, understanding details)
• Students are expected to produce in speaking:- monologue (informative/descriptive/argumentative/persuasive speech) - dialogue on general, academic and professional topics (active listening, questioning, responding to questions, emphasizing, discussion strategies) - presentation (informative/descriptive/argumentative/persuasive speech)
• Students should be prepared: • to find, read, analyse and explain different formats and structures of the descriptions of art objects and apply them according to the given quasiprofessional task; to work with ideas and concepts related to the art field individually and in a team using the brainstorming, formulating, refining, adapting, arguing, debating, supporting, transforming etc. strategies;
• • to work with sources and different types of information about art: - searching and finding relevant info; - identifying, analyzing and evaluating the sources (including e-sources); - extracting, organizing and completing the information according to the given task using the strategies of predicting, prioritizing, identifying the general and specific (detailed), key and additional info, recognizing relevant/irrelevant, major and supporting facts, opinions, arguments etc.
• Students are expected to produce in writing: - essay - e-mail - small descriptive texts about art objects
• • to show the skills of presenting and speculating about ideas and debating while participating in discussions, Q/A sessions and giving the presentation; • to work with sources and different types of information about art: - searching and finding relevant info; - identifying, analyzing and evaluating the sources (including e-sources);
• • to formulate and express the ideas based on the analysis of the facts / concepts / ideas / opinions etc. about art in oral and written form; • to integrate smartly the learned theories, concepts, terms and definitions from the professional context into the speech.

Course Contents

• Section 3. Art of Ancient Egypt and Ancient Near East
• Section 4. Aegean Art and Art of Ancient Greece

Assessment Elements

• Written Assessment
• Oral Assessment
• Independent Work Assessment
• Final Assessment
  The final grade is composed of the following parts: 25% Written Assessment (WA) +20% Oral Assessment (OA) + 25% student Independent Work Assessment /online (IWA) + 30% Final Assessment (FA). Only overall grade is rounded up. Written assessment elements can be taken during the course of 10 days after they took place if a student has a medical certificate. The 10-day period starts from the last day of the medical leave. This, however, does not apply to oral assessment and individual work assessment (elements cannot be retaken). The Final Assessment may be taken again during the retake period. The first retake follows the structure of the Final Assessment. The second retake is conducted using unique Testing and Assessment Materials which cover the materials of the whole course. The grade for the second retake corresponds with the grade for the entire course. FINAL ASSESSMENT The interim exam lasts 70 minutes. The exam is written paper-and-pen test and is aimed at checking whether the student can demonstrate the acquisition of the learning objectives set. The exam consists of two parts, i.e. Reading and Writing that weigh 40% and 60% respectively in the total mark for the exam. Reading test is assessed as a part of a final work according to the formula R* 0.4 + W*0.6 = 10. Each correct answer is worth one point. Answers containing spelling mistakes are considered incorrect. Writing is assessed against the criteria. Period of FA: 10 days prior to the fourth module’s session. The release of examination papers: during the session. 1. Reading (R) Max. 10 points Students have no more than 20 minutes to complete the Reading part. Read the text. Possible reading tasks: • Correct option for each task (multiple choice). • Fill in the gaps (gap-filling). • Decide whether the statement is True, False or Not Given. 2. Writing (W) Write an essay on one of the topics given. Max. 10 points. Students should write a 250-word essay. Students have 50 minutes to complete the Writing part.

Interim Assessment

• 2023/2024 4th module
  0.3 * Final Assessment + 0.25 * Independent Work Assessment + 0.2 * Oral Assessment + 0.25 * Written Assessment

Bibliography

Recommended Core Bibliography

• 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
• 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

• A world history of art, Honour, H., 2009
• History of Art. Western Europe and Russia : учеб. пособие, Миньяр-Белоручева А.П., 2009
• The illustrated history of art, Piper, D., 2005

Authors

• EIKHMAN MARINA MIKHAYLOVNA