Loyola University Chicago

Email: jschwa3@luc.edu

Office: Room 114

Office Hour: Wednesdays, 9:30-10:30am

Meeting Days and Times: MTW, 10:40–11:35pm

Meeting Place: Room 123

Online course: blackboard.luc.edu

Course Description

Second-year Italian language courses are designed for students who have completed Italian 102 or the equivalent. The aim of this course is to further develop students’ knowledge of the target language (communicatively relevant patterns and common exceptions in interactive discourse) and culture through communicative in-class activities and out-of-class assignments. Authentic material in Italian (songs, films, short prose narratives, etc.) will complement this course. Short and frequent writing assignments will be an important way for students to reflect on their language use.

Learning Outcomes

Class meetings will center on developing communicative ability, and will be supplemented with in-class activities and as much authentic reading, listening, and visual material as possible.

Upon completion of Italian 103, students should attain a level of competency sufficient to:

• -     Communicate ideas in extended discourse and participate in common interactive situations (speaking skills);
• -     Understand native speech and its social meaning - everyday topics in predictable/unpredictable contexts (listening skills);
• -     Comprehend the content and the cultural significance of literary and non-literary texts on familiar/unfamiliar topics and discourse types (reading skills);
• -     Write coherently and appropriately on a variety of topics and discourse types (writing skills);
• -     Understand specific aspects of Italian culture (contemporary issues on immigration and politics, the fine arts, history, geography, etc.) as well as assumptions and beliefs underlying culture-specific norms and infractions to norms (cultural competency).

Course Requirements

In order to attain the learning outcomes outlined above and to ensure that the course proceeds efficiently, students are encouraged and expected to:

1. Attend class. Not attending class will lower a student's grade for several reasons (e.g., lack of participation; missed clarifications, explanations, and analyses; missed vocabulary, etc.);
2. Participate actively and constructively in class both with the instructor and other students;
3. Take all quizzes and exams on their scheduled dates and at their scheduled times. Make-up quizzes and exams will be provided only in accordance with Rome Center policy regarding excused absences (see absence policy);
4. Complete homework assignments on their due date;
5. Comport themselves in a manner conducive to learning and with respect for other students;
6. Speak Italian during class meetings.

General Absence Policy

In order for an absence to be excused, the student must present the instructor with a written note of excuse from the Director, the Vice Director, the Assistant Director, or the Associate Dean of Students, or, in the case of illness, with a medical excuse signed by an attending physician or the Rome Center Doctor. Please note that such personal reasons as travel plans, visiting relatives, friends, etc., cannot be accepted as valid grounds for excusing an absence unless authorized by the Director.                                                  

Course-specific Absence Guidelines

For the purpose of grade calculation, each unexcused absence that a student accumulates after the first will reduce her or his final grade by 3% (e.g., if a student's pre-absence grade calculation is 92%, with 4 absences the grade reduces 9 percentage points to 83%, resulting in a drop in the final grade from A- to B).

It is the student's responsibility to inform herself or himself of homework assignments, class notes, etc. in the event of absence.

Texts – required as new:

1. Italian Espresso 2. Italian Course for English Speakers. Alma Edizioni: Firenze.
2. Workbook for Italian Espresso 2.

3.    Students are also strongly urged to purchase an Italian-English dictionary (pocket/travel dictionaries are unsuitable; see instructor for suggestions).

Means of Assessment

The final grade will be determined on the basis of the following criteria, and grades will be assigned according to the following scale:

Grading Scale

Oral Assignments (3)                              15%                 

Assignments                                          10%

Blog contributions                                  10%

Quizzes (4)                                            20%                 

Midterm Exam                                       20%                 

Final Exam                                            25%                 

Those students who cannot attend the final exam session will receive a grade of 0 (zero) on the final exam (except those students with a valid excuse; see absence policy), and the final grade will be calculated accordingly.

Academic Integrity

The deliberate appropriation and representation of another person's work (ideas, language, findings, etc.) as one's own on any written assignment, quiz, exam, or paper—commonly referred to as "plagiarism"—will result in a student's automatic failure for that assignment or examination and notification of the Director that the student is suspected to have committed plagiarism. Any such behavior undermines the fundamental trust upon which academic integrity and a community of scholars is based. Every student must familiarize herself or himself with the rules referring to academic integrity as outlined in the Loyola University Chicago Undergraduate Studies Catalogue. Knowledge of the University's academic integrity guidelines will be taken for granted.

Please remember that while study groups are acceptable, students should not use on-line instant translators to write compositions, ask friends or native speakers to complete their assignments and recycle their own or other people’s materials. Plagiarism or dishonest examination behavior will result minimally in the instructor assigning the grade of “F” for the assignment or examination. For a complete account of what constitutes academic dishonesty as well as the penalties, see the Undergraduate Catalogue.

In addition to the Loyola University Chicago policy on Academic Honesty (see Loyola website), the following rules apply in all modern language courses:

1. Students may not use automated translators to write compositions.

2. Students may not ask friends, relatives or native speakers to complete their assignments.

3. Students may not recycle their own or other people’s work.

4. Students must explicitly cite any material that has been taken from the Internet or other sources and in most cases are urged to paraphrase rather than copy and paste.

Blackboard

This course requires that each student activate and maintain access to the Blackboard on-line learning tool. Through this medium such tasks can be accomplished as communicating homework assignments, submitting homework, and communicating important course-related information. In addition, specific files can be accessed through Blackboard (e.g., course syllabus, quiz correction keys, language-learning files).

Voiceboard

Some oral or homework components of the course will require each student to access the Voiceboard tool in Blackboard. Headphone/microphone headsets (as for Skype) will be provided to students who do not have one.

Students with Disabilities

Students with documented disabilities who wish to discuss academic accommodations should contact me the first week of class.

Language-learning Tips

Language learning is a cumulative process. One level or group of facts leads to another and requires the knowledge of the previous level. Like music performance or a sport, language learning is essentially a process of developing skills through practice. Even aspects which seem to be memorization of facts, such as learning vocabulary, are actually development of skills in retrieving appropriate labels for things and concepts.

In this course you will find that each lesson builds on the structures of previous lessons, and that daily practice (both written and oral) is essential not only in class, but also–and equally important–outside of class. The more you practice, the better your performance will be.                                                        

Please consider the following learning tips throughout this course:

Learn Italian vocabulary – Vocabulary is the key to basic understanding. Most vocabulary will be practiced outside of the class. Your goal is to be able to recognize and produce meaning accurately, in Italian, without recourse to English translation. If you use flashcards, for example, it is much more productive to have the Italian words on one side and a sketch, rather than English, on the other.

Look for patterns and recurring features – As you proceed in this course, you will find that certain elements recur. For example, Italian nouns have gender, masculine or feminine, and this has repercussions in many areas of Italian grammar. Mastering the basics of gender agreement early on will facilitate the learning process as you encounter related phenomena. Look for connections between previous material and new material.

Italian isn’t a translation of English – No language came about as a translation of another. Translating word for word may work in some cases, but chances are it will produce results that are inaccurate or even puzzling to those who know the language well. You should expect to be learning equivalents of concepts and expressions, not word for word translations. Why do English speakers say “I am hungry”, whereas the Italian word equivalent is “I have hunger”? They just do. Italian “Ho fame” means “I am hungry.”

What makes a good language learner? –  Research on second language learners' strategies has shown that good language learners:

• §         Find their own way; take charge of their learning
• §         Organize information about language
• §         Are creative, developing a "feel" for the language by experimenting with its grammar and words
• §         Seek their own opportunities for practice in using the language inside and outside the classroom
• §         Learn to live with uncertainty by not getting flustered and by continuing to talk or listen without understanding every word
• §         Use mnemonics and other memory strategies to recall what has been learned
• §         Make errors work for them and not against them
• §         Use linguistic knowledge, including knowledge of their first language, in learning a second language
• §         Use contextual cues to help them in comprehension
• §         Learn to make intelligent guesses
• §         Learn chunks of language as wholes and formalized routines to help them perform "beyond their competence"
• §         Learn certain tricks that help to keep conversations going
• §         Learn certain production strategies to fill in gaps in their own competence
• §         Learn different styles of speech and writing and learn to vary their language according to the formality of the situation

 As your instructor, I will endeavor to promote among my students: (1) AUTONOMY (allowing learners to initiate oral production, solve problems in small groups, practice language forms in pairs, and practice using the language outside of the classroom), (2) AWARENESS (conscious application of appropriate strategies, e.g., first language relevance to second language learning, oral production, assessment of students' own strengths and weaknesses, strategies to help students to become more successful language learners), and (3) ACTION (providing suggestions as how best to identify and negotiate such tendencies as ambiguity intolerance and analytical, linear thinking).                                 

I will also strive to create classroom activities based on the following considerations:

• §         The activity appeals to the genuine interests of a majority of the students and is relevant to their lives, fostering cooperative negotiation with other students in the class
• §         The activity is presented in a positive, enthusiastic manner
• §         The students are clearly aware of the purpose of the activity
• §         Students have some choice in (a) choosing some aspect of the activity and/or (b) determining how they go about fulfilling the goals of the activity
• §         The activity encourages students in some way to discover for themselves certain principles or rules
• §         The activity encourages students to develop or use effective strategies of learning and communication
• §         The activity contributes to students' ultimate linguistic autonomy and independence
• §         The activity presents a "reasonable challenge"
• §         Students receive sufficient feedback on their performance (from each other or from the instructor)