BERGAMO
Overview
Date/time interval
Syllabus
Course Objectives
1) Disciplinary objectives (official course taught by the Holder)
To provide fundamental lexical and phraseological skills for reading, understanding, translating and writing complex texts in Russian, with the aim of achieving a level of communication skills equivalent to B2/B2+ of the CEFR. At the end of the official module, students will have consolidated and perfected both their theoretical knowledge of the most active trends and processes in the contemporary Russian lexical system and their practical skills in translating from Italian to Russian and vice versa, as well as their use of specific vocabulary relating to seven topical areas, in line with some of the objectives of the UN 2030 Agenda. Students will demonstrate their ability to express themselves confidently and fluently in a variety of communicative situations, drawing on a wide range of lexical choices and making appropriate use of different stylistic nuances and linguistic registers. Particular attention will be paid to the study of certain synonyms, antonyms, paronyms, realia and idiomatic expressions.
2) Instrumental objectives (exercises/AAL)
At the end of the course, students will also have acquired solid competence in the linguistic-communicative skills of level B2 of the CEFR, which are instrumental to the module, especially with regard to the use and translation from Italian into Russian of the various types of syntactic structures of the Russian language (including stylistic variants, with an in-depth study of the use of verbal aspects and verbs of motion), the ability to write a journalistic text and express personal opinions on current affairs, and the ability to meet communication needs in various socio-cultural spheres. For more information, please refer to the Language Competence Centre's web pages on exercises (language learning activities for Russian AAL B2).
Course Prerequisites
Knowledge of Russian equivalent to level B1+ of the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (CEFR).
Prerequisites: for students enrolled in the LLCS degree programme, passing the Russian Language 2 - Linguistics and Translation exam is mandatory before taking this exam.
Teaching Methods
1) Subject-specific skills (official course taught by the Holder):
Lectures in Italian and Russian, with a particular focus on dialogue and direct interaction with students; stimulation of metalinguistic reflection in the comparison between Russian and Italian; constant monitoring of effective comprehension and gradual assimilation of the topics covered through weekly homework assignments and informal correction and assessment; use of Moodle e-learning platforms.
2) Instrumental skills (exercises/AAL), please consult the section of the website dedicated to the University Language Centre by selecting Русский (Russian) - LLCS:
https://www.unibg.it/studiare/frequentare/apprendimento-linguistico/russo/russo-llcs
Assessment Methods
WRITTEN EXAM: The written exam consists of a translation test from Italian to Russian and from Russian to Italian, both lasting one hour and without a dictionary, relating to the course content (specific thematic vocabulary, synonyms, antonyms, paronyms). The exam also includes specific tests to assess language and communication skills at CEFR level B2, consisting of: “didactic” translation (grammar/syntax) from Italian into Russian (lasting 1 hour, without a dictionary); rewriting of a newspaper article in Russian (izlozhenie, 2 hours with monolingual dictionary). For a more detailed description of the written exams and how they are conducted, as well as concrete examples (with solutions) from previous sessions, please refer to the Moodle e-learning platforms.
ORAL EXAM: Passing all the written exams allows students to take the oral exam, which is designed to assess the actual level of assimilation of the course content. Students must demonstrate that they have acquired specific translation skills in rendering thematic vocabulary and synonyms/antonyms/paronyms, that they can express themselves logically and with proper language, with good metalinguistic reflection skills; they must also demonstrate that they know and can report with appropriate vocabulary the content of the texts read during the official module and uploaded to the Moodle platform. Furthermore, they must be able to answer theoretical questions relating to the compulsory readings indicated in the “Textbooks and readings for the course / Reading list” section in Leganto. The exam includes a conversation test (linguistic-communicative skills) in Russian.
ASSESSMENT: The final exam grade is expressed in thirtieths (with a minimum passing threshold set at 18/30) and is calculated on the basis of the assessments (written and oral tests) relating to the official teacher's course module (B2+ level disciplinary skills), also taking into account the actual level of competence achieved by the student in the B2 level skills of the CEFR (syntactic-grammatical, linguistic-communicative skills and cultural knowledge related to AAL B2 exercises).
Final grade (out of 30):
• Excellent (30 with honours): complete skills, applied with precision and autonomy. No errors.
• Very good (30–27): solid skills, applied correctly. Minor and non-recurring errors.
• Good (26–24): adequate skills, with some inaccuracies. Errors are neither serious nor systematic.
• Sufficient (23–18): basic skills, with obvious errors but sufficient comprehension.
Contents
1) Subject content (official course taught by the Holder)
Through reading, translation, reworking of texts and cloze exercises, completion and transformation exercises, students will expand their active and passive vocabulary in relation to everyday communication contexts. Work on vocabulary will be extended to the use of synonyms, antonyms, paronyms (especially verbs), realia and idiomatic expressions. In particular, attention will be focused on the specific vocabulary of the following thematic areas: a) physical and psychological description of people; family; social relations; gender equality (UN 2030 Agenda Goal 5); b) cuisine and healthy eating (goal 2 of the UN 2030 Agenda); c) the right to health and a healthy lifestyle (goal 3 of the UN 2030 Agenda); d) the right to education and quality education (goal 4 of the UN 2030 Agenda); e) sustainable tourism and cities (goals 11/12 of the UN 2030 Agenda); f) development of a positive relationship between humans and nature (goal 13 of the UN 2030 Agenda); g) interactions through social networks (goal 16 of the UN 2030 Agenda).
2) Instrumental content (Language Learning Activities/AAL)
The contents of the B2 level exercises (AAL) of the CEFR are indicated in the section of the website dedicated to the University Language Centre by selecting Русский (Russian) – LLCS (https://www.unibg.it/studiare/frequentare/apprendimento-linguistico/russo/russo-llcs)