UCL CENTRE FOR LANGUAGES
& INTERNATIONAL EDUCATION
Course Units 2015-2016
Italian for Professional Purposes I and II
Prerequisite for entry
Successful completion of Italian Business and Current Affairs at the UCL CLIE, have completed some post-‘A’ level
training or spent some time in the country actively using the language.
Course duration
40 x 2-hour classes.
Self-Study
160 hours in total.
Course codes
LCIT6067, LCITG067 and LCITM067.
Aims and Objectives
The course is designed for very advanced level students requiring the language for professional purposes.
It comprises knowledge and understanding both of the structure of the language and its use in professional
environments, such as presentations, meetings and conferences. The course covers career development in Italy,
business culture and conventions, negotiating and interacting, reading specialist texts (i.e. in the student’s main degree
subject e.g. engineering), note-taking and debates as well as other related topics. These areas will be related back to the
student’s degree subject.
The course will enhance knowledge and use of linguistically complex structures (a variety of styles and registers from a
range of authentic material).
Various transferable skills will also be further developed.
Functions
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expressing specialised opinions, critical topic-related comments;
debating, commenting, negotiating;
suggesting, accepting, refusing;
describing, defining;
composing written pieces of information for professional purposes;
conducting presentations on complex professional topics;
conference skills;
summarising professional information from English to Italian (and vice versa);
note-taking.
Course Content
Main topics/themes to be covered
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university system/professional qualifications
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employment in business and industry;
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job applications and interviews;
seminar papers/presentations;
group debates;
conference papers;
conducting meetings;
business cultures;
project management.
Skills
Reading
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reading for gist, scanning for specific information in professional sources;
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in-depth analysis of professional topics in relevant publications.
Writing
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formal business letters;
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analysis and review of articles;
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note-taking from presentations;
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writing up presentations;
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professional reports and conference papers;
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journal articles;
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CVs and covering letters.
Listening
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radio, TV, audio- and video-tapes;
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presentations;
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professional debates.
Speaking
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formal and informal discussions, debates, round table;
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seminars;
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presentations;
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conferences.
Linguistic Structures
Discourse Strategies
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analysing/comparing texts from various professional sources (different text types, styles and registers);
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preparing oral contributions for different audiences;
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spoken versus written professional communication.
Main Aspects of These Strategies
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structuring (logical structures);
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linking devices (lexical, grammatical);
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stylistic levels and their usage;
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professional vocabulary.
Application of Complex Grammatical Features and Registers
Learning Resources
There is no textbook for this course.
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Dizionario dell’uso dei verbi (Guerra Edizioni) 2004 – ISBN: 9788877157294
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Il Ragazzini 2015, Dizionario Inglese-Italiano/Italiano-Inglese (Zanichelli) – ISBN: 9788808600820 –
- please check with tutor first.
Materials for the course will be drawn from:
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Authentic written material from various sources such as La Repubblica, Il Sole 24 Ore, Il Corriere della Sera
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Authentic audio and audio-visual material
In addition there is a wide range of language learning materials available for self-study in the Self-Access Centre