Romance languages for the humanities and for language enthusiasts. Italian, Spanish, French: a contrastive introduction, 7.5 credits

Contents

The course provides an introduction to Italian, Spanish, and French from a contrastive perspective. The Romance languages and their emergence from Latin are introduced as cultural and linguistic phenomena. The foundations of Italian, Spanish, and French grammar and vocabulary are established contrastively with the following objectives:

• As a basis for the parallel learning of all three languages.
• To accelerate the acquisition of other Romance languages if one already possesses knowledge of one or more.
• To enable the navigation of texts in all three languages and activate intercomprehension.

The course consists of the following modules:

Module 1: Introduction to Romance Languages, 1.5 credits
A fundamental introduction to Romance languages as a linguistic phenomenon, also covering the basics of the linguistic systems' structures, as well as elementary rules for writing and pronunciation in Italian, Spanish, and French, from a contrastive perspective.

Module 2: Basic Contrastive Morphology and Grammar, 4 credits
Foundations are established, through a contrastive lens, for Italian, Spanish, and French regarding: articles, nouns, adjectives, adverbs, pronouns, prepositions, as well as parts of the verb system and general grammatical phenomena.

Module 3: Contrastive Vocabulary, Reading Comprehension, and Translation, 2 credits
Core vocabulary is introduced and analyzed from a contrastive perspective. The comprehension and translation of simple texts in all three languages is practiced and assessed, building upon the knowledge acquired in the previous modules.

Expected learning outcomes

To be awarded a Pass grade (G), the student should be able to:

*Knowledge and Understanding *

• Explain the fundamental linguistic, historical, and cultural characteristics of the Romance languages, and, contrastively, how these have influenced the development of the languages. 
  
  
• Describe, from a contrastive perspective, the basic rules of writing and pronunciation for the Romance languages covered. 
  
  
• Explain, contrastively, fundamental grammatical phenomena relevant to the context of the course. 
  
  
• Contrastively account for the basic vocabulary of the Romance languages studied, with a specific focus on differences and similarities that facilitate the comprehension, translation, and intercomprehension of simple texts.

Competence and skills

• Apply the basic pronunciation rules of the three Romance languages during oral reading.
  
• Analyze simple texts in all three Romance languages by identifying basic contrastive morphology in relevant contexts. 
  
  
• Apply basic morphology, grammar, and vocabulary to translate shorter texts to and from the three Romance languages covered. 
  
  
• Analyze and apply basic morphology and grammar from a contrastive perspective to demonstrate, through exercises, knowledge and understanding of the structures of the three Romance languages.
  
• Apply knowledge of basic contrastive morphology, grammar, and vocabulary to demonstrate the ability to comprehend simple texts in the three languages. 
  
  
• Identify and distinguish between false friends and cognates within the three languages, and predict unknown cognates based on contrastive regularities in the relationship between the vocabularies. 
  
  
• Apply general knowledge of the three linguistic systems to identify and derive unknown forms from known parts of the vocabulary using reference tools.

*Judgement and Approach *

• Critically examine a text in one of the three Romance languages to identify distinctive and shared features in relation to the other two. 
  
  
• Compare texts, grammatical phenomena, and vocabulary across the three Romance languages from a critical and contrastive perspective.

Required Knowledge

General entry requirements and English 6/level 2

Form of instruction

The course is entirely web-based and consists of self-study of material on the course web, interactive exercises, recorded learning resources, and submissions on the learning platform. The course does not include any compulsory meetings or seminars, however, regular voluntary "supervision meetings" are offered via videoconference software: these provide an opportunity to ask questions, get explanations and discuss the material and course content. The supervision meetings are recorded and made available even to students who have not chosen to participate. The language of instruction is English.

Examination modes

Module 1: Examination consist of an individual oral presentation and assessment of an individual written assignment.

Module 2 and 3: Examination consist of assessment of individually written assignments.

The examiner can decide on deviations from the modes of examination in the syllabus for a student who has been determined eligible for pedagogical support due to a disability. Individual adjustments to the mode of examination will be made on the basis of the student's needs. The mode of examination will be adjusted in relation to the expected learning outcomes. Student in need of Individual adjustments to the mode of examination, should request this at the department no later than 10 days before the examination. The examiner makes a decision based on the request, and the decision is communicated to the student.

**Grades awarded for all assignments are Pass with distinction (Väl godkänd (VG)), Pass (Godkänd (G)) or Fail (Underkänd (U)). In order to be awarded the grade Pass with distinction on the entire course, a student must have achieved a Pass with distinction grade on at least 5.5 hp. **

A student who has been awarded a Pass grade cannot be re-examined.

A student who has not received a Pass grade on an exam has the right to re-take the exam (a re-sit) on a course on which they have ever been registered. The first re-sit shall be offered no later than two months after the regular exam, but no earlier than ten working days after the result of that exam has been announced. For tests held in May or June, the first re-sit may be offered within three months of the regular exam. The date for the re-sit shall be announced no later than in conjunction with the regular exam. At least one more re-sit shall be offered within a year of the regular exam.

In cases where an exam cannot be repeated according to the rules in effect regarding re-sits, it will be replaced with another task. The scope and content of such a task should be reasonably proportionate to the missed exam.

An examiner may decide that a student who has not quite met the examination requirements, but is close to a Pass grade, be given the opportunity to take a supplementary examination to achieve the Pass grade. Such an examination shall be individually tailored to the goal(s) that the student has not met, and shall be arranged within two weeks after the result of the examination has been announced, but before the next examination session. A supplementary examination can only raise a Fail grade to a Pass grade; award of a grade higher than Pass is not allowed. If the student so wishes, they have the right to take a re-sit instead of a supplementary examination, which gives them the opportunity to achieve a Pass with Distinction.

Transitional provisions

In the event of a decision that the course will no longer be offered, or if the syllabus has been revised, students are guaranteed at least three exams (including the regular one) based on the previous syllabus during a time of no more than two years after the previous syllabus ceased to apply or the decision was made that the course no longer be offered.