Course description
BA Italian and English
Programme
First Year
In Italian you will be introduced to a range of historical periods and texts. Beginners in Italian receive an intensive language course which brings them, in a year, to the level of post-A Level students. Students also study Introduction to Pre-Modern Italy and Post-war Italian Culture, and are introduced to different authors and genres.
In English you will do a number of modules such as Approaches to the Study of Literature, Renaissance Drama: Shakespeare and his Contemporaries, and A Literary Genre (The Novel).
Written skills in Italian are developed through the production of small pieces of creative writing and a range of other activities, including online language learning and the use of materials taken from Italian TV and radio. Spoken Italian is taught in small groups by native speakers. The School of Modern Languages also offers special training for linguists with its Core Skills module for language learners. At the end of the first year all students normally take a three-week summer programme in Italy, for which financial assistance is available from the University.
Second Year
In addition to the development of language skills, you will take modules on European Texts in Translation and either Italian Linguistics or Pre-Modern Italy. In English you will take Renaissance Poetry, Critical Theory, and From Satire to Sensibility: Literature 1660 to 1789.
Third Year*
The third year is spent in Italy, either in an Italian university or as an English language assistant in a school, or other approved employment.
*This degree can also be completed in three years, without a year abroad.
Fourth Year
In the final year a wide range of options in Italian allows you to specialise in areas of studies which particular appeal to you. These could include: Contemporary Fiction; Post-war Directors; Modern and Postmodern in World Literature. In English, you will take Postwar to Postmodern: Literature 1945-Present Day and additional modules to be chosen from a wide range of specialised options.