Aims

In consonance with the overall aims of the degrees offered in the SML, this module will:

1.Focus on developing the students' written and aural/oral communicative competence in the foreign language (including fluency, grammatical and lexical accuracy and range; register and pronunciation).

2. Prepare students for the future study of the language (in reading, written and communicative skills oral/speaking and aural/listening in the target language).

3. Facilitate students' ability to establish and maintain effective social and working relations with speakers of the foreign language in written and spoken media during their intercalary year. This includes students’ ability to use and understand authentic material and produce their own written and spoken output.

This module is available to all students with Level A or equivalent in Portuguese. This is a general language module offering students the opportunity to study and practise all four language skills fully integrated (listening, reading, writing and speaking). All skills will be assessed.

Outline Of Syllabus

Topics: Students cover a variety of topics based on contemporary Lusophone society including: media, advertising, culture, politics, immigration, environment, tourism, inclusive language, consequences and tensions of colonization.

THIS COURSE WILL BE TAUGHT AND ASSESSED IN PORTUGUESE.

Teaching Rationale And Relationship

Teaching & learning in the language classes will focus on communication and the formal structures of the language. All language skills listening, reading, writing and speaking are fully integrated in the language classes and will be assessed from an integrated skills approach to reflect the learning environment and practices. Learning and teaching activities design is underpinned by a blending approach of the social constructivism pedagogy, reflective practice (Farrell, T.S.C), TEL and the communicative approach.
Small group teaching Language Seminars ON CAMPUS (2h/week) focus on reproducing authentic learning environment and promoting group identity and interpersonal skills through the means of group work, debates, presentations and an array of in person constructivist activities.
Small group teaching ONLINE (1h/week) aiming to develop professional skills required by todays modes of work, focusing on collaborative language projects, the ODS, by using TEL tool available on CANVAS, Office 365 and various alternative applications. By the end of Semester 2 students will be able to showcase the development of digital collaborative and problem-solving skills applied synchronously and as synchronously, online and in campus. These sills applied onto Formative and Summative assessment. The ONLINE seminars are important to familiarise students with the working place and academic digital assessment environments.
Structure Guided learning fosters independent learning and learner autonomy, encouraged through the means of the use of various language learning technologies (grammar videos, H5P materials and other learning materials to be explored by students, developed by the module leader and available on Canvas/Teams), collaborative on-line projects, pair and group work and self-study at home and in the Language Resource Centre.
Initiative is expected from students at this level, e.g. course participants will be asked to contribute with their own materials to the classes.
THIS COURSE WILL BE TAUGHT AND ASSESSED IN PORTUGUESE

Assessment Rationale And Relationship

- Written Examination 1 (30%), at the end of semester 1, requires students to produce a written output of 300-words (+/- 10%) in the target language. The output is based on motivational written sources (1 source or a combination of sources), the input will contain a total of 1250 words (+/- 10%) in the target language. This is to assess students’ ability to read, analyse, interpret, and compare written sources in Portuguese and to respond appropriately in written (or typed) form in the target language. Students may be allowed to type their own answers provided that spell check / grammar check has been disabled. Students will receive feedback so that they can assess their progress and identify their strengths and areas for improvement before the final written examination in Semester 2.

- Oral Examination 1 (30%): the sources (input-content) for the oral component (30%) include audio, video and visual materials related to the themes investigated during the academic year. This oral component will test students’ ability to listen and read audio-visual sources (audios, videos and images) and understand audio-visual sources (excluding written text, as for instance subtitles or video transcripts and summaries). This examination tests students’ ability to respond appropriately in the target language by collaborating with a partner to complete problem-solving tasks and to develop independent critical-analytical discussions about a given topic. This assessment provides summative information to staff and students on student’s achievement to employ their listening, speaking and intercultural skills to collaborate, stablish responsive dialogues, critically compare, analyse, interpret, evaluate, assess, discuss and resolve problems, presenting solutions to hypothetical situations in the target language.

- Written examination 2 (40%), at the end of Semester 2, will test the students’ reading grammar and written skills. Students may be allowed to type their own answers provided that spell check / grammar check has been disabled. This formal examination provides summative information to staff and student on student's achievement in reading, grammar and writing in the target language in this module.

Both digital exams have 5 mins leeway in case of technical difficulties.