CTL2306 Style in Selected Written Genres

Part I

Course Duration: One Semester                                                                       
Credit Units: 3                                                                                           
Level: B2     
Medium of Instruction: English 
Prerequisites: CTL2305 Fundamentals of Style                    
Precursors: Nil                                                                    
Equivalent Courses: Nil                                                                   
Exclusive Courses: Nil                                                                   

Part II      

Course Aims

The course aims to:

● develop students’ critical awareness of style and conventional usage in selected
practical genres of writing, such as advertising and news-media genres;

● enhance students’ ability to apply general broader stylistic concepts (such as those
learned in CTL 2305) to the analysis of specific practical genres;

● enhance students’ ability to write correct English, and to manipulate the
conventions of the genres in question;

●  provide a grounding for subsequent work in Chinese-English translation courses.

Course Intended Learning Outcomes (CILOs)
Upon successful completion of this course, students should be able to:

No.

CILOs

Weighting (if applicable)

1.

Identify key features of specific genres such as advertising and news genres

 

 

2.

Apply key concepts of textual criticism when analyzing examples of specific genres

 

 

3.

Write accurate and authentic English in a style appropriate to specific genres; and

 

 

4．

Produce English translations of Chinese text segments selected from these genres

 

 

Teaching and learning Activities (TLAs)
(designed to facilitate students’ achievement of the CILOs)

Final details will be provided to students in their first week of attendance in this course.

All classes take a Tutorial format, involving a mixture of teacher-facilitated explanation and discussion, student exercises of different kinds, presentations, and other activities. A detailed breakdown is given as follows:

CILO No

TLAs

Hours/week (if applicable)

1

●Teacher-facilitated analysis and discussion of key structures and concepts in each genre selected.

●Case studies of style in examples from each genre.

●Practical exercises involving identification and categorisation of key genre features.

 

 

2

●Student group presentations of text samples, explaining salient features and their effects.

●Exercises (both in-class and for preparation outside class) involving written analyses of style in text samples.

 

 

3

●Exercises focusing on use of specific structures and language patterns.

●Written assignments involving the production of a full text in a given genre.

 

 

4

●Individual and small-group translation exercises, requiring the production of suitable English texts from Chinese source material.

●Correction of faults in published English translations derived from Chinese source genres.

 

 

Assessment Tasks/Activities
(designed to assess how well the students achieve the CILOs)

Final details will be provided to students in their first week of attendance in this course.

CILO No.

Type of assessment tasks/activities

Weighting
(if applicable)

Remarks

1, 2, 3

Exam (2 hours)

An examination is given in which students are required to write a sustained piece of analysis on a given text-type, and to compose a text in a particular text-type.

30%

 

1, 2, 3, 4

Written assignments

Two written assignments are given, involving various tasks, e.g. composition in a particular text-type, analysis of a text, or translation of Chinese text into a given English text-type.

30%

 

1, 2

Presentations

Students are required to give a small-group presentation at a specified point in the semester. The presentation will usually involve the analysis of style in a longer text-passage, or a contrastive study of two texts.

20%

 

1, 2, 4

Quiz

A quiz involving short-answer questions is used during the semester, to test key concepts, vocabulary, etc., as appropriate.

10%

 

1, 2, 3, 4

Tutorial activities / Participation

A further ten percent is awarded for active participation in classroom exercises and class or Blackboard discussions through the semester.

10%

 

Grading of Student Achievement:

Refer to Grading of Courses in the Academic Regulations

Grading pattern: Standard (A+, A, A-...F).  Grading is based on student performance

in assessment tasks/activities. 

Final details will be provided to students in their first week of attendance in this course.

Part III     

Keyword Syllabus

Analysis of Genre Features – analysis of key genre features and structure in non-literary genres, such as advertising and journalistic writing. Areas include the use of defamiliarisation, iconicity, inter-generic cross-over, hyperbole, the balancing of cliché and creativity (e.g. in promotional genres), argumentative and expository approaches in print journalism, etc. 

Writing practice in Given Genres – writing practice in English in selected genres, with a view to fostering the ability to manipulate better their component features.

Translation Work – translation practice into English, involving contrastive analysis of Chinese and English features.

Related Links
Department of Chinese, Translation and Linguistics