Italian and Arabic BA

Programme structure

The modules we outline here provide examples of what you can expect to learn on this degree course based on recent academic teaching. The precise modules available to you in future years may vary depending on staff availability and research interests, new topics of study, timetabling and student demand.

The modules are designed like building blocks, with modules at later stages building on the work of the preceding stage, helping you to progressively develop your academic skills. The 'level' of a module within these stages is designated by the first number in the module code. You will find that your work becomes more specialized as it becomes more advanced. The 4-year programme is studied in four stages, one for each year of study; the second year is spent in an Arabic speaking country. Each stage comprises 120 credits. 60 credits are taken in Italian and 60 credits in Arabic at each of stages 1, 3 and 4. At stage 2 (the year abroad) all 120 credits are taken in Arabic.

With the exception of the year abroad, modules have a credit rating of either 15 or 30 credits. The availability of all optional modules is subject to timetable and staffing constraints and to permission from the Director of Education and/or Head of Modern Languages.

Exceptionally, other arrangements may be approved by the relevant Director of Education and/or Head of Discipline. On the year abroad all students are required either to take a core module which tests language acquisition, intercultural competence and develops employability skills and environmental awareness.

Assessment marks obtained at Stage 1 do not contribute to the overall mark for the summative classification of the award, although 90 credits must be awarded for progression to Stage 2. The overall mark for the summative degree assessment is calculated from the marks for Stages 2, 3 and 4, which are weighted in the ratio 1:2:4.

Credits at stage 1 must be successfully completed in order to proceed to stage 2, but marks gained at this stage play no further part in the final assessment. Final assessment is based on marks gained at stages 2, 3 and 4. In SML, double weighting is given to stage 4 (i.e. stage 2 credits are weighted at 50% of their value, stage 4 at 100%). In order to correct the imbalance in credits between the two Colleges arising from the year abroad, each College calculates its weighted average and percentage distribution of credits, and classification is based on the average of the two averages and the aggregate of the credit percentages.

University regulations allow students to fail up to 30 credits per stage, provided that an average of at least 40% has been achieved over the 120 credits of assessment for a stage, including the marks for any failed and condoned modules. However, modules marked with an asterisk below are 'non-condonable', that is, if failed the failed assessment(s) must be retaken, for a maximum possible mark of 40%. If failed at a second attempt the Board of Studies will make a recommendation which can include repeating the year, progressing to the next year and either retaking the failed module(s) or taking (a) substitute module(s) in addition to the 120 credits for the following stage, or withdrawing from the programme.

Year 1 Compulsory modules CodeModuleCredits Choose either MLI1001 or MLI1052 MLI1001Italian Language30 MLI1052Italian Language for Beginners30 ARA1033Elementary Arabic Language (Arabic)60 Optional modules

Select 30 credits of Italian Level 1 optional modules.

CodeModuleCredits MLI1054Contemporary Italian Cinema: an Introduction to Reading Popular Film15 MLI1055Introduction to Italian Linguistics15 MLI1121A Thousand Faces: Cultures and History in 19th-Century Italy15 Year 2

Students will spend the second year of their studies in an Arabic-speaking country.

Compulsory modules CodeModuleCredits ARA2000Year Abroad120 Year 3 Compulsory modules

Students who took MLI1001 Italian Language in their first year should take MLI2001.

Students who took MLI1052 Italian Language for Beginners should take MLI2051.

CodeModuleCredits Choose either MLI2001 or MLI2051 MLI2001Italian Language, Written and Oral30 MLI2051Italian Language30 ARA2139Intermediate Arabic Language II (Arabic)30 Optional modules

Select 30 credits of Italian and Modern Languages Level 2 optional modules.

Select two 15-credit Arab and Islamic Studies Level 2 optional modules.

CodeModuleCredits Italian MLI2024Love (and Marriage?)15 MLI2120Alessandro Manzoni's The Betrothed15 Modern Languages SML2209Music in Medieval Europe15 SML2244Multilingualism in Society15 Arab and Islamic Studies ARA2118Gender-Identity and Modernity in the Middle East15 ARA2121Themes in the Arabic Short Story15 ARA2131M.E.20C Colonialism Revolution and Beyond15 ARA2132Islamic Law and Society15 ARA2135Conflict and Peace making Palestine/Israel15 ARA2139Intermediate Arabic Language II 30 ARA2141Intermediate Persian15 ARA2144Reading Qur'anic Arabic 15 ARA2146Islamic Theological Traditions15 ARA2148Arabic for Beginners II 30 ARA2150Muslims in Britain15 ARA2151Intermediate Persian II15 ARA2152Persian Literature 15 ARA2160Islamic Movements: From the Muslim Brothers to Al-Qa'ida15 ARA2161The Historiography of the Arab-Israeli Conflict15 ARA2162Political Economy of Development in the Middle East15 ARA2164Intermediate Turkish I15 ARA2165Intermediate Turkish II 15 ARA2166Revolution, Reform or Status Quo15 ARA2222Career Planning Workshops (Level 2)0 Year 4 Compulsory modules

Students must take either ARA3106 Dissertation or two 15-credit modules chosen from Arab and Islamic Studies Level 3 optional modules.

CodeModuleCredits MLI3111Advanced Italian Language Skills30 ARA3103Advanced Arabic Language 30 Choose either ARA3106 Dissertation or two 15-credit optional modules ARA3106Dissertation30 Optional modules

Select 30 credits of Italian and Modern Languages Level 3 optional modules.

Select two 15-credit Arab and Islamic Studies Level 3 optional modules (if you are NOT taking ARA3106).

CodeModuleCredits Italian MLI3028Italian Varieties and Dialects15 MLI3052Representing Immigration in Contemporary Italian Cinema15 MLI3053Liaison Interpreting and Report Writing between English and Italian15 MLI3199Elena Ferrante's My Brilliant Friend15 Modern Languages SML3012Law in Fiction15 SML3015Dissertation15 SML3017Language Contact15 SML3030Extended Dissertation30 SML3031Advanced Translation Skills15 SML3035The Fantastic in 19th and 20th Century Literature15 SML3036Beyond Sex and the City: Becoming a Woman in Contemporary Western Cinema15 SML3037Longing for an Audience: Medieval Troubadour Lyric15 Arab and Islamic Studies ARA3103Advanced Arabic Language 30 ARA3107Politics of Semi-democratic and Authoritarian Countries30 ARA3129Nationalisms in the Middle East15 ARA3136The History and Political Development of Iraq15 ARA3138Foundational Islamic Texts: Qur'an and Hadith15 ARA3144Advanced Persian Language I15 ARA3145Advanced Persian Language II15 ARA3146Iranian History, 1500 - the Present15 ARA3149Ethno-Politics: Theoretical Considerations and Case Studies15 ARA3152Folklore and Identity in the Middle East15 ARA3158Armed Islamist Movements: Jihadism and Beyond15 ARA3159The Orientalist Debate15 ARA3160Intermediate Arabic Language I30 ARA3161Islamic Art and Architecture15 ARA3162Britain in the Middle East, 1798-197715 ARA3163Politics and Reform in the Gulf15 ARA3185EU and US Democracy Promotion in the Middle East and North Africa30 ARA3186The History and Political Development of Iraq30