2025/2026

Английский язык для специальных целей. История искусств - 2

Статус: Факультатив

Когда читается: 3, 4 модуль

Охват аудитории: для своего кампуса

Преподаватели: Овчинникова Алёна Дмитриевна

Язык: английский

Кредиты: 5

Контактные часы: 80

Course Syllabus

Abstract

This elective course is designed for first-year undergraduates majoring in History of Art. It continues the course "English for Specific Purposes: History of Art - 1" and covers Modules 3–4. The syllabus and assessment methods adhere to HSE University's Concept of Developing Foreign Language Communicative Competence and comply with the University's Regulations on Students' Current Control and Interim Assessment. The course builds upon foundational visual literacy by advancing to the critical analysis and historical contextualization of Classical antiquity, tracing the evolution of artistic expression from Ancient Greece to the Roman Empire. Students investigate the socio-political structures, philosophical ideologies, and religious practices that shaped the artistic production of the Classical world, examining how aesthetic ideals, civic identity, and imperial power were articulated through monumental architecture, sculpture, and decorative arts. The curriculum progresses from the geometric and archaic periods through the Hellenistic era, analyzing the transformation of classical forms and their reception across the Mediterranean and beyond. Through its instructional design, the course integrates advanced language acquisition with rigorous art historical inquiry. Students enhance critical analytical skills by engaging with complex academic texts, peer-reviewed journals, and multimodal digital archives. The linguistic focus progresses logically from describing and explaining artifacts to critically comparing visual traditions, constructing evidence-based arguments, and articulating nuanced interpretations of style, iconography, and cultural context. Furthermore, students refine their professional voice through interactive panel discussions, moderated debates, and multimedia presentations. Written competencies are systematically developed through the production of comparative visual analyses, and critical essays, while continuous engagement with scholarly sources, alongside thematic quizzes and lexicogrammatical tests, ensure the precise application of advanced disciplinary terminology. Prerequisites: English at the Independent User level (Upper-Intermediate to Advanced). To enroll in this course, students must achieve a minimum score of 70 points on the university Interim Test.

Learning Objectives

• To elevate English language proficiency by mastering disciplinary discourse for argumentation and scholarly debate across the academic and professional spheres of Classical art history.
• To critically evaluate the dialogue of cultures by interrogating the philosophical, political, and religious ideologies of Aegean, Greek, and Roman civilizations, thereby developing the capacity to deconstruct and synthesize cross-cultural artistic narratives within the Classical tradition.
• To apply Professional Intercultural Communicative Competence (PICC) in professional settings by producing comparative visual analyses and critical essays, delivering multimedia presentations, and completing collaborative research projects using digital archives, academic databases, and AI tools.

Expected Learning Outcomes

• Students are expected to develop listening skills: - to improve understanding of dialogues and polylogues on both familiar and unfamiliar topics; - to develop understanding of lectures and learning context; - to develop skills of using basic listening techniques (predicting, understanding main ideas and details); - to form skills of note-taking.
• Students are expected to develop reading skills: - understanding of articles, reports, straightforward and specialised texts concerned with contemporary problems at the threshold/vantage/effective operational proficiency level - understanding of text structure - skills of using basic reading techniques skimming and scanning (predicting, understanding main ideas, understanding details)
• Students are expected to produce in speaking:- monologue (informative/descriptive/argumentative/persuasive speech) - dialogue on general, academic and professional topics (active listening, questioning, responding to questions, emphasizing, discussion strategies) - presentation (informative/descriptive/argumentative/persuasive speech)
• Students should be prepared: • to find, read, analyse and explain different formats and structures of the descriptions of art objects and apply them according to the given quasiprofessional task; to work with ideas and concepts related to the art field individually and in a team using the brainstorming, formulating, refining, adapting, arguing, debating, supporting, transforming etc. strategies;
• • to work with sources and different types of information about art: - searching and finding relevant info; - identifying, analyzing and evaluating the sources (including e-sources); - extracting, organizing and completing the information according to the given task using the strategies of predicting, prioritizing, identifying the general and specific (detailed), key and additional info, recognizing relevant/irrelevant, major and supporting facts, opinions, arguments etc.
• Students are expected to produce in writing: - essay - e-mail - small descriptive texts about art objects
• • to show the skills of presenting and speculating about ideas and debating while participating in discussions, Q/A sessions and giving the presentation; • to work with sources and different types of information about art: - searching and finding relevant info; - identifying, analyzing and evaluating the sources (including e-sources);
• • to formulate and express the ideas based on the analysis of the facts / concepts / ideas / opinions etc. about art in oral and written form; • to integrate smartly the learned theories, concepts, terms and definitions from the professional context into the speech.

Course Contents

• Section 3. Art of Ancient Egypt and Ancient Near East
• Section 4. Aegean Art and Art of Ancient Greece

Assessment Elements

• Classroom Written Assessment (CWA)
  The Classroom Written Assessment (CWA) comprises 6 to 8 tasks. The final grade is the arithmetic mean of the best-performing tasks, excluding the two lowest scores. The two tasks for which the student has received the lowest scores do not contribute to the final grade. The final grade is not rounded up.
• Classroom Oral Assessment (COA)
• Home Assignment (HA)
• Final Assessment
  The final grade is composed of the following parts: Classroom Written Assessment (CWA)* 0.25 + Classroom Oral Assessment (COA)* 0.2 + Home Assignment (HA)* 0.25 + Final Assessment * 0.3. Only the overall grade is rounded up. FINAL ASSESSMENT The interim exam lasts 70 minutes. The exam is written paper-and-pen test and is aimed at checking whether the student can demonstrate the acquisition of the learning objectives set. The exam consists of two parts, i.e. Reading and Writing that weigh 40% and 60% respectively in the total mark for the exam. Period of FA: 10 days prior to the fourth module’s session. The release of examination papers: during the session. 1. Reading (R) Max. 10 points Students have no more than 20 minutes to complete the Reading part. Read the text. Possible reading tasks: • Correct option for each task (multiple choice). • Fill in the gaps (gap-filling). • Decide whether the statement is True, False or Not Given. 2. Writing (W) Write an essay on one of the topics given. Max. 10 points. Students should write a 250-word essay. Students have 50 minutes to complete the Writing part.

Interim Assessment

• 2025/2026 4th module
  0.25 * Classroom Written Assessment (CWA) + 0.2 * Classroom Oral Assessment (COA) + 0.3 * Final Assessment + 0.25 * Home Assignment (HA)

Bibliography

Recommended Core Bibliography

• Pointon, M. R. (2014). History of Art : A Student’s Handbook (Vol. 5th edition). New York: Routledge. Retrieved from http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&site=eds-live&db=edsebk&AN=733711
• Williams, G. (2014). “Art writing in the Second Machine Age: from Andy Warhol to Kenneth Goldsmith” —— How to Write about Contemporary Art, talks and workshops. Retrieved from http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&site=eds-live&db=edsbas&AN=edsbas.45F9BA9C

Recommended Additional Bibliography

• A world history of art, Honour, H., 2009
• History of Art. Western Europe and Russia : учеб. пособие, Миньяр-Белоручева А.П., 2009
• The illustrated history of art, Piper, D., 2005

Authors

• Davydova Ekaterina Aleksandrovna