The module will introduce students to a study of national cultures and societies and how they connect with transnational contexts beyond national borders. Learning activities in the Spring semester identify how languages, cultures and societies operate on a national level and interconnect according to historical, geographic, economic, political, spatial and cultural conditions. After two online transnational lectures outlining this, further classes will reflect on how these common themes play out on a national level referencing, for example, the emergence of symbols and traditions designed to foster a sense of national belonging. Seminars will focus on the acquisition of critical and analytical skills through discussions of a range of ‘texts’ which complement the lectures (primary and secondary source materials ranging from articles, statistics and graphs to visual materials including sculptures, and films.

1. Discuss selected aspects of Italian culture and society in relation to the evolution of the Italian nation in a broader transnational context. 
2. Analyse text based and visual course material.
3. Formulate a coherent, evidence-based argument drawing on relevant secondary literature.
4. Identify, find evaluate and accurately reference reputable sources of information.

The module will be delivered through a range of interactive teaching sessions supplemented by online teaching and learning activities and materials – and may include, where relevant, asynchronous materials such as lecture recordings. Full details on the delivery mode of this module will be available on Learning Central at the start of the academic year – and may be, in part, determined by Welsh Government and Public Health Wales guidance.  

Academic and subject specific skills

• Be able to articulate a strong sense of evolution of cultures at a national level
• Begin to conceptualise how the national fits with the transnational
• Develop strong inter-cultural awareness
• Develop methodological skills through text based analysis
• Develop critical thinking and analytical skills
• Develop and demonstrate competency in information literacy

Employability skills

• Be able to produce writing and commentary which fits the needs of the reader/listener, within and beyond the academic context
• Be able to use ICT effectively
• Group project work

The method(s) of assessing the learning outcomes for this module are set out in the Assessment Table, which also contains the weightings of each assessment component.

Mapping of Assessment to Intended Learning Outcomes

Essay: assesses all Learning Oucomes (1 - 4)

THE OPPORTUNITY FOR REASSESSMENT IN THIS MODULE:

Students who fail the module will be reassessed through the one synoptic re-assessment (weighted at 100%)   

Resit assessments that are not supported by extenuating circumstances will be capped at the pass mark applicable to your programme.

At the school wide transnational levels, students will explore the following topics

• What is the transnational?
• What does it mean to be a modern languages student?
• How to move between the global and the local
• The concept of the nation
• National identity, nation building and concepts of belonging
• Contemporary debates in European and non-European cultures and societies
• Regional and (de)colonial identities within the nation
• Multilingualism, language identities and globalisation

In Semester S

The emergence of a national cinema

The years of the ‘economic boom’

Italy and its problems

Italian cinema and the rest of the world