ENGLISH LANGUAGE CONVERSATION
Academic Year 2025/2026 - Teacher: VALENTINA BURRAFATOExpected Learning Outcomes
By the end of the course, students will have acquired the following knowledge and skills:
Knowledge and understanding
The course aims to strengthen the four fundamental language skills outlined by the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (CEFR) at levels A2/B1. In addition, students will further develop their existing knowledge of the specialized language used in the fields of food science and technology.
Applying knowledge and understanding
The course is designed to enable students to recognize and understand the main grammatical and morphosyntactic structures of the English language, in line with the A2/B1 CEFR levels, as well as to recognize and apply knowledge related to the specialized language of their field of study.
Making judgments
Students will learn to recognize, interpret, and apply the linguistic and lexical knowledge they have acquired.
Communication skills
In line with the CEFR, by the end of the course students will have improved their communication skills in English, and will have acquired competences that can be built upon both to continue their studies and to pursue professional opportunities in the field of food science and technology.
Learning skills
The course aims to develop the learning skills necessary to go on with their university career, such as the ability to use a dictionary, manage and organize work and time, take notes during lessons.
Course Structure
If the course is delivered in a blended or online format, necessary adjustments may be made to what is stated above in order to ensure that the program outlined in the syllabus is fully covered.
Required Prerequisites
Attendance of Lessons
Detailed Course Content
MODULE A
- Present tenses: present simple and present continuous (form and use)
- Past tenses: past simple, past continuous, used to, present perfect, present perfect continuous, past perfect (form and use)
Countable/uncountable nouns
Quantifiers
- Future tenses: will; present continuous; be going to; future continuous & future perfect (form and use)
- Comparatives and superlatives (adjectives and adverbs)
- Conditionals: zero conditional; first conditional; unless, provided/as long as; in case; second conditional; third conditional; mixed conditional
- Modal verbs
- Passive voice (form and use)
- Question tags
- Relative clauses
MODULE B
Introduction to soil and agricultural practices, food processing and preservation.Textbook Information
or
R. Murphy, English Grammar in Use - Fifth Edition, Cambridge, 2019.
Schoolbooks and online materials may be used as well.
The lecturer will provide the texts for Module B.
The use of a monolingual dictionary is recommended.
Course Planning
| Subjects | Text References | |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Entry test; Present tenses: present simple and present continuous (form and use) | M. Vince, English Grammar in Context. Intermediate, Macmillan, 2007, pp. 6-13 |
| 2 | Present simple vs. present continuous; past simple (form) | M. Vince, English Grammar in Context. Intermediate, Macmillan, 2007, pp. 6-13 |
| 3 | Past simple (use) | M. Vince, English Grammar in Context. Intermediate, Macmillan, 2007, pp. 14-17 |
| 4 | Past continuous (form and use); used to ; tense contrast. | M. Vince, English Grammar in Context. Intermediate, Macmillan, 2007, pp. 14-25 |
| 5 | Countable and uncountable nouns | M. Vince, English Grammar in Context. Intermediate, Macmillan, 2007, pp. 106-109 |
| 6 | Countable and uncountable nouns. Intro to quantifiers. | M. Vince, English Grammar in Context. Intermediate, Macmillan, 2007, pp. 122-133 |
| 7 | Present perfect simple | M. Vince, English Grammar in Context. Intermediate, Macmillan, 2007, pp. 22-25 |
| 8 | Quantifiers: some, any, no, few, a few, little, a little, most. | M. Vince, English Grammar in Context. Intermediate, Macmillan, 2007, pp. 122-130 |
| 9 | Consolidation and practice | Learning materials provided by the lecturer. |
| 10 | Module B: Intro to soil. | Learning materials provided by the lecturer. |
| 11 | Module B: Soil, water, and plants. | Learning materials provided by the lecturer. |
| 12 | Question tags: present simple, past simple, present continuous, can, will, imperative, requests with “Let’s..”; Module B | M. Vince, English Grammar in Context. Intermediate, Macmillan, 2007, pp. 52-53 |
| 13 | Passive voice (form and use): present simple, past simple, present continuous, present perfect, will future. | M. Vince, English Grammar in Context. Intermediate, Macmillan, 2007, pp. 78-81 |
| 14 | Module B Crops | Learning materials will be provided by the lecturer |
| 15 | Module B: Food processing. | Learning materials will be provided by the lecturer |
| 16 | Module B (Edible oils) | Learning materials will be provided by the lecturer |
| 17 | Module B (Alcoholic beverages) | Learning materials will be provided by the lecturer |
| 18 | Module B (Dairy products) | Learning materials will be provided by the lecturer |
Learning Assessment
Learning Assessment Procedures
Written exam to assess the grammatical and lexical knowledge acquired in Module A, as well as the understanding of the topics covered in Module B.
The exam will be "Superato" or "Non superato".
Students can choose to sit a written midterm exam on part of the Module A content.
Students who pass the midterm exam will not be tested on the material covered in the midterm during the final exam.
Examples of frequently asked questions and / or exercises
Midterm Assessment – Sample Exercises
-
Complete the sentences using the correct infinitive form of the verb.
-
Select the correct answer from the options provided.
Final Exam
Answer multiple-choice and open-ended questions aimed at evaluating:
-
Comprehension and application of key morphosyntactic and grammatical structures
-
Understanding of the content covered in Module B