Learning objectives
The teaching of Rhetorics and Communication Skills will lead students to an understanding of the essentials of rhetorics, understood as the art of saying and persuading, on both historical and technical-theoretical levels. With this in mind, the evolutionary stages of Greco-Roman rhetorics, the indispensable foundation of modern rhetorics and communication, will be examined, and, through the direct reading of an anthology of significant texts, typical techniques, strategies and principles of rhetorically constructed communication will be illustrated.
- Knowledge and Ability to Understand: students will acquire knowledge related to the history of Greco-Roman rhetorics and the fundamental techniques of rhetorically constructed communication.
- Applied Knowledge and Comprehension Skills: students will be able to contextualize an ancient text in its cultural-historical dimension and to identify its rhetorical articulation; they will also have the necessary tools to elaborate original forms of rhetorical communication.
- Autonomy of Judgment: students will be able to collect and interpret data useful for making autonomous judgments in the field of rhetorics at both historical-cultural and technical-theoretical levels, including cross-cultural reflections on cultural, intercultural, scientific and/or ethical issues related to them; moreover, they will be able to integrate the knowledge acquired and autonomously manage its complexity.
- Communication Skills: thanks to the general structure of this teaching, which focuses on the historical evolution of Greco-Roman rhetorics and the techniques of rhetorical communication, students will develop learning skills that will enable them to continue their studies, autonomously and predominantly self-directed, in lifelong and continuing education paths over time.
Prerequisites
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Course unit content
History of Greco-Roman rhetorics; reading and commentary on an anthology of significant texts.
Full programme
See "Bibliography".
Bibliography
- Attending students will be required to do all the following:
1) lecture content, including reading and analysis of the texts reviewed in the course, which are constantly uploaded, lecture by lecture, to the teaching Elly page;
2) preparation of L. Pernot, La Retorica dei Greci e dei Romani. A cura e con una postfazione di L. Spina, traduzione italiana di F. Caparrotta, Palermo 2006, Palumbo.
- Non attending students will be required to do all the following:
1) preparation of L. Pernot, La Retorica dei Greci e dei Romani. A cura e con una postfazione di L. Spina, traduzione italiana di F. Caparrotta, Palermo 2006, Palumbo.
2) preparation of O. Reboul, Introduzione alla retorica. Traduzione e edizione italiana a cura di G. Alfieri, Bologna 2002, Il Mulino;
3) independent reading and analysis of the texts examined during the course, which are constantly uploaded, lecture by lecture, to the teaching Elly page.
Teaching methods
The teaching method is commensurate with the requirements of the discipline, which includes a survey of the history of Greco-Roman rhetorics and analysis of rhetorical communication techniques through frontal lecture, with discussion of textual, interpretive and linguistic issues.
Assessment methods and criteria
Verification will take place in the final examination, which consists of an oral test on the different parts of the program with the aim of assessing the following:
1) the knowledge of the basic outlines of the history of Greco-Roman rhetorics;
2) the ability to culturally and historically contextualize the texts and analyze them in their rhetorical articulation;
3) expositive clarity, elocution property and appropriateness of responses.
Specifically, a failing grade is determined by a lack of knowledge of the minimum teaching content; inability to express oneself appropriately to the topic; lack of independent preparation; inability to solve problems related to information retrieval and decoding of texts; and inability to make judgments independently and to communicate content, analysis and judgments in a reasoned, competent and convincing manner. A sufficient score (18-23/30) is determined by an acceptable level of performance of the assessment indicators listed above; average scores (24-27/30) are awarded to those who demonstrate a more than sufficient (24-25/30) or good (26-27/30) level of the assessment indicators listed above; high scores (28/30 to 30/30 cum laude) are awarded based on the demonstration of an optimal to excellent level of the assessment indicators listed above.
Other information
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2030 agenda goals for sustainable development
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