Module CLAS40330: LATIN FOR RESEARCH

Department: Classics and Ancient History

CLAS40330: LATIN FOR RESEARCH

Prerequisites

• None.

Corequisites

• None.

Excluded Combination of Modules

• None.

Aims

• In accordance with the general aims of the MA in Classics, to promote self-motivated study of Latin as a preliminary to, and as providing an essential tool for, research in the general field of Classics and other disciplines that require knowledge of the language.

Content

• Latin, to the level of knowledge and understanding indicated under 'Subject Knowledge' below.

Learning Outcomes

• The student will by the end of the module have sufficient knowledge of Latin to enable him or her to read original sources in the language with the requisite aids (dictionaries, grammars, commentaries) to hand.

• The student will acquire basic reading skills in Latin.

• Some students taking this module will have knowledge of Ancient Greek, acquired during their BA programme. The learning of Latin will further extend their linguistic skills.

Modes of Teaching, Learning and Assessment and how these contribute to the learning outcomes of the module

• Teaching will be by three weekly seminars/classes per week during terms 1 and 2; and 2 weeks of revision in term 3. Classes will be structured around reading, formative exercises, and engagement by the teacher with questions and problems raised by the student and arising from his or her private study. The emphasis, as appropriate in a Level 4 module, will be on self-study, guided by the teacher.
• Formative assessment will be based on language exercises, of various sorts, and appropriate to the progressive learning of a language, completed on a weekly basis throughout the year. The summative assessment process will test the student’s ability to '... read original sources in the language with the requisite aids (dictionaries, grammars, commentaries) to hand' (see under 'Subject Knowledge above). The process will consist of two examinations, completed unseen (but with dictionaries, grammars and commentaries as appropriate): the first, lasting two hours, at the beginning of Epiphany term, will present the student with a comprehensive grammar test; and a limited number of relatively easy, short passages in Latin for translation into English; the second, lasting three hours, in the Easter Term, will present the student with a larger number of rather more difficult passages in Latin for translation into English. (In both cases the number and length of the passages chosen will reflect the time available for the exercise, and the fact that using dictionaries, etc. itself takes time; the level of difficulty of the passages chosen for the first examination will reflect the fact that the student will, thus far, have had only limited exposure to Latin; and the level of difficulty of the passages chosen for the second examination will reflect the fact that the student, by this stage, will be expected to be able to construe - with the necessary aids - the sorts of Latin texts that he or she will need to construe in the course of any future research. By the ability to 'construe' is here meant the ability to identify the structures, morphological and syntactical, on which the meanings of sentences depend.) The formative exercises will help shape the necessary subject and key skills, while the summative examinations will test both skills and subject knowledge.

Teaching Methods and Learning Hours

Summative Assessment

Formative Assessment:

Weekly language exercises, seven completed in Michaelmas Term, eight in Epiphany Term.

■ Attendance at all activities marked with this symbol will be monitored. Students who fail to attend these activities, or to complete the summative or formative assessment specified above, will be subject to the procedures defined in the University's General Regulation V, and may be required to leave the University