Materials for the Credit Test Theoretical Questions for the Credit Test

1. The aim and the Task of the Discipline “Country-study: linguistic aspect”.

2. Definition of Language, Culture, Communication. Interconnection of Language and Culture.

3. Culture Study as a Discipline.

4. Cross-cultural Communication. Intercultural Communication Principles. English as the Language of Cross-cultural Communication.

5. English-speaking Countries.

6. Ancient Britain.

7. England in the Middle Ages (11^th-15^th Centuries).

8. The development of England in the 16^th Century.

9. Civil War and Oliver Cromwell.

10. The Industrial Revolution.

11. The British Empire.

12. Great Britain at the End of the 19^th and the Beginning of the 20^th Century. World War I and ‘inter-war’ years.

13. Britain and the Second World War. Post war Britain.

14. Contemporary Britain.

15. The notions of Key Words and Cultural Keyword.

16. Cultural Code or Cultural Icons.

17. British Cultural icons.

18. Cultural Code or Cultural Icons.

19. Explain the Term Great Britain.

20. Give the definition to the name Britain.

21. Key American Values.

22. How Americans See Themselves.

23. Geography of Australia.

24. Etymology of the Name Australia.

25. Australia - Native people. The Aborigines.

26. History of Australia

27. Political System of Australia.

28. States and Territories of Australia

29. Flora and Fauna of Australia

30. Language in Australia

31. Education in Australia

32. Australian Culture.

33. Australia's National Symbols.

34. Geography of Canada.

35. Etymology of the Name Canada.

36. History of Canada.

37. Political System of Canada.

38. Language in Canada

39. Education in Canada

40. Canadian Culture.

41. Canada’s National Symbols.

Example of the Practical Assignment

1. Give your idea of the Briton’s love of his own garden and his countryside position.

2. Give the explanation for the following: Stars and Stripes, Medallion Taxi, White House, The Big Apple, Disneyland.

3. Give the explanation for the following: Beavers, The Dominion of Canada, Lieutenant Governor, the maple leaf Mountains, Newfoundland English.

Assignment for the Independent work

1. Final work: written essay to be presented and discussed orally

  Write a 10-page critical essay on an issue raised in the course so far. The essay must approach the issue by way of a close examination of one or two of the works in the syllabus. "Critical essay" means that the essay cannot be only a summary, description, paraphrase, or survey of topics and works. Instead, think about the evidence so as to build an analytical, interpretive argument about the issues at stake. Some of the best critical arguments are those that study some tension, contradiction, or puzzle. That is, they do not start off with a single, inflexible thesis and then proceed to flatten everything in their path to demonstrate that thesis. Rather, they note that an issue or work seems to turn upon an important inner tension (e.g., "information wants to be free," but "information should be private") and then try to think through the implications or premises of that tension.

The essay should have a useful title, plan, notes, and a bibliography. For the notes and bibliography, you are free to follow any standard reference style recognized by the humanities, social sciences, or sciences (so long as you are consistent). If you have no reason for choosing one style over another, then by default please follow the documentation style set out in the Times New Roman (14-point type).

In class, we discussed the Postal Service's Elvis stamp as a cultural sign. This sign revolves around Elvis, a man who reflects several critical aspects of American cultural mythology: sexuality, youth, and rebellion. By coming to understand why Elvis is so beloved we can come to understand something about the dreams and ideals of Americans as a group. By the same token, understanding a figure that is important to you personally can help you understand more about your personal values, insecurities, hopes, ideals.

Please write an essay examining and exploring the impact some popular cultural icon has had on you. This icon may have shaped your ideals and dreams, or perhaps it became, for you, a model of how life is supposed to be lived. Ultimately, you should consider the ideological aspects of your personal investment in this representation.

The goal of this assignment is to encourage you to think critically about the culture of English speaking countries. In this essay, you should take a popular cultural icon as your text and the contemporary culture as its context.

If you use material from the Internet, please include the author, title, date of the page if available, and the date you downloaded the site along with the URL in your reference list.

If you are unsure about this or any other aspect of essay writing, please consult

Johnson, Roy, The A to Z of Writing Essays, 1994, Clifton Press: Manchester

An online version, which includes sample student essays, is available at http://www.mantex.co.uk.

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