Twi (TWI)
TWI 0100 Elementary Twi I
The Elementary Twi I course can be taken to fulfill a language requirement, or for linguistic preparation to do research on Ghana/Africa-related topics. The course emphasizes communicative competence to enable the students to acquire linguistic and extra-linguistic skills in Twi. The content of the course is selected from various everyday life situations to enable the students to communicate in predictable common daily settings. Culture, as it relates to language use, is also a part of the course content. Students will acquire the speaking, listening, reading and writing skills at the mid-high novice level, based on the ACTFL scale. The mid-high novice level proficiency skills that the students will acquire constitute threshold capabilities of the second semester range of proficiency to prepare students for Elementary Twi II course materials.
Fall
1 Course Unit
TWI 0200 Elementary Twi II
This course will focus on developing interpersonal and interpretive skills to enable students to acquire Level 1+ on the Interagency Language Roundtable (ILR) scale. Students will be able to initiate and maintain predictable face-to-face conversations and satisfy limited social demands in the language. They may, however, have little understanding of the social conventions of conversation. Range and control of the language will be limited. Speech will largely consist of a series of short, discrete utterances. For example, students will able to satisfy most travel and accommodation needs and a limited range of social demands beyond exchange of skeletal biographic information. Speaking ability may extend beyond immediate survival needs. Accuracy in basic grammatical relations will be evident, although not consistent. May exhibit the more common forms of verb tenses, for example, but may make frequent errors in formation and selection. While some structures are established, errors occur in more complex patterns. The individual typically cannot sustain coherent structures in longer utterances or unfamiliar situations. Ability to describe and give precise information is limited.
Spring
1 Course Unit
TWI 0300 Intermediate Twi I
This course will engage students in interpersonal and interpretive activities to enable them to satisfy most work requirements with language usage that is often, but not always, acceptable and effective. They will be able to handle with confidence, but not with facility, most normal, high-frequency social conversational situations including extensive, but casual conversations about current events, as well as work, family, and autobiographical information. Students can get the gist of most everyday conversations but has some difficulty understanding native speakers in situations that require specialized or sophisticated knowledge. Students will show considerable ability to communicate effectively on topics relating to particular interests and special fields of competence. Often, they will show a high degree of fluency and ease of speech, yet when under tension or pressure, the ability to use the language effectively may deteriorate. Comprehension of normal native speech is typically nearly complete. Typically, students with this proficiency level can participate in most social, formal, and informal interactions, but limitations either in range of contexts, types of tasks or level of accuracy hinder effectiveness.
Fall
1 Course Unit
TWI 0400 Intermediate Twi II
Prerequisite: Offered through the Penn Language Center
Spring
1 Course Unit
TWI 1100 Advanced Twi I
Students will engage in interpersonal and interpretive tasks to develop productive skills to use the language with sufficient structural accuracy and vocabulary to participate effectively in most formal and informal conversations in practical, social and professional topics. Discourse will be cohesive. Students will use the language acceptably, but with some noticeable imperfections; yet, errors will never interfere with understanding and will rarely disturb the native speaker. Students will effectively combine structure and vocabulary to convey their meaning accurately, speaking readily and filling pauses suitably. In face-to-face conversation with natives speaking the standard dialect at a normal rate of speech, comprehension will be quite complete. Students can typically discuss particular interests and special fields of competence with reasonable ease. Can use the language as part of normal professional duties such as answering objections, clarifying points, justifying decisions, understanding the essence of challenges, stating and defending policy, conducting meetings, delivering briefings, or other extended and elaborate informative monologues. Can reliably elicit information and informed opinion from native speakers. Use of structural devices is flexible and elaborate. Without searching for words or phrases, students use the language clearly and relatively naturally to elaborate concepts freely and make ideas easily understandable to native speakers. Errors occur in low-frequency and highly complex structures
Fall
1 Course Unit
TWI 1200 Advanced Twi II
Prerequisite: Offered throught the Penn Language Center.
Spring
1 Course Unit
TWI 1300 Twi Language & Culture I
Students will engage in interpersonal and interpretive communicative modes of language use to satisfy professional needs in a wide range of sophisticated and demanding tasks. While students will be able to demonstrate obvious strengths, they may exhibit some hesitancy, uncertainty, effort or errors which limit the range of language-use tasks that can be reliably performed. Occasional patterned errors may occur in low frequency and highly-complex structures. Typically, there will be particular strength in fluency and one or more, but not all, of the following: breadth of lexicon, structural precision, discourse competence in a wide range of contexts and tasks often matching a native speaker's strategic and organizational abilities and expectations.
1 Course Unit
TWI 1400 Twi Language & Culture II
Continuation of Language & Culture I course: Level 3+ (General Professional Proficiency, Plus)
1 Course Unit