ENGLISH FOR COMPUTER SCIENCE
- Overview
- Assessment methods
- Learning objectives
- Contents
- Bibliography
- Delivery method
- Teaching methods
- Contacts/Info
A B2 level is required (CEFRL), common prerequisite for the access to the degree course.
The goal of the exam is the assessment of the knowledge and abilities described in the “Obiettivi del
corso” section - the production of an abstract of an academic article.
The exam consists of two parts: a written test and an oral test. The written test will assess the
students’ proficiency by means of exercises focused on grammar, syntax, morphology and
vocabulary, as well as the reading of an article of which the students will be asked to write the
abstract. The oral test will consist of the presentation of the content of an article chosen by the
student, downloaded on the SIGGRAPH platform (see above). The students will be asked to present
its content as well as its critical analysis. A second section of the oral exam will be focused on game
development and game design, where the student will discuss the contents of the books proposed
(see reference below) and contribute providing practical examples with reference to existing games.
The oral and the written test score will compose the final score in equal parts (50% for the written
and 50% for the oral).
The final score is expressed in thirties.
The aim of the course is to enable the students in reading, analysing and writing a specialistic article.
For this goal, texts available on SIGGRAPH (http://kesen.realtimerendering.com/sig2018.html) will
be presented and analysed in their morphosynthax, grammar and vocabulary. Furthermore, the
articles will be object of a further analysis, to learn how an academic article must be properly
stuctured. The students will be trained in particular in abstract writing, using the teacher’s
guidelines. The course will also face topics such as game design e game development through a
couple of texts, short presentations and debate among the students.
At the end of the course, the students will be able to:
1. Understand the content of an academic article
2. Analyse the sections of the article
3. Organise the contents presented in a specialistic article, in order to produce a proper absrtact.
4. Use the proper syntax, grammar and morphology, tytpical of this kind of texts.
5. Make a presentation of a project using slides or visuals
The students are asked to develop a critical approach towards the proposed topics, being able to
organise a coherent debate in English.
The students will be asked to read and analyse the following articles:
- User-Guided Lip Correction for Facial Performance Capture
- Learning Basketball Dribbling Skills Using Trajectory Optimization and Deep Reinforcement
Learning
- FoldSketch: Enriching Garments with Physically Reproducible Folds
- MonoPerfCap: Human Performance Capture from Monocular Video
- Directing Cinematographic Drones
A theorical deepening about abstract writing will be presented, followed by some practice on how to
recognise the different sections of an academic article.
The following grammatical and syntactic aspects will be object of study:
- Tenses’ review
- Linking words
- Passives
- Modal verbs
- Futures
- Objective and subjective questions
- Direct and indirect speech
- If clauses
The analysis of the articles, their grammar and structures will take 8 hours each.
For the academic articles, the main reference is the SIGGRAPH 2018 platform (see above).
Advanced Grammar in Use, Martin Hewings, Cambridge – any edition
The Art of Game Design, a Book of Lenses, Jesse Schell – available pdf:
http://www.sg4adults.eu/files/art-game-design.pdf
Game programing patterns, Robert Nystrom – available online:
http://gameprogrammingpatterns.com/
The content of the lessons will be at the students’disposal on the e-learning platform of the
university, as well as the keys to the exercises.
The course is organised as a workshop. The students are invited in understanding the content of the
article starting from some elements given by the teacher, in order to introduce the topic of the
lesson, debating with the colleagues. An article will then be given to the students and it will be
analysed.
During the lessons the stundents’ active participation is required. Each student will be asked to
interact speaking, writing or organising short presentations.
Office hours is agreed by e-mail.