Civilisation
Topic outline
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"Civilization of the Target Language" is a second-year EFL module (Teaching Unit: Discovery, Credits: 02) designed to deepen students' understanding of English-speaking civilizations through a structured, interactive approach. The course meets for 3 hours per week, consisting of 1 hour 30 minutes of lecture and 1 hour 30 minutes of TD (travaux dirigés), and is assessed through a 50-50 split between written exams and continuous evaluation. Taught by Dr. Djihed Messikh, an Associate Professor at the Department of Foreign Languages, University of Skikda, the module guides students through the historical and cultural foundations of English-speaking countries, particularly Britain and the United States, helping them connect language learning with its civilizational context. For inquiries, students may contact Dr. Messikh at d.messikh@univ-skikda.dz or teacherguide7@gmail.com.
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Forum
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Module: Civilization of the Target Language
Teaching Unit: Discovery
Credits: 02
Teaching Hours: 3 hours/ week (1h30 lecture + 1h30 TD)
Assessment: 50%-50% (written exams and continuous evaluation)
Level: Second-year students of English
Teacher: Dr. Djihed Messikh (Associate Professor at the Department of Foreign Languages, University of Skikda)
Contact: d.messikh@univ-skikda.dz/ teacherguide7@gmail.com.
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1. Improving students‟ knowledge of the English language through British life and history.
2. Studying significant historical developments in nineteenth-century Britain.
3. Learning new concepts and themes such as: "The Enlightenment", "The Scientific Revolution", "Victorianism", "Protestantism", "Chartism"..etc
4. Examining the contributing causes of key historical developments.
5. Analyzing and interpreting political cartoons.
6. Developing listening skills through video-based activities and comprehension questions.
7. Engaging in online discussions and debates via audiovisual conferencing.
8. Enhancing digital literacy by presenting PowerPoint slides in live audiovisual conferences.
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Assignment
The diagnostic test serves to assess the breadth and depth of students’ prior learning. Its primary purpose is to detect areas where students may lack crucial knowledge or skills necessary for success in upcoming coursework. By pinpointing these deficiencies early, it is possible to implement targeted interventions to address specific weaknesses. The test encompasses a range of question types that measure factual recall (QCM), including 30 different questions related to the syllabus of Semester 1 and Semester 2.
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Assignment
This diagnostic test aims to evaluate students’ foundational knowledge and critical thinking skills in British and American history by combining brief explanations of key terms, analytical responses to historical events, and structured paragraph writing, thereby assessing their understanding of major political, social, and cultural developments from early Britain to the American Revolution.
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Chat
This is a virtual space where students can post comments, ask questions, make requests, collaborate with peers, and discuss relevant topics. It facilitates ongoing interaction and peer support, enabling students to share ideas, clarify concepts, and engage in academic dialogue outside of formal class sessions. This collaborative environment enhances communication and fosters a sense of community among learners. It allows for asynchronous discussion, so participants can contribute at their convenience while staying connected to the group’s learning objectives.
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As a pedagogical resource, it combines language learning with the study of major British and Anglo-American historical developments. It includes 10 lectures, with 5 focused on British history and 5 on American history, and uses lectures, guided exercises, video activities, debates, and digital presentations to develop students’ language skills, critical thinking, and communication abilities
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Learning Objectives
- Identifying the Age of Reason as an intellectual movement.
- Comparing medieval and Enlightenment worldview.
- Tracing the roots of Enlightenment, linking renaissance, humanism, the scientific revolution, and the Age of Reason.
- Evaluating core principles such as liberty, equality, and skepticism.
- Synthesizing contributions of John Locke, Voltaire, Montesquieu, Rousseau, and Descartes.
- Enhancing listening comprehension skills through responding to a relevant video.
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The Age of Reason because offers a clear window into Enlightenment thinking and helps readers understand how reason, religion, and independent thought were debated. You can read it here: The Age of Reason.
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Chat
This chatroom is for students to discuss points from Lecture 1: The Age of Reason. Share questions, observations, and short summaries about key thinkers, major ideas, and historical context. I welcome questions — ask anything about the lecture or readings and classmates will help answer.
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Learning Objectives:
- Identifying the Industrial Revolution as a shift from agrarian to machine-based production.
- Analyzing driving factors such as political stability and economic factors.
- Discussing key revolutionized industries: textile, iron, coal, and transportation.
- Identifying key machines and inventions which drove industrialization (Spinning Jenny, steam engine, power loom…etc).
- Studying the link between the Industrial Revolution and colonial expansion.
- Assessing economic and social effects, distinguishing between positive and negative impacts.
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Karl Marx’s The Communist Manifesto and Das Kapital are key texts for understanding class struggle and its relation to the Industrial Revolution. They explain how industrial growth intensified the divide between workers and factory owners, making it recommended reading for students who want to see how economic change shaped social conflict.
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Welcome to the discussion forum for Lecture 2: The Industrial Revolution in Britain. You can use this space to ask questions, share your perspectives on key topics like technological innovations, urbanization, and labor conditions, and deepen your understanding through collaboration with classmates. All questions are welcome, so feel free to start threads and engage directly to build a richer understanding of this transformative era.
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Learning Objectives:
- Highlighting flaws in the pre-reform parliamentary system.
- Understanding parliamentary democracy.
- Defining Chartism as a political movement.
- Analyzing links between industrialization, the rise of the middle class, and reform acts.
- Evaluating Chartism’s six points.
- Assessing the success of Chartism.
- Analyzing political cartoons.
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Welcome to the chatroom for Lecture 3: Chartism and the Rise of Parliamentary Democracy. This space facilitates synchronous discussion of key concepts, including the People's Charter, working-class mobilization, and the movement's significance for democratic reform. You are encouraged to pose immediate questions, engage with peers in real time, and clarify lecture content on the six points, petitions, state responses, and Chartism's enduring impact on British parliamentary development
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Learning Objectives:
- Understanding Victorianism as a concept.
- Understanding the “doctrine of separate spheres”
- Visualizing key Victorian cultural elements--architecture, art, literature, and leisure.
- Examining how Victorianism shaped different cultural elements.
- Analyzing Darwinism’s challenge to religious Orthodoxy (the tension between science and religion).
- Evaluating social reforms during the Victorian Age (Factory acts, education acts…)
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File
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Students are kindly invited to read this Encyclopedia Britannica article on the Victorian Age to gain a clear and useful overview of the period and its major historical features
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Welcome to the forum for Lecture 4: Victorianism and Social Reforms. This space allows you to post questions, share perspectives, and engage in thoughtful discussion on key topics such as moral values, class relations, education, public health, labor legislation, and the role of women in Victorian society. You are encouraged to reflect on primary sources, connect reforms to broader ideological currents, and build on classmates' posts to deepen collective understanding of how Victorian ideals shaped social change
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Learning Objectives:
- Examining the expansion of the British empire during the 19th century.
- Distinguishing between justifications and motives of British imperialism.
- Comparing ideological and political justifications against economic motives.
- Examining the link between industrialization and imperialism
- Exploring the role of mercantilism as an economic ideology and policy.
- Exploring India as a case of study.
- Studying how giant multinational companies can threaten national sovereignty.
- Interpreting political cartoons.
- Critically responding to a video on imperialism.
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Join the chatroom for Lecture 5: British Imperialism and the Colonization of India, the final lecture of the first semester. This live discussion space is for real-time exchange on imperial ideology, the East India Company, the 1857 Rebellion, colonial economic policies, cultural impact, and resistance movements. Pose questions instantly, respond to peers, and clarify complex themes as they arise—whether about utilitarian reforms, racial hierarchies, or the legacies of colonial rule. Engage now while the material is fresh and wrap up the semester with a dynamic, collaborative conversation
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Learning Objectives:
- Analyzing the link between Britain’s post-war debt policies and resistance in the thirteen colonies.
- Discussing the role of taxation and intolerable acts.
- Analyzing the ideological influences of Paine’s Common Sense, Locke’s Natural Rights, and Great Awakening’s individualism.
- Discussing economic and political effects.
- Tracing global ideological effects.
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Students are invited to read Two Treatises of Government to better understand the ideas of social contract and natural rights, which strongly influenced the American colonists during the American Revolution. It offers a brief but important look at the political thinking behind liberty and government
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Welcome to the forum for our sixth lecture on the American Revolution! Here, you can discuss key topics like British taxes, the Declaration of Independence, and figures such as George Washington and Thomas Jefferson. Share your questions, analyze primary sources together, debate historical interpretations, and deepen your understanding of how this revolution shaped democracy and constitutionalism. Post your thoughts, reply to classmates, and engage actively to make the most of our collaborative learning space.
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Learning Objectives:
- Discussing Manifest Destiny’s role as a justification of expansion.
- Examining economic, political, and social drivers of expansion.
- Analyzing key territorial expansions (Louisiana purchase, Texas annexation, Mexican session…)
- Assessing impacts on American Indians (trial of tears, reservation policies, resistance).
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Students are invited to read this Britannica article on Manifest Destiny to better understand a key idea behind U.S. westward expansion and its impact on American history
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Welcome to the academic chatroom for Lecture 7 on Westward Expansion. You are expected to engage in scholarly discourse on manifest destiny, territorial acquisition, the Trail of Tears, the Gold Rush, and the transcontinental railroad. You should critically evaluate historical interpretations and examine the socioeconomic consequences of expansion on Native American peoples, settlers, and national development. Maintain formal discourse and contribute substantively to deepen your collective understanding of this pivotal era in United States history.
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Learning Objectives:
- Discussing the multifaceted slave debate, using opposing economic, political, social, and religious perspectives.
- Examining the impact of sectionalism and economic inequality.
- Assessing state’ rights in pre-Civil War debates.
- Analyzing the rise of the Democratic and Republican parties.
- Analyzing the role of the abolitionist movement.
- Constructing a timeline of major events.
- Discussing the legacy of the civil war.
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Welcome to Forum 4 on the American Civil War. You are invited to discuss key topics including the causes of the war, major battles, emancipation, leadership of Lincoln and Davis, and the war's social and political consequences. You are encouraged to ask questions whenever clarification is needed and to share your analysis of the lecture material. Please also post your initial TD assignment response here and respond thoughtfully to at least two classmates' posts. Your contributions should demonstrate critical thinking and reference course content to support your arguments
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Learning Objectives:
- Discussing the objectives and policies of the Reconstruction Era.
- Understanding federalism and state’s rights through studying southern responses.
- Examining the role of the U.S. Supreme Court during the Reconstruction Era.
- Mapping U.S. judicial hierarchy using specific slavery cases.
- Understanding the “impeachment of the president”.
- Assessing the success and failures of Reconstruction policies.
- Analyzing the 13th, the 14th, and the 15th amendments as primary sources.
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Welcome to the chatroom for Lecture 9 on the Reconstruction Era. You are invited to brainstorm and discuss the TD essay question together, exchanging ideas on key themes such as presidential vs. congressional Reconstruction, the 13th, 14th, and 15th Amendments, the rise of the Ku Klux Klan, the failure of land reform, and the eventualCompromise of 1877. Share your arguments, challenge each other's perspectives, and build stronger essays through collaborative thinking. This is your space to clarify doubts, develop thesis statements, and refine your analysis before submitting your TD assignment.
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Learning Objectives:
- Distinguishing national powers and state powers.
- Examining legislative functions.
- Examining executive functions.
- Examining judicial functions.
- Discussing the system of checks and balance across legislative, executive, and judicial branches.
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Welcome to the chatroom for the final lecture on the US Government and the foundational principles shaping its structure. You are here to exchange ideas that will help you complete your TD Exercises. Discuss key concepts such as federalism, separation of powers, checks and balances, popular sovereignty, limited government, and natural rights. Share your understanding of how these principles influenced the Constitution, compare different interpretations, and work through problem sets together. Ask questions when you're stuck, explain your reasoning to classmates, and collaborate to build clearer answers for your TD assignment
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Quiz
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Quiz
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