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SLL30050

Academic Year 2024/2025

Adaptations (SLL30050)

Subject:
Languages, Cultures & Ling
College:
Arts & Humanities
School:
Languages, Cultures & Linguis
Level:
3 (Degree)
Credits:
5
Module Coordinator:
Dr Siobhan Donovan
Trimester:
Spring
Mode of Delivery:
On Campus
Internship Module:
No
How will I be graded?
Letter grades

Curricular information is subject to change.

This module will explore how a particular work of literature is adapted and transferred from its source culture into another culture or medium and how the target culture engages with the (usually) creatively modified work. This may first involve translation into another language (interlingual translation), and then into an entirely different genre and even medium (intermedial/intersemiotic translation, e.g. film, opera). The process and products of translation are of interest to all lovers of culture, but particularly to language students. We will see what happens when a given work is translated or adapted in other ways, which strategies and theories are employed, and contemplate issues of fidelity, ownership, authority, reception, intertextuality, intercultural and intertemporal communication. The texts will be available in English translation, but students with an advanced reading knowledge of the languages concerned will be expected to study the texts in the original and thus shed light on the translation and/or adaptation process for the other students. The module will be divided into three thematic blocks.
The module is a core module for BA International Modern Languages students. It may also be of interest to students on other programmes (e.g. BA B Hum who are studying at least one language in our School), or or to international students who are spending one trimester or the full year in UCD.

About this Module

Learning Outcomes:

On successful completion of this module students should be able to:
- apply some theoretical aspects of translation and adaptation theory to the translation and adaptation of literary texts;
- identify the criteria involved in the translation and adaptation of texts into a new medium;
- consider the dynamic between translator, adapter/director, text and target-language receiver;
- understand how translation and intermedial adaptation contribute both to the reception of the original work and to intercultural communication in general;
- express critical opinions, oral and written, and in an appropriate register, on the works studied;

Indicative Module Content:

Students will explore different forms of adaptation of works of cultural production into another cultural and/or linguistic context, another genre or another medium.
They will be introduced to important aspects of adaptation and translation theory and address issues such as fidelity, medium specificity, adaptation as process rather than product, domestication, vs foreignization.
The module is divided into three blocks, each dealing with a particular case study that focuses on different examples of interlingual or intersemiotic transfer.

Student Effort Hours:
Student Effort Type Hours
Seminar (or Webinar)

24

Practical

4

Specified Learning Activities

34

Autonomous Student Learning

48

Total

110


Approaches to Teaching and Learning:
Each thematic block will have a mix of formal mini-lectures, interactive exercises (group and individual) and smaller discussion groups. Regularly assigned homework tasks form the basis for those discussions and activities. In the first block, students will prepare a short group presentation that is assessed.
All filmic adaptations to be discussed will be made available.

Generative AI may be used for certain purposes only under the guidance of your module coordinator and within academic integrity guidelines. This corresponds to amber on the traffic light system that has been adopted by UCD Arts & Humanities: https://www.ucd.ie/artshumanities/study/aifutures/trafficlightsystem/
More information will be supplied on Brightspace for each assignment.

Requirements, Exclusions and Recommendations
Learning Requirements:

Advanced reading skills in at least one of the languages taught in the School of Languages and Literatures (to level B2/C1 of the Common European Framework of Reference).

Learning Recommendations:

An interest in literature and the performing arts, as well as in translation and adaptation.


Module Requisites and Incompatibles
Incompatibles:
SLL30030 - Cultural Transference


 

Assessment Strategy
Description Timing Component Scale Must Pass Component % of Final Grade In Module Component Repeat Offered
Assignment(Including Essay): Essay (ca. 1,600-2,000 words, in English) on topics covering blocks 2 and 3 Week 15 Graded No
60
No
Assignment(Including Essay): Essay (ca. 1,300 words) on questions addressing the material covered during block 1 Week 7 Graded No
40
No

Carry forward of passed components
No
 

Resit In Terminal Exam
Autumn No
Please see Student Jargon Buster for more information about remediation types and timing. 

Feedback Strategy/Strategies

• Feedback individually to students, on an activity or draft prior to summative assessment
• Feedback individually to students, post-assessment
• Group/class feedback, post-assessment
• Peer review activities
• Self-assessment activities

How will my Feedback be Delivered?

Not yet recorded.

Reading lists for the separate thematic blocks will be made available on Brightspace.

Name Role
Dr Siobhan Donovan Lecturer / Co-Lecturer
Dr Mary Farrelly Lecturer / Co-Lecturer
Dr Mara Josi Lecturer / Co-Lecturer
Assoc Professor Douglas Smith Lecturer / Co-Lecturer
Assoc Professor Jeremy Squires Lecturer / Co-Lecturer
Dr Sabine Strumper-Krobb Lecturer / Co-Lecturer

Timetabling information is displayed only for guidance purposes, relates to the current Academic Year only and is subject to change.
Spring Small Group Offering 1 Week(s) - 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33 Thurs 10:00 - 10:50
Spring Small Group Offering 1 Week(s) - 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33 Tues 10:00 - 10:50