Students engage in a close reading of medieval Italian texts in order to understand 
and interpret them as accurately as possible. Students also study the literary 
genres, forms, and conventions that make up these texts, and discuss the 
intellectual, historical, religious and cultural background needed to understand the 
literature of this period.  Particular attention is given to the Franciscan movement 
since it was instrumental in the birth of Italian lyric poetry and narrative prose 
fiction.  

Students are given study questions for each reading assignment.  The class breaks-up
into small groups to answer the study questions; then the whole class discusses the
reading assigned for that day.  This is all done in the target language (Italian). 
Since much of the work students do for this course is reflected in their classroom
performance, they get either daily or weekly grades that take into account their
oral/aural skills, their ability to answer the study questions, to paraphrase and 
analyze the assigned readings, and their participation in classroom discussions.   
In addition to this, students also give several oral presentations in Italian on an 
assigned reading.  Furthermore, students write three essays in Italian of 
approximately 1000 words each.  For each essay the student gets two grades: one for 
the first draft, and one for the rewrite.  Both grades carry equal weight.  Finally, 
they take a final exam which tests not only their linguistic abilities in Italian, 
but also their ability to analyze literary texts of that period.

During the first half of the semester, students read and analyze Umbrian and Tuscan 
religious literature as well as Sicilian and Tuscan love poetry. During the second 
half of the semester they read the first half of Dante’s Vita nuova and either a 
canto from Dante's Inferno or a novella of Boccaccio's Decameron.