Dicembre 2016 e ditoriale

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SAMI DI

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2016

Nuova Secondaria - n. 4 2016 - Anno XXXIV - ISSN 1828-4582

1. http://learnenglishteens.britishcouncil.org/skills/listening-skills-practice/new-

inventions

Suggested answers to the questions

After reading the passage, the ten comprehension ques-

tions focus on the comprehension of overt meaning

(What, why, when and how).

The answer to question 1 (When is the past systemati-

cally rejected?) is “When innovation entails progress,

which makes it both inevitable and socially desirable”.

Question 2 asks about the kind of research that is nec-

essary, and the answer can be found at the beginning of

the second paragraph: what’s necessary is research to

clarify the process which has transformed the words

“new and “revolutionary” (as attributes of innovation)

into synonyms for “better” and “more desirable”. The

third question asks when innovation is easily accepted

and, according to the text, innovation is warmly wel-

comed when it regards the human control over non-hu-

man nature, as in the fields of science and technology,

because it brings advantages also to those who are most

traditional. Question four asks why social and human

change meet with greater resistance: for many people

it’s extremely hard to accept constant change in social

and human relations because they’re afraid it may en-

tail disruption. The fifth question requires an explana-

tion of the idea supported by the example of prints and

oleographs, which is in the first part of paragraph three:

this example supports the idea that innovation, when it’s

useful and socially neutral, is automatically legitimated;

in fact, it illustrates two techniques used to produce holy

images and icons at a lower price, a kind of innovation

that is socially neutral, which met neither resistance nor

legitimation even though it is related to a traditional ac-

tivity such as popular institutional religion. This is the

answer to question six: a single dose of innovation

causes no problems because it can be presented as the

victory of something positive over something negative,

and it doesn’t require legitimation, similarly to inno-

vations that  have no precedent in the past. The paradox

about the past that the seventh question refers to is that

the past is the most useful analytical tool for coping

with regular change, but in a new form. The answer to

question eight, “how is history interpreted?” follows im-

mediately: “History is discovered as a process of di-

rectional change and progress”. Question nine asks to

illustrate the way in which the present is legitimized and

explained, that is the interpretation of the past as a

process which makes it become the present. The tenth

question, asking for an explanation of historicism, finds

its answer in the last paragraph: historicism is described

as a popular method of prediction based on a more or

less difficult extrapolation of past tendencies into the fu-

ture.

The composition

Consistently with all the texts of the exam, also the one

about socio-historical studies includes two outlines for

written production, both of which require students to give

a sort of “scientific” support to their statements, referring

to the previous readings.

The first outline provided proposes a quote from Hobs-

bawm’s On History focusing on the task of historians, that

is to analyse the sense of the past, which considers the past

as a permanent presence in human society - conceived ei-

ther as something to reject or something to imitate, and its

changes. The quotation is to be discussed in an argumen-

tative essay, and requires students to support their ideas

with readings of their own and their studies in history. A

good composition could be structured in three parts: the

first part could focus on the acceptance of the past as a

model, the second on the rejection of the past, and the

third could propose a synthesis, with students expressing

their own ideas on the two tendencies, explaining which

of the two they would give precedence to over the other,

giving reasons for their choice and supporting it with ex-

amples from history.

The second one concentrates on innovation, novelty and

progress: students are asked to express their opinion on

these concepts, linking and supporting them with their

readings and their experience. In class, this composition

might be introduced by a listening activity of B2 level

which can be accessed on the British Council website

1

,

presenting some new inventions which students could

discuss. This kind of exercise would make students im-

prove the way they express and discuss their different

opinions, and maybe propose unknown examples of in-

novations or tools of research that can be a source of in-

spiration for their essay.

Finally, as the text for analysis refers to “Luddism”, it can

be used in a teaching unit introducing the Industrial rev-

olution in Britain. Students could be invited to imagine

whether that movement could be reborn today, what might

make it arise again and discuss critically some new tech-

nologies whose use damages some categories of workers.   

Elisabetta Saleri 

Liceo Linguistico Paritario “A. Luzzago”

Università Cattolica di Brescia

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