88082 - French Language Ii And Laboratory

Learning outcomes

At the end of the course students should be able to follow a lesson in French, to read a complex text about social or political sciences and make a fluent oral report on it in French. To this purpose they should reach a minimum level of B1 (Council of Europe framework) for spoken and written French, while the ideal level is B2. Moreover, they should be capable of writing a text in French (minimum level B2).

Course contents

The course is organized in lectures and a language laboratory, as detailed in the following program. Lectures (30 hours) aim to enhance students’ reading, writing, and speaking skills, while also expanding their cultural skills and knowledge in the French-speaking context.

Language laboratory (40 hours) is organized as seminars and aims to use class materials and practice the skills acquired during the 30-hour course through exercises, focusing in particular on French grammar and morphosyntax.

The division into lessons and seminars is specified in the program that follows.

For the seminar section (language laboratory), students will NOT be divided into groups. A total of 70 classroom hours are scheduled for each student.

The 30-hour course (lectures) is organized into two modules:

- one module will be devoted to reading and analyzing written texts on topics relevant to the degree course. The texts will focus on current political and socio-cultural issues, with a focus on human and civil rights and related social reforms in the French-speaking context, and on the argumentative text in its various forms. The aim of this module is to initiate students to the morpho-syntactic and discursive features of different textual genres, in particular of the argumentative text, as well as to a specialized lexicon related to socio-political issues, while also exploring some crucial periods in 20th century French history.

- The second module will be devoted to presenting and discussing the topics covered in the texts and to improving writing skills in French.

Topics covered in the language laboratory will include:

• la situation dans l’espace (suite)
• l’accord du participe passé (difficultés)
• le comparatif, le superlatif, l’analogie
• l’impératif
• l’infinitif passé
• les pronoms personnels compléments
• la double pronominalisation
• le conditionnel présent et passé
• la forme hypothétique
• la place de l’adjectif
• la phrase nominale
• la phrase passive
• le subjonctif présent et passé
• indicatif/ subjonctif
• le gérondif / participe présent
• le discours indirect au présent et au passé
• le futur dans le passé
• les pronoms relatifs composés
• les pronoms indéfinis
• l’expression de la cause
• l’expression de la conséquence
• l’expression du but
• l’expression de l’opposition et de la concession

During the laboratory, students can also give an oral presentation in small groups on a (relevant) topic of their choice, thus improving their oral expression and argumentation skills. The presentation will be followed by a short discussion on the topic with the other students.

Readings/Bibliography

The texts to be analyzed during classes will be available online weekly in electronic format on Virtuale, the platform for teaching and learning materials.

For the language laboratory:

Maia Grégoire, Odile Thievenaz, Grammaire progressive du français, niveau avancé, 3^ème édition, Paris, Clé International, 2017.

Dictionary: Le petit Robert : dictionnaire alphabétique et analogique de la langue française, Paris, Dictionnaires Le Robert, 2020 (or previous editions).

Reading list:

1. Charles Giol, De Jaurès à Hollande : histoire de France de 1914 à nos jours, Paris, PUF, 2015.

2. Jean-Jacques Becker, Histoire politique de la France depuis 1945, Paris, Colin, édition 2015.

3. Jean Baubérot, Histoire de la laïcité en France, Paris, PUF, coll. « Que sais-je ? », 2013.

4. Jacques Donzelot, La France des cités : Le chantier de la citoyenneté urbaine, Paris, Fayard, 2013.

5. Christine Bard, avec Frédérique El Amrani et Bibia Pavard, Histoire des femmes dans la France des xix^e et xx^e siècles, Paris, Ellipses, 2013.

6. Magali Lafourcade, Les Droits de l’homme, Paris, PUF, collection « Que sais-je ? », 2018.

Teaching methods

Lectures aim to enable students to comprehend and interpret written and oral specialized texts, and to write texts in French. The course will be taught in French.

The language laboratory is based on a grammar book specific for Italian speakers and on practical exercises using “communicative methods.” It aims at allowing students to reach a good command of linguistic and communicative competence.

Assessment methods

Students attending classes:

Overall assessment will be based on two written mid-term tests and a final oral exam. The first mid-term test includes a reading comprehension with open-ended questions and a grammar test. In the second mid-term test students are expected to write a short text in French (texte argumentatif), along with a grammar test.

The oral exam will consist of a discussion of selected chapters from one of the books in the reading list included in the bibliography section.

In addition to the reading of selected chapters, each student will choose one or two recent articles from the online press dealing with a topic related to the chosen essay and the chapters selected. The first part of the oral exam will focus on the essay and will assess the knowledge acquired through the reading. In the second part, the student will briefly present the chosen article(s) (sources, topics covered, interest and relevance of the articles in the current context, journalist’s opinion, tone of the articles – polemic, neutral, etc.) – and express their personal opinion on the article(s) and related topic(s).

Students not attending classes:

Students who do not attend the course can take the exam as follows:

- A written exam consisting of a grammar test, a reading comprehension with open-ended questions, and the writing of a short argumentative text (texte argumentatif) in French.

- An oral exam consisting of a discussion of selected chapters from one of the books in the reading list included in the bibliography section. All books are available at the Ruffilli library (Please note: selections of chapters to be studied are listed under each book title).

In addition to the reading of selected chapters, each student will choose one or two recent articles from the online press dealing with a topic related to the chosen essay and the chapters selected. The first part of the oral exam will focus on the essay and will assess the knowledge acquired through the reading. In the second part, the student will briefly present the chosen article(s) (sources, topics covered, interest and relevance of the articles in the current context, journalist’s opinion, tone of the articles – polemic, neutral, etc.) – and express their personal opinion on the article(s) and related topic(s).

1. Charles Giol, De Hollande à Sarkozy: histoire de France de 1914 à nos jours, Paris, PUF, 2015.

Selection of chapters:

- Introduction, chapters 1, 2, 3

OR

- chapters 1, 4, 5

OR

- chapters 6, 7 + conclusion

2. Jean-Jacques Becker, Histoire politique de la France depuis 1945, Paris, Colin, édition 2015. (ebook available)

Selection of chapters:

- chapters 1, 2, 3

OR

- chapters 4, 5, 6 (in chapter 6, only the following sub-chapters are to be studied: 1, 2, 3, 4 [La présidence de Georges Pompidou ; L’évolution de la vie politique ; La croissance économique ; La mort du président])

OR

- chapter 6 (sub-chapters 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 [La présidence de Georges Pompidou ; L’évolution de la vie politique ; La croissance économique ; La mort du président ; La présidence de Valéry Giscard D’Estaing])

OR

- chapter 6 (sub-chapters 6, 7, 8 [Les présidences de François Mitterrand ; La première présidence de Chirac ; La deuxième présidence de Chirac]), and chapter 7

3. Jean Baubérot, Histoire de la laïcité en France, Paris, PUF, collection « Que sais-je ? », 2013. (ebook available)

Whole book.

4. Jacques Donzelot, La France des cités : Le chantier de la citoyenneté urbaine, Paris, Fayard, 2013. (ebook available)

Selection of chapters:

- Préambule + première partie: ch. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5

OR

- chapter 6 (Première partie) + Deuxième partie: ch. 1, 2, 3, 4

5. Christine Bard, avec Frédérique El Amrani et Bibia Pavard, Histoire des femmes dans la France des xix^e et xx^e siècles, Paris, Ellipses, 2013.

Selection of chapters:

- chapters 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6

OR

- chapters 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11

6. Magali Lafourcade, Les Droits de l’homme, Paris, PUF, coll. « Que sais-je ? », 2018. (ebook available)

Whole book

Teaching tools

PC and MS TEAMS, internet and online resources, online teaching platform tools

Office hours

See the website of Valeria Illuminati