39972 - French Language (Course and Laboratory) I (G.A)

Learning outcomes

At the end of the course students should reach a minimum level of A2 (Council of Europe framework) for spoken French, while the ideal level is B1, and a minimum level of B1 for reading comprehension – ideal level B2.

In particular: students should be able to follow the essential themes of an oral text, for example a lesson or a TV-news broadcast, and make a simple oral report on it. Moreover, they should be capable of understand written texts of average difficulty regarding the disciplines of the degree course.

Course contents

The whole course is composed of a series of 30 hours of lectures, and 40 hours of laboratory work dedicated to practicing spoken and written French; labs are streamed according to the level of knowledge ascertained in the entry test. For beginners we offer an additional lab (level A1) of 40 hours in the 1st semester. The 30 hours course is organized into two modules:  a) one module will be devoted to enhancing students' reading, hearing and analyzing skills by exposing them to a wide range of oral and written text types for the general public focusing on themes which are related to the disciplines of the degree course and to French culture. Topics covered will include the analysis of the argumentative structure, polyphony, modals, linkers and conjunctions, evaluative lexis, specialized lexicon, synonymy, polysemy and morphology. Particular attention will be also paid to the use of a monolingual dictionary.  b) The second module will be devoted to oral analysis and discussing of the topics treated in the written texts.

Readings/Bibliography

The texts to be analyzed will be made available in form of a “dossier” at the student registry office before the beginning of the course.   

For the laboratory:   Grammathèque, (Livre + CD + Exercices), Ed. CIDEB. or Françoise Bidaud,  
Nouvelle grammaire du français pour italophones, Torino, Utet, 2008. Dictionary: Le nouveau petit Robert de la Langue Française 2009, Paris, Dictionnaires Le Robert, 2009.  For general reading : 
1.       Guillaume Bernard, Bernard de Gunten, Arlette Martin, Mauricette Niogret, Les Institutions de la France, Paris, Nathan, coll. « Repères pratiques », 2008.    2.       Gilles Pécout, Atlas de l'histoire de France. XIX-XX siècles. La France contemporaine, Paris, Editions Autrement, 2007.   3.       Denis C. Meyer, Clés pour la France en 80 icônes culturelles, Paris, Hachette, 2010.

Teaching methods

The language laboratory, on the basis of a specific grammar for Italian speakers and practical exercises with “communicative methods”, is aimed at allowing students to achieve a good level of linguistic and communicative competence.
Lectures are aimed at developing skills in order to comprehend and interpret written and oral texts of average difficulty. The course will be held in French and will be dedicated to B1 students.

Assessment methods

Students that follow lessons: Overall assessment will be based on two written tests (mid-term test and final exam) and a final oral exam. The mid-term test includes a cloze test and a reading test with  multiple choice and open questions. The final exam will be a reading comprehension. Spoken French will be assessed by means of a discussion of a selection of pages from one of the books in the general reading section of the bibliography.   Students that do not follow lessons can take the exam as follows: Written test – reading comprehension, which consists in a cloze test, in some open questions and in a summary. Oral test - an interview on a selection of pages from one of the texts below: 1. Guillaume Bernard, Bernard de Gunten, Arlette Martin, Mauricette Niogret, Les Institutions de la France, Paris, Nathan, coll. « Repères pratiques », 2008. - p. 1-79 (chapters “Etat”; “Vie politique”; “Administration”). OR - p. 80-159  (chapters “Collectivité locales”; “Justice”; “International”).   2. Gilles Pécout, Atlas de l'histoire de France. XIX-XX siècles. La Francecontemporaine, Paris, Editions Autrement, 2007. -  p. 1-85 (chapters: “La révolution et l'empire: rupture ou fondation?”; “La France contemporaine - XIX et XX siècle”; “Des France”; “Des Français”; “La France et le monde”; “Vers l'Europe Nouvelle : Guerres et reconstructions”).   3.Denis C. Meyer, Clés pour la france en 80 icônes culturelles, Paris, Hachette, 2010.  Teaching tools

Teaching tools

pc, DVD or Video Recorder Player, Video Projector

Office hours

See the website of Yannick Hamon