69380 - French Language and Culture II (First Language)

Learning outcomes

The student is able to understand and produce a wide range of written texts and oral speeches in French, expressing himself with relative fluency and spontaneity.

Course contents

The main aim of the course is to consolidate the previous knowledge and language skills of students in order to attain level C1. Authentic written, oral and multimedia documents are used, mainly related to the French reality, to deep with the lexical, grammatical and morpho-syntactic competence of students. Particular attention will also be paid to variations in register and related idiomatic expressions. Specifically, the course will focus on the deepening of grammatical knowledge related to the simple phrase and in particular the negative phrase and emploi des mots négatifs, the passive phrase, the mots-outils for coordination, juxtaposition, subordination on which the students will start also from the point of view of the syntax of the complex phrase. We will also provide the tools to produce a coherent and structured text of type commentaire composé for which it is necessary to reflect on the architecture of a plan. From the lexicultural point of view, the dossiers provided by the teacher will be the subject of analysis and collective discussion also to raise students' awareness of semantic prosody, synonymy and antinomy, aimed at avoiding cross-linguistic and cultural interferences.

Readings/Bibliography

Grammars and handbooks for individual and classroom use:


· Bidaud, Françoise (2012), Grammaire du français pour italophones, Novara, UTET Università.


. Bidaud, Françoise (2014), Traduire le français d’aujourd’hui, Novara, UTET Università.


· Grevisse, Maurice et Goosse André (1993), Nouvelle grammaire française, Paris-Louvain-La-Neuve, Éditions Duculot.


· Merger, Marie-France et Sini, Lorella (2013), Le nouveau côte à côte, Padova, Amon.


Dictionaries :


· Le Petit Robert


· Dictionnaire des combinaisons de mots (collection « Les Usuels »)


· Dictionnaire des synonymes du CRISCO (Université de Caen) (en ligne).





- Thematic dossiers available on the IOL e-learning platform

Teaching methods

In this course students shall establish an adequate working methodology by treating a number of selected documents in class work and weekly assignments (grammar exercises and written productions). They shall carry out linguistic analyses of audiovisual materials assigned to individuals or small groups. From the point of view of the types of written production, we will focus on the methodology of commentaire composé. Performance will be assessed in progress and at the end of the module. This course will be supported by separate language training sessions (Dott.ssa Marie-Line Zucchiatti). Students shall attend at least 70% of course lessons and training sessions.


Students are expected to achieve C1 competence level.

Assessment methods

· Assessment in Progress: weekly homework and intermediate tests.


· Final Assessment:


Written exam: - Exercises of contrastive grammar (use of the dictionary is not allowed).


- Textual analysis (commentaire composé) of a written document on not-professional topics (use of the dictionary Le Petit Robert is allowed). Time allowed: 3 hours.


Oral exam: tasks concerning speaking ability (summarizing of speech, discussion of previously assigned documents aimed at testing comprehension). A presentation and discussion in French on a book of your choice among those proposed below:

Barthes, Roland (1957), Mythologies, Paris, Éditions du Seuil ; Garcin, Jérôme (éd.) (2007), Nouvelles Mythologies, Paris, Éditions du Seuil or Finkielkraut, Alain (2013), L’identité malheureuse, Paris, Stock).

Tests shall assess specific linguistic and communicative skills at C1 level.


The total mark for the examination in Lingua e Mediazione II (prima lingua) is the average between the mark for this module and the one for Interpretazione di Trattativa.

Teaching tools

Video projector, notebook with Internet connection, web-sites of French newspapers and magazines, terminology data bases, corpora, video streaming of TV broadcastings, online dictionaries. Additional software and tools shall be indicated. Written, oral and audiovisual documents to be delivered with the IOL platform. Students are expected to register.

Office hours

See the website of Michela Tonti