31299 - French Linguistics and Language 3

Learning outcomes

Students are expected to possess a deep knowledge of the metalanguage, as well as mechanisms, of the descriptive-analytical model of the French  language. Moreover, they should be competent in all four communicative skills at the C-1 level of the Common European Framework.

Course contents

Courses of French Language and Linguistics during the Laurea Triennale deal with all the main characteristics of French language in all its dimensions (phonetics, morphology, lexicology , syntax) and aim at giving students the necessary methodological tools to practise it correctly.

Practical language classes (F. Coletti; D. Caddoux; K. Gendron)

[throughout the academic year]

 The practical language classes which go on all year aim at perfecting the competence acquired during the 1st and 2nd year and giving students new skills through a program organized as below.

• 2 UNITS (2 + 2 hours per week) to prepare the written test [a 5 hour-test divided into two sections].

 

• 1 UNIT (2 hours per week) to prepare the oral test.

Preparation for the written test

Écriture composée-1st part - F. Coletti

The student will be expected to analyse a group of documents (texts, pictures, etc.) which illustrate a precise theme. The student is asked to write, on the basis of the analysis of texts and documents provided during the examination, an original paper on the presentation of a topic or the development of a reasoned answer to a specific question. This exercise allows students to stimulate and cultivate their analytical, synthetic and writing skills and also to improve their argumentative ability.

 

 

THÈME- 2nd part- D. Caddoux :

General educational objectives : through the translation into French of literary texts by contemporary Italian literature (XX-XXI century.), using translation as a means to a contrastive analysis, the student will grasp and appreciate the specificity of the two languages; He will also enhance the morphosyntactic knowledge of French (acquired during the 1st and 2nd year of degree) so that he  is able to identify and avoid the difficulties of contrastive grammar arising from the original structures of the two languages.

  

Preparation for the oral test - K. Gendron

Communication in the francophone digital context: its linguistic and social issues

This course will focus on the linguistic and social issues involved by communication in the Francophone digital context.

At the end of the year, the students will have reached the level C-1 in French. They will be able to develop critical thinking skills and summarize them synthetically through thoughtful, personal, clear, fluid, organized and interactive argumentative discourse.

 

 

 

OFFICIAL COURSE [Nannoni]

Lectures will be offered only during the 1st semester.

This course aim at making students reflect on the morphosyntactic dimension of the French language, especially in relation to the contact points and the differences between the French and Italian. In particular, this course is designed to enable students to improve their knowledge of the French language, but at the same time to reflect on the phenomenon of syntactic equivalence or interference with respect to the Italian language.

To achieve these objectives, the course will start with an initial presentation of theoretical issues related to the analysis of French complex sentence structure, in a contrastive and translation perspective; a second part will deal with practical exercises (version, translation from French into Italian) on texts chosen among newspaper articles. Each text will be analyzed (to highlight narrative, descriptive and argumentative components) and translated. The student will be asked to reflect on how to transpose correctly the content and purpose of the French text in his native language, respecting the formal and stylistic aspects of the two languages and the pragmatic meanings and values of the source text.

 

Readings/Bibliography

Practical classes

[Coletti]

Details of required texts will be made available at the beginning of the course.

[Caddoux]

Thème 3e année, dispensa (copisteria Ècrire)

 

[Gendron]

Details about the material will be made available at the beginning of the course.

 

Official Course:

J. GARDES-TAMINE, La Grammaire 2/ Syntaxe, Paris, Armand Colin, 1990. [only to be consulted]
 
A. HERSCHBERG PIERROT, Stylistique de la prose, Paris, Belin, 1993.[only ch. 2, 3, 4, 5, 7, 11]


J. PODEUR, La pratica della traduzione, Napoli, Liguori, 1993(1).

Ch. BARONE, Vicerversa: la grammatica francese e il tradurre. Intorno al verbo /, vol. II, Firenze, Le lettere, 2005. [only to be consulted]

Other materials and suggestions will be indicated during the course.

Teaching methods

For Practical language classes (written part)) see the description available on the teachers' personal web page.

Oral: The course will be structured by short lectures, reading of various types of texts (news articles, blog entries, journal articles, books’ excerpts) and viewing videos. In order to encourage each student to speak in discussions and debates, the last part of each class will be devoted to small group discussions.

 

Official course:

After the methodological lessons of the first part, students will be offered with practical exercises of version for individual work at home and discussion in class, which will outline more and more clearly the main issues that students may meet and the most appropriate strategies to adopt for each case.

Information on the use of  Italian and French monolingual dictionaries and other lexicographical and documentary resources will strengthen the skills that the student will have to learn to use these tools in a translation perspective.

 

Assessment methods

IMPORTANT:  Before taking any part of the exam of French Language and Linguistics 3 the student must have passed and registered the exams of French Language and Linguistics 1 and 2 and French Literature 1 and 2.

 

The exam of "Epreuve unique" is divided into two parts:

1st part   (écriture composée)

The essay will follow the French methodology: a structured introduction (opening; presentation of the documents; «problématique»; presentation of the structure), the core of the essay dialectically constructed in three parts, a conclusion. The student’s knwoledge of the structure and the organisation of the analysis as well as his mastering of French language will be significant parts of the evaluation.

French monolingual dictionary only allowed.

 

2nd part (Thème)

The final written exam will consist of a translation of a text of about 250 words (time: 2 hours). The evaluation in 30/30 will consider errors in: morpho-syntax/phraseology ( - 0.5 points); vocabulary (- 0.25 point) and the respect of the literary genre of the text-tone, style and register of language.

Monolingual dictionaries only allowed.

 

IMPORTANT : The written test as a whole (EPREUVE UNIQUE) must at least have 18/30 to allow access to the oral assessement part of the exam.

  

3) oral test (in the same dates as the exams of the Official Course)

The student will have to make an oral presentation on a subject chosen the same day from a list of questions seen during the class workshops. The student will have twenty minutes to prepare his or her answer. Lasting 15 minutes, the oral presentation will have to answer the question with a well-argued argumentative discourse. At the end of the presentation, the student must be able to answer a question asked by the teacher in a spontaneous and brief manner. 

Evaluation criteria: Proficiency in Language; Coherence of ideas and structure; Mastery of the subject and respect of the instructions.

4) Official course - (Catia Nannoni)

The final exam will consist of a written test (version, during the three sessions of May - September - January) and an oral exam, which will start from a commentary on the translation and continue  with related theoretical topics.

 

I. Evaluation will consider the following parameters (Version) :

1.     Understanding of the original text in French in its main aspects: pragmatic (function), semantic (content), but also syntactic (linguistic structures, elements of cohesion and coherence between the parties) and lexical (taking into account the tools available to the student during the test )

2.     Writing a text in Italian that respects:

a.          understanding of the elements referred to in paragraph 1

b.       the appropriate formulation (Register and style) and the correctness (language) of the elements referred to in paragraph 1

Monolingual dictionaries only allowed.

II.  Evaluation will consider the following parameters (Oral) :

1.     Ability to explain their own choices, referring to the nature of the text and to translation strategies.

2.     Knowledge of the theoretical aspects presented during the course

N.B. Students can pass the oral exam of the Official course AFTER having passed all the other parts of Lingua e linguistica francese 3 (written and oral of practical Language classes and Version)

 

 

Teaching tools

Printed material, PPT, on line resources.

Office hours

See the website of Catia Nannoni