96581 - LINGUA E CULTURA DEI PAESI DI LINGUA FRANCESE

Learning outcomes

The Language and Culture of French-speaking Countries programme consists of a 30-hour course and a 30-hour lab. At the end of the course, students should be able to read, report and discuss essays or academic texts in French dealing with cultural issues, social sciences, and political sciences. To this purpose they should reach a minimum level of B2, while the ideal level is C1 (Council of Europe framework). They should also be able to write and organise a text, using vocabulary and a syntax relevant to the topics covered in the course. Finally, they should know some basic elements and aspects of the culture of French-speaking countries.

Course contents

The course is reserved for students with a previous minimum level of French of B1. Students who have not attended the exams of French Language I and II of the first cycle degree programme in International relations and diplomatic affairs (University of Bologna, Forlì Campus) are required to certify their level, before the beginning of the course; language certifications or other means (e.g., a declaration of level by lecturer(s) of the French language course(s) attended during the first cycle degree programme) are accepted. Students who are not able to certify their level and wish to attend the course have to sit and pass a placement test (if the minimum B1 level is not reached, students cannot attend the course).

The course is organized in lectures and laboratories, as detailed in the following program. Lectures (30 hours) will be taught in presence (in classroom) with the possibility to follow the lessons remotely on MS TEAMS. Lectures aim to enhance students’ reading, writing, and speaking skills, while also expanding their cultural skills and knowledge in the French-speaking context.

Language laboratories (30 hours) are organized as seminars and aim to use class materials and practice the skills acquired during the 30-hour course through exercises, focusing in particular on French morphosyntax and “manières de dire”. The lab will be held in presence (in classroom) with the possibility to follow the lessons remotely on MS TEAMS.

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

- Presentation and in-depth study of selected cultural and socio-political issues relating to the French and Francophone context, including a gender perspective. The course will focus in particular on the following topics:

• Colonisation
• Decolonisation and contemporary issues
• Linguistic and cultural Francophonie
• Secularity
• Social reforms (divorce, abortion, same sex marriage)
• Language and gender

- The second module will be devoted to reading and analyzing written texts and videos dealt with. The aim of this module is to initiate students to the morpho-syntactic and discursive features of different textual genres, as well as to a specialized lexicon related to cultural and socio-political issues.

This part of the course is also aimed at improving students’ writing, speaking, reading, and listening skills, with a particular focus on critical analysis and written and oral argumentation skills.

Topics covered in the language laboratory will include:

Morphosyntaxe > la phrase complexe

• l’expression de la cause, conséquence, opposition, concession, but
• l’expression de l’hypothèse et de la condition
• l’emploi du subjonctif
• les tournures impersonnelles
• les propositions relatives
• le participe présent
• les constructions passives
• la mise en relief, savoir enchaîner et mettre en perspective
• les pronoms de reprise pour articuler son texte

Manières de dire et d’écrire > l’expression de l’opinion, la construction d’une argumentation

• formuler une position favorable
• exprimer une conviction, une certitude
• exprimer un espoir
• formuler une position défavorable
• réfuter des arguments,se démarquer d’une position
• contester, critiquer, reprocher, protester
• formuler une position nuancée
• exprimer le doute, formuler des réserves
• exprimer la crainte
• insister
• soulever un problème, aborder les difficultés, les obstacles et les risques
• parler des échecs et des réussites
• exprimer le ralliement à un autre point de vue, adhérer à une position
• demander une réaction
• arriver à un compromis
• prendre la parole / garder la parole
• gérer un moment d’hésitation
• rebondir, élargir, recentrer
• destabiliser son interlocuteur
• vocabulaire affectif
• vocabulaire évaluatif
• modalisateurs du discours
• construire une argumentation: préciser le contexte; énoncer un enjeu, un objectif, une problématique; apporter des argument; introduire des faits, des données; énumérer pour convaincre; nuancer des propos: exprimer un degré, atténuer une affirmation; citer / rapporter des propos; se référer à un texte officiel; mots et locutions de la cause, conséquence, opposition, concession, but
  

Readings/Bibliography

Presentations used in class/during classes as well as any other text and audio-visual material will be uploaded on the Virtuale platform for teaching and learning materials.

Recommended reading:

Nicolas Bancel, Le post-colonialisme, Paris: PUF, 2019.

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.

Jean Baubérot, Les sept laïcités françaises: le modèle français de laïcité n’existe pas, Paris: Éditions de la Maison des sciences de l’homme, 2017.

Assia Djébar, Ces voix qui m’assiègent...: En marge de ma francophonie, Paris: Albin Michel, 2020.

Didier Eribon, Retour à Reims, Paris: Fayard, 2009.

Jean-Marie-Gustave Le Clézio et al., Francophonie - Pour l’amour d’une langue, Bruxelles: Nevicata, 2020.

Rosalba Rolle-Harold, Roselyne Rœsch, La France au quotidien, Grenoble: PUG, 2020.

Françoise Vergès, Un féminisme décolonial, Paris: La Fabrique, 2019.

Xavier Yacono, Histoire de la colonisation française, Paris: PUF, 1995.

Eliane Viennot, Le langage inclusif: pourquoi? Comment?, Paris: Les Éditions iXe, 2018.

Teaching methods

The course will be taught in French. Lectures aim to enable students to read, report and discuss essays or academic texts in French dealing with cultural and socio-political issues, and to write a text, using vocabulary and a syntax relevant to the topics covered. Students also acquire some basic elements and aspects of the culture of French-speaking countries.

The topics covered in the language laboratory will provide students with the morphosyntactic and lexical structures of level B2+/C1 necessary to discuss socio-political and cultural issues relevant to the course. Through practical written and oral exercises based on a co-actional approach, students will progressively acquire communicative skills to present structured information, argue their point and provide relevant arguments to persuade their audience in a variety of situations such as debates, presentations, forums, etc..

Assessment methods

Students attending classes

Overall assessment will be based on written test at the end of the course and a final oral exam. Both tests will be held in presence, with the possibility to be taken online on EOL for the written exams and on MS Teams for the oral exams.

The written test includes two sections. In the first part, knowledge of the cultural content of the course will be assessed through multiple-choice and open questions. (45 minutes)

In the second more linguistic and methodological part, students are required to write a structured “editorial” text (approximately 180-250 words). Students have to develop a critical text based on a selection of articles from the French and other French-speaking press (extracts), images and other visual and graphic documents, and a short radio broadcast. The instructions include choosing a role to play and adapting the language, tone, and content accordingly (80 minutes).

The oral exam consists of a short PowerPoint presentation (approximately 10 minutes) on a topic chosen by the student, based on the reading of one of the books listed in the recommended readings, but to be further developed by the student.

For students not attending classes will take a written and an oral test to be sat on the same exam session (i.e., on the same day) .

The written test includes two sections. In the first part, knowledge of the cultural contents of the course will be assessed through multiple-choice and open-ended questions. (45 minutes)

In the second more linguistic and methodological part, students are required to write a structured “editorial” text (approximately 250 words). Students have to develop a critical reflection based on a selection of articles from the French and other French-speaking press (extracts), images and other visual and graphic documents, and a short radio broadcast. The instructions include choosing a role to play and adapting the language, tone, and content accordingly (80 minutes).

The oral exam (approximately 20 minutes) consists of a short PowerPoint presentation on a topic chosen by the student, based on the reading of one of the books listed in the recommended readings, but to be further developed by the student. In addition to the presentation, the student will be asked to answer some questions in French on the text chosen for the presentation.

Teaching tools

PC, video projector, Virtuale platform, online language resources

Office hours

See the website of Roberta Pederzoli