Senior Freshman

In the Senior Freshman (second) year, you will build on the foundations laid down in Junior Freshman year by following courses in the history of French ideas and ideologies, French literature, French linguistics and in the analysis of the French language itself.

Language Programme

FR2008 Oral and Written Language (10 ECTS)

This is divided into three components: Grammar Lecture, Composition and Written Expression Class, Oral Language Class

On successful completion of this module students will be able to:

• Communicate clearly and effectively, both orally and in writing, in English and French in academic, professional and social settings
• Organise and present ideas in English and French, in writing and orally, within the framework of a structured and reasoned critical argument
• Translate a range of journalistic texts to and from French, with accuracy, consistency and appropriateness of register and expression
• Demonstrate a good comprehension of French by writing in French a résumé of a journalistic text
• Demonstrate a high level of proficiency in the French language in both written and spoken contexts
• Analyse critically and independently, in English and French, a variety of texts written in French in a variety of registers

Grammar Lecture
Students attend a grammar lecture every week which builds on the foundation provided in the JF year; the course aims both to develop a number of familiar grammatical points and to introduce more sophisticated grammatical structures. The core text book for this course is C. Abbadie et al., L’Expression française écrite et orale (Grenoble: PUG 2002) available in International Books. Class exercises will be taken from this book and students will prepare a series of exercises based on the grammar topic of the lecture. Students should also have Hawkins and Towell French Grammar and Usage as a reference grammar, in addition to the Bescherelle: La Conjugaison pour tous (Paris: Hatier,1997) and Humbertsone’s Mot à mot (London: Hodder & Stoughton, 1996).

Students are expected to acquire and familiarise themselves with a good monolingual dictionary. Le Petit Robert is recommended; if that is ruled out on grounds of expense, Le Micro Robert is an acceptable substitute for most purposes.

Composition and Written Expression Class
Students also attend a weekly language class with a member of the lecturing staff or a graduate teaching assistant. The dossier for this class should be downloaded from the Departmental website. This course aims to develop reading and writing skills, and to introduce students to the exercises of translation, résumé and essay writing among others.

NB. Work submitted for this class counts for 16.66% of the overall language mark for the year. This is calculated on the basis of marks awarded for eight mandatory assignments (‘Contrôle continu’). These eight marks in total will constitute the final continuous assessment mark.
Late submission: Unless there is a medical reason for late submission (justified by a medical cert), class tutors may reasonably refuse to correct work handed up after the time they have set aside for doing so. If a student cannot produce a medical cert, he or she must obtain permission to submit from the Head of Department.

Oral Language Class 
Students attend a weekly class with the French lecteurs / lectrices. Through discussion concerning aspects of contemporary France, this class aims to develop aural comprehension and oral expression. Since this is your only contact hour with native speakers, and your only chance to speak French in a small-group environment, it is vital that you attend on a weekly basis and participate regularly. Non-attendance will be taken very seriously by the Department.

Personal study
In addition, students are strongly advised to complete the exercises that are indicated to them for personal study in the SF Language Dossier.

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Coursework Options (20 ECTS)

Students also follow two of the following three additional Options:

Ideas into Politics (FR2018)
Literature (FR2016)
The French Language – Evolution and Structure (FR2021)

All of these courses run throughout the year, with weekly lectures and weekly seminars. For each course that the student takes, an essay of 2,000-2,500 words must be submitted. Students therefore write two essays during the year. Rather than submitting them both together, the deadlines are spread out (see below). Students can decide which Option essay they will submit first. Students cannot submit both essays at the same time. Essay titles are appended.

Deadlines:    MT essays:    by noon on Monday 14 January 2013

                        HT essays:    by noon on Friday 22 March 2013

• One piece of assessed work must be submitted in French. Students may choose which of the two pieces they wish to write in French.
• In marking these essays, 70% of the mark is given to content, and 30% to the French language.
• Such work must be word-processed. Students must include an electronic word count with their essays. Essays of excess length will be returned and resubmission required.
• For essay writing guidelines, please refer to the comprehensive document circulated in JF (available on the Local pages of the French department website). This document also contains guidelines on referencing conventions and the presentation of material.

All of these courses run throughout the year, with weekly lectures and weekly seminars. For each course that the student takes, an essay of 2,000-2,500 words must be submitted. Students therefore write two essays during the year. Rather than submitting them both together, the deadlines are spread out (see below). Students can decide which Option essay they will submit first. Students cannot submit both essays at the same time.

One piece of assessed work must be submitted in French. Students may choose which of the two pieces they wish to write in French.

In marking these essays, 70% of the mark is given to content, and 30% to the French language.

Such work must be word-processed. Students must include an electronic word count with their essays. Essays of excess length will be returned and resubmission required.

For essay writing guidelines, please refer to the comprehensive document circulated in JF. This document also contains guidelines on referencing conventions and the presentation of material.