Section C: Luke Arnason, arnason@yorku.ca

The primary aim of this course is to prepare students to succeed in university-level courses taught in French, in any of the 3 disciplines of which French studies are comprised: language, literature and linguistics. This entails several specific competencies: to read journalistic, scholarly and literary texts in French with the level of comprehension and attention to detail expected at the undergraduate level; to understand the fundamental structures of French grammar in order to enter into the logic of the language and enable students to improve their linguistic ability through autonomous study outside of class; to apply these structures to write correctly, and to proofread one’s own texts and the texts of others; to speak and pronounce correctly and coherently in a register appropriate to academic discussion, in both studied and in-the-moment situations; to gain an elementary grounding in the cultural knowledge required to understand modern French society, and that is expected in educated Francophone circles; and to become familiar with a number of methodological tools relevant to language learning specifically, and to academic study more generally (how to interpret and follow instructions, how to accurately summarize a thesis or supporting argument, etc.). The course aims to place roughly equal emphasis on written and oral production.

Prerequisite / Co-requisite: AP/FR 1030 6.00 or AP/FR 0130 6.00 (with a minimum grade of C), or GL/FR 1500 6.00 (with a minimum grade of C), or through language placement questionnaire.

Course credit exclusions: AP/FR 1060 6.00, GL/FRLS 1510 6.00 (prior to Fall 2013), GL/FRLS 1512 3.00, GL/FRLS 1515 3.00, GL/FRLS 1525 3.00.

RÉSEAU : Communication, Intégration, Intersections, 2e éd., Jean Marie Schultz et Marie-Paule Tranvouez, Pearson Education, 2015, with subscription to MyFrenchLab.

English Grammar for Students of French, 7th ed., Jacqueline Morton, Olivia & Hill, 2013.

Bescherelle. La Grammaire pour tous, Nouvelle éd., Nicolas Laurent & Bénédicte Delaunay, Hatier, 2019.

Bescherelle. Chronologie de l’histoire de France des origines à nos jours, Nouvelle éd., Guillaume Bourel, Marielle Chevallier, Axelle Guillausseau, Hatier, 2019. [electronic format]

Exercices de style, Raymond Queneau, Paris, Folio, 1995 [1947]

5 bi-weekly quizzes each semester (10 x 2%): 20%
Oral presentation on a language-learning resource: 5%
Reading assignment (oral): 10%
Workshop with a linguistics and literature professor: 10%
Fall term test (written): 15%
Winter break project: 10%
Report on a cultural outing (oral group project): 15%
Final test (oral): 15%

General organization of class time (all sections):

The course meets twice weekly for two-hour sessions. Generally, the first meeting of the week will be devoted to the presentation of cultural or linguistic content or explanations of key concepts or techniques. The second meeting of each week will usually be focused on reinforcement and practice through hands-on activities. Often, instructions for these practical activities will be provided at the end of the previous class, and students will be expected to come prepared to the next session.

Students will also have bi-weekly quizzes to complete outside of class (through eClass). These quizzes evaluate students’ understanding of the key material for the last two weeks and will help students to identify what content is considered most crucial, but also contain a review portion in order to ensure retention of material throughout the year.

Course directors will be available weekly for virtual office hours. For times and instructions on how to connect, see your section’s eClass site.

For evaluations such as oral tests, presentations, or written tests, detailed instructions on what mode of submission/presence is required will be provided by your professor and in the eClass site.

By the end of this course, students should be able to:

• Recognise the critical importance of engaging with the French language on a daily basis outside of class through engagement with authentic Francophone media (television, radio, press, literature, etc.) in the aim of expanding vocabulary and developing fluency.
• Constitute a personal collection of preferred resources for the above purpose.
• Identify the parts of speech and perform syntactic analysis of French phrases, thereby understanding the interdependence of different components of the phrase.
• Use the above knowledge confidently and methodically proofread and correct French texts, especially with respect to conjugation and agreement.
• Thoroughly understand the following aspects of French grammar and apply them in the context of real written or oral communication:
  • Parts of speech and syntactic analysis of phrases
  • The mechanics of conjugation (subject pronouns, stems, endings, and how to derive all of the above)
  • Agreement, including that of the feminisation and pluralisation of nouns and adjectives, and of past participles.
  • The formation and correct applications of the main past tenses, including the passé simple.
  • Temporal expressions and other figures establishing chronological sequence
  • Advanced negations including “ne… que”, “ne… jamais”, “ne… plus” etc.
  • Determiners, with particular emphasis on partitive articles
  • The comparative, superlative and how to express degrees of intensity
• Interpret instructions and essay/discussion topics and understand what knowledge and/or skills they are asking students to demonstrate and respond accordingly.
• Know what efforts and steps are necessary to understand a French text and employ the requisite strategies (vocabulary research, synthesis, background research, etc.) to be able to talk or write about it with a level of detail and depth appropriate to university-level study.
• Read a French text aloud with pronunciation and intonation that does not impede the listener’s ability to understand. In particular, this means making an effort to correctly pronounce French’s more “difficult” phonemes (such as R, or U), being able to identify and correctly pronounce nasal vowels, to know how to handle final consonants, and make liaisons where necessary.
• Engage in critical discussion in relation to cultural themes covered in class in either written or oral form. In oral situations, students should be able to speak in a structured and coherent manner even in in-the-moment situations (i.e. not reading a text prepared in advance), such as when responding to a question posed by the professor, or in responding to a point raised by a classmate.
• Give a basic account of some of the most important historical periods, figures, places and trends in French culture, and engage in critical discussion of their significance in shaping French society, their lasting impact in the present day, or their similarities/differences relative to Canadian culture.
• Demonstrate basic understanding of the objectives and methods of the fields of linguistics and literature.

TBA