The objective of
the French Studies major is to provide oral and written competence in the
language and a solid background in the literature and culture of the
countries of the French-speaking world.
Lower-division students are required to meet for one (1)
hour a week in small group sessions with French-speaking tutors and to
use the LLC computer lab.
By design, this is a flexible program that can be adapted to
a variety of situations. In order to ensure the flexibility of the
French major or minor, each student will discuss and prepare his or her
curriculum with a French advisor and, where applicable, an advisor from
the student's major field. Each program will be tailored to fit the
individual needs and career goals of the student.
To further develop students' skills in French, the
Department offers a French Ciné-Club, a weekly café conversation, a
writing center, vidéothèque and an audiothèque and contacts with
French-speaking students from several countries. A free tutoring program
is also available in addition to the French tutorial sessions required
in lower-division courses.
Students are encouraged to spend a summer in France or in
another French speaking country, or a semester abroad at a
French-speaking university.
Requirements
Lower-division courses
- FREN - 101 First Semester French
- FREN - 102 Second Semester French
- FREN - 201 Third Semester French
Note: Lower division courses 101, 102, 201 do not fulfill
the credits required for the major or minor. They fulfill the language
requirement and prepare the student to continue in French.
Requirements for the French Studies Major
This program requires completion of forty (40)
credits:
Culture Course in English (4 credits)
- FREN - 195 French Culture through Cuisine
- FREN - 195 A Season in the Congo
- FREN - 250 Africa Films Africa
- FREN - 260 a.k.a. Africa: Mapping Identities in
African Literature and Film
- FREN - 340 French Cinema and Literature
- FREN - 350 Paris-Berlin: Connections and Contrasts at
the Turn of the 20th Century
Three 200-level Courses (12 credits)
- FREN - 202 Fourth Semester French (required)
- FREN - 255 Diplomatie sans frontières
- FREN - 265 Les Enfants terribles
- FREN - 275 Cultures de France
Three 300-level courses: 12 credits
- FREN - 315 Paris: Biographie d'une ville
- FREN - 320 Le plaisir du texte
- FREN - 322 Le bon sens et la folie
- FREN - 324 Guerre et paix
- FREN - 330 Rencontres: L'Afrique francophone
- FREN - 332 Rencontres: Le monde francophone
Elective credits (4 credits)
- FREN - 133 Intermediate French Conversation (2)
- FREN - 312 Finesses de la langue (2)
Two 400-level courses (8 credits)
- FREN - 440 Seminar: Special Topics in French
Literature and Culture
- FREN - 450 Seminar: Special Topics in Francophone
Literature and Culture
Learning Goals/Outcomes for the B.A. in French
Studies
- Students will have acquired a basic understanding of
the literary, historical, social, or cultural influences that inform
French and Francophone literary works.
- Students will have acquired the ability to express
themselves in French, and to articulate in writing and discussion their
responses to literary texts.
- Students will have developed a basic critical ability
to identify, interpret, and evaluate the ideas and formal features of
an integrated body of literary texts authored in the French language.
- Students will have developed a sensitivity to the
plurality of meanings within a literary text authored in French.
