French Level 3

On successful completion of this module, you will be better prepared to:

• participate in unprepared oral interactions on familiar topics;
• produce a range of connected spoken language to describe events and experiences;
• express personal opinions;
• respond to and produce simple connected texts on topics that are familiar or of personal interest, applying your knowledge of B1-level grammar and vocabulary (CEFR);
• demonstrate intercultural awareness in the handling of everyday social interactions in French and in your use of language;
• use a range of digital language-learning tools to support your production and expand your knowledge.

In this module, you will cover the following linguistic structures:

• revision of tenses: use of perfect, imperfect, pluperfect in past narratives, future, conditional;
• expression of condition – si clauses;
• revision and further study of pronouns: direct and indirect personal pronouns;
• comparative and superlative forms;
• negative clauses;
• expression of cause and consequence, purpose, opposition and opinion;
• relative pronouns, passive form;
• modal verbs;
• infinitive after prepositions and in two-verb constructions;
• introduction to the subjunctive mood and its use.

Class content may include (but is not limited to) the following topics:

• everyday life and culture
• education
• work
• identities, nationalities and citizenship
• Francophonie
• the consumer society and environmental issues
• media and new technologies
• interpreting diagrams and statistics
• current affairs in France (based on extracts from the press and news broadcasts)

In line with modern foreign languages communicative and active learning methodologies, the in-class activities you will complete will cover all four skills (reading, writing, listening and speaking). These will include pair work and group work (dialogue practice, information gap exercises, discussion); individual tasks; discovery and formulation of grammatical rules; work with texts and audio visual material. Weekly preparation tasks set on the Virtual Learning Environment and coursework tasks will give you the opportunity to revise and consolidate your knowledge and skills at your own pace and to develop your awareness of how to use language-learning tools independently. Our approach not only ensures you engage with a wide range of tasks and activities but also seeks to support different learning styles.

Your coursework will be marked and returned within two weeks. Rubrics and revision guidance (how-to guides) will be included as needed with each coursework. You will receive detailed feedback alongside suggestions for improvement and an overall percentage showing your provisional grade for that assessment.

The module includes formative as well as summative assessment. Homework tasks (theory revision, reading, writing, listening, etc) are set every week on the virtual learning environment, following a flipped-classroom approach to ensure face-to-face time is devoted for interactional learning and communicative skills acquisition. This means that you will be provided with materials to study independently beforehand and then apply these during classroom time. Your lecturer will give you support materials and guidance to reinforce topics covered at your own pace.

You will need to complete two pieces of summative coursework (set during mid-autumn term and mid-spring term), which will include rubrics and revision guidance to ensure you are supported when completing your work and you are aware of the assessment expectations. There will also be a 1-hour in-class test (scheduled at the end of spring term), and one practical - in the form of an oral examination (during the summer term). The coursework, tests and practical contribute to your final grade.

• Coursework (20%): Integrated skills pack, in mid-autumn term: receptive/ productive skills, including writing (c. 200 words).
• Coursework (20%): Recorded oral task, in mid-spring term (4-5 minutes).
• Examination (30%): 1-hour in-class test, run on the VLE (Bring Your Own Device) at the end of spring term, testing grammar/ lexicon awareness and reading/ writing skills (c. 200 words).
• Practical (30%): Oral examination in the summer term, including presentation/ commentary on dossier and unprepared discussion (15-20 minutes).

Assessment information for students on a course with a year abroad

• 7.5 ECTS points awarded on successful completion of the module.
• Available to take for credit towards your degree, where your department allows. Also available for extra credit. The Module options by department page has a full list of the credit options.
• You must be prepared to attend all classes and undertake approximately 3 hours of private study each week in addition to the assessment.

Coursebook

Relevant reading lists and/or materials will be published on the VLE.

Additional material

Audio and video clips, online resources and articles from the French press.

Students also need to buy a good monolingual and/or bilingual dictionary, e.g. Oxford Hachette, or Collins Robert.

Other information

Further information for Year Abroad/ Year in Europe Students
Further information for BSc Hons and MSc Language for Science Degrees