University home > Unit and programme catalogues in 2016/17 > Programme catalogue > Faculty of Arts > Department of French > French (BA) > Specification
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Programme code | 1FREN002U |
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Programme type | Single Honours |
Programme director(s) |
Siobhan Shilton
|
Faculty | Faculty of Arts |
School/department | Department of French |
Teaching institution | University of Bristol |
Awarding institution | University of Bristol |
Relevant QAA subject benchmark groups | Languages, Cultures and Societies (2023) (benchmark statement) |
Mode of study | Full Time |
Programme length | 4 years (full time) |
This programme is designed to allow students to achieve a command of modern spoken and written French to a high level of fluency and accuracy. It also gives students the opportunity to study aspects of French society, literature and linguistic history so as to provide a deeper understanding of the rich diversity of the culture in France and elsewhere in the French-speaking world, thereby fostering a heightened intercultural competence. In addition to introducing students to a wide range of areas of knowledge, the programme offers an intellectual training which develops skills in seeking out, analysing and critically interpreting information. Graduates enter employment in a broad variety of contexts, building on their practical language skills and on the training provided by a degree in the Humanities.
Programme Intended Learning Outcomes | Learning and Teaching Methods |
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Acquisition of knowledge and understanding through lectures, seminars and tutorials. |
Methods of Assessment | |
Regular language exercises (translations, essays, comprehension, grammar exercises, oral presentations and aural comprehension) during academic session. (1, 2, 3)Examinations (unseen) in all three years testing breadth of knowledge of different subjects. (1, 2, 3)Range of short and extended essays, testing ability to present and analyse a single topic in detail. (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8)Oral presentations. (1, 4)Class tests, assessing knowledge of basic factual data. (3, 7)Coursework dissertations completed during the session abroad. (1, 2, 4, 8)Special subjects to allow final-year students to investigate areas in depth, with the option of a dissertation researching a subject of their own choice in detail. (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8)Practical exercises and most class tests are formative; essays and certain class tests are both formative (with feedback to help students improve their performance) and summative (marks contributing to the final degree). Examinations and the final-year dissertations are summative. |
Programme Intended Learning Outcomes | Learning and Teaching Methods |
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|
Acquisition of knowledge and understanding through lectures, seminars and tutorials. |
Methods of Assessment | |
Essay writing, formal presentations and examinations test the students' ability to analyse information and present reasoned arguments. |
Programme Intended Learning Outcomes | Learning and Teaching Methods |
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|
Acquisition of knowledge and understanding through lectures, seminars and tutorials. |
Methods of Assessment | |
Non-language units are assessed through, written examination, written coursework and oral presentations requiring detailed and informed handling of the primary literature and extensive background reading in support of the argumentation advanced. |
Statement of expectations from the students at each level of the programme as it/they develop year on year.
Level C/4 - Certificate |
Year 1 of the course has been expressly designed to lay the foundations, both in terms of subject-specific knowledge and skills and in terms of more general skills and abilities, which will allow students to fulfil the programme's aims and objectives. Core units in language are geared to help students progress in the consolidation and development of their A-level (or equivalent) language skills. Mandatory non-language units cover some of the main themes and concepts of French culture, familiarising students with the literature and political/social backcloth of France and thereby introducing them to the key areas of study offered in the programme. This will enable students to make informed choices between the optional units available in future years and provide a sound basis for study in Level I. The expectation is that their work will require considerable direction from members of staff at this stage. |
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Level I/5 - Intermediate |
In Year 2, students are expected to be able to demonstrate that, in both mandatory and optional units, they have expanded the range and depth of their knowledge and also their capacity to evaluate their work. The topics explored and source materials consulted will be of greater depth and substance. Students will develop their analytical skills, their ability to structure their work and to expound it effectively with the increased requirement for seminar presentation. Language work will be of a higher level of complexity and students will develop their capacity to work accurately and creatively with French. They will be encouraged in group-work skills through active participation in seminars. They will be acquiring a heightened capacity for self-directed learning (for example, through the researching and writing of coursework assignments). |
Level H/6 - Honours |
In Year 4, students are expected to expand the breadth of their knowledge through the study of optional units that allow them to pursue more closely their particular areas of interest. These units are more directly linked to staff research specialisms. Students are thereby able to benefit from a wide range of expertise at the cutting-edge of research that not only enhances their intellectual development but also serves actively to foster in them a research culture. Students will be expected to develop their ability to gather and assimilate information, synthesise it in an appropriately informed way, and engage in sophisticated evaluation of primary texts. These skills will have been enhanced through the heightened command of the French language acquired during the mandatory period of residence in a French-speaking country. |
The intended learning outcome mapping document shows which mandatory units contribute towards each programme intended learning outcome.
For information on the admissions requirements for this programme please see details in the undergraduate prospectus at http://www.bristol.ac.uk/prospectus/undergraduate/ or contact the relevant academic department.
Workload Statement
In common with the rest of the University, units in the Faculty of Arts
adhere to the credit framework which sets out that 20 credits normally
equates to some 200 hours of student input. Some of this time will be spent
in class, with the remainder divided between preparation for classes and
preparation for, and completion of, the assessment tasks. Some of this
activity may occur within the University’s online learning environment,
Blackboard, which you may use to prepare wikis, to interact with other
students, to download tutorials or to receive feedback.
Assessment Statement
Please select the following link for a statement about assessment. This is University of Bristol access only.
https://www.bris.ac.uk/arts/current/under/assessment.html
The Single Honours French degree programme involves a mandatory year (Year Three) to be spent abroad in a French-speaking country. Many students opt to take an assistantship in a French school under a scheme organised by the French government. The French Department has Erasmus exchange agreements exchanges with universities in, Cergy-Pontoise, Bordeaux, Aix,Graz, Genève, Brn, Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne, Paris at Saint Denis, Paris, Provence, Poitiers, and Toulouse II - Le Mirail.
A number of placements on stages are also taken up; some placements are recurrently available to Bristol students while others are arranged anew each year.
The French Department is able to offer a rich array of internal pathways for students to follow. All the pathways place an emphasis on the development of language skills and the enhancement of the students' knowledge and expertise in a variety of genres and periods of culture selected from the wide range available. The Department has always encouraged a strong synergy between research and teaching. This has resulted in the creation and development of a vibrant learning environment for students within the Department, as staff continuously upgrade existing teaching materials and introduce fresh optional units. A further source of strength in the learning experience of students comes from the interaction between French and other departments. Single honours students will normally follow Additional units taught outside the French Department. In addition, units have consistently been available as options within other departments as well as French.
Furthermore, almost all the units figuring in the programme may be followed by students of French within the School of Modern Languages. The School offers a wide variety of joint programmes involving the study of any two of the following languages: Czech, French, German, Italian, Portuguese, Russian and Spanish. There are also joint programmes combining French with Film, Theatre, History of Art, Music, Philosophy, Politics, and Law. Such students serve to enrich the intellectual environment within which teaching and learning take place within the French Department.
Mandatory Unit French Language 1 is must pass. For further information and a definition of must pass units please see the Glossary of Terms
Unit Name | Unit Code | Credit Points | Status | ||
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French Language | FREN10029 | 20 | Mandatory | TB-4 | |
Shaping France | FREN10008 | 20 | Mandatory | TB-1 | |
Reading Literary and Visual Cultures in French | FREN10010 | 20 | Mandatory | TB-2 | |
Global French | FREN10011 | 20 | Mandatory | TB-1 | |
Introduction to the Study of Cultures | MODL10011 | 20 | Mandatory | TB-2 | |
Open units normally totalling 20 credit points. | OPEN | 20 | Optional | ||
Certificate of Higher Education | 120 |
Mandatory Unit French Language 2 is must pass. For further information and a definition of must pass units please see the Glossary of Terms
Unit Name | Unit Code | Credit Points | Status | ||
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French Language 2 | FREN20001 | 20 | Optional | TB-4 | |
Students must choose a minimum of three but not more than five units from the following list: | |||||
Introduction to French Renaissance Culture | FREN20014 | 20 | Optional | TB-2 | |
French Drama | FREN20026 | 20 | Optional | TB-1 | |
The Third Republic: France 1870 - 1940 | FREN20036 | 20 | Optional | TB-1 | |
France 1940-44: Occupation and Resistance | FREN20037 | 20 | Optional | TB-2 | |
Paris 1857-1897 | FREN20041 | 20 | Optional | TB-1 | |
The French Language: Structures and Varieties | FREN20044 | 20 | Optional | TB-1 | |
French Fiction: from Realism to the 21st Century | FREN20048 | 20 | Optional | TB-2 | |
Literary Responses to the Hundred Years War | FREN20050 | 20 | Optional | TB-1 | |
France and the Great War: A Cultural and Political History | FREN20055 | 20 | Optional | TB-2 | |
Introduction to French Cinema | FREN20056 | 20 | Optional | TB-2 | |
The Comic and Grotesque in Pre-Modern Culture | FREN20060 | 20 | Optional | TB-2 | |
Modern Critical Theory | FREN20061 | 20 | Optional | TB-2 | |
France and Europe | FREN23013 | 20 | Optional | TB-1 | |
Students may choose up to one unit from the following list: | |||||
Political Systems of Modern Europe | MODL20008 | 20 | Optional | TB-2 | |
Gender in Post-Socialist Central and Eastern Europe | MODL20011 | 20 | Optional | TB-1 | |
Introduction to Linguistics | MODL23013 | 20 | Optional | TB-1 | |
Students may choose up to one unit from the following list: | |||||
Catalan Language (Elementary) | MODL23014 | 20 | Optional | TB-4 | |
Czech Language (Elementary) | MODL23015 | 20 | Optional | TB-4 | |
Students may substitute 20cp of open units for 20cp of optional units on these lists | OPEN | 20 | Optional | ||
Diploma of Higher Education | 120 |
Unit Name | Unit Code | Credit Points | Status | ||
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Year Abroad TB-1 | MODL20014 | 60 | Mandatory | AYEAR | |
Year Abroad TB-2 | MODL20015 | 60 | Mandatory | TB-2,AYEAR | |
120 |
Unit Name | Unit Code | Credit Points | Status | ||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
French Language 3 for Single Honours | FREN30116 | 20 | Mandatory | TB-4 | |
Independent Study 1 | MODL30005 | 20 | Mandatory | TB-4 | |
Students must select 80cp of optional units in total. | |||||
Choose a minimum of 40cp but no more than 80cp from the following list: | |||||
Les Miserables: Readings and Receptions | FREN30030 | 20 | Optional | TB-1 | |
African narratives of migration | FREN30039 | 20 | Optional | TB-2 | |
Surrealism: Pleasure and Provocation in 1920s Textual and Visual Culture | FREN30040 | 20 | Optional | TB-1 | |
French for Business and Enterprise | FREN30047 | 20 | Optional | TB-4 | |
The Crusades and their Representation in French Literature of the Middle Ages | FREN30098 | 20 | Optional | TB-2 | |
Aesthetics of Revolution and Resistance: 21st-Century Images of North Africa and the Eastern Mediterranean | FREN30106 | 20 | Optional | TB-1 | |
Leadership in France | FREN30107 | 20 | Optional | TB-2 | |
Intellectuals and the Media in France | FREN30108 | 20 | Optional | TB-1 | |
Seeing, Hearing and Thinking the Cinema of Jean-Luc Godard | FREN30109 | 20 | Optional | TB-2 | |
The Censor's Scissors, 1750-1830 | FREN30112 | 20 | Optional | TB-1 | |
Students may choose a maximum of 20cp from the following list: | |||||
Translating in a Professional Context | MODL30010 | 20 | Optional | TB-1 | |
Communism in Europe | MODL30001 | 20 | Optional | TB-1 | |
Sociolinguistics: Language Variation and Change | MODL30015 | 20 | Optional | TB-2 | |
Reimagining Odysseus | MODL30019 | 20 | Optional | TB-1 | |
Students may choose MODL30011 if they took MODL23014 in their second year of study and students may choose MODL30012 if they took MODL23015 in their second year of study: | |||||
Catalan Language (follow-on) | MODL30011 | 20 | Optional | TB-4 | |
Czech Language (follow-on) | MODL30012 | 20 | Optional | TB-4 | |
Students also have the option to choose the following 20cp unit: | |||||
Liaison Interpreting | MODL30006 | 20 | Optional | TB-1,TB-2 | |
French (BA) | 120 |
Unit Pass Mark for Undergraduate Programmes:
For details on the weightings for classifying undergraduate degrees, please see the Agreed Weightings, by Faculty, to be applied for the Purposes of Calculating the Final Programme Mark and Degree Classification in Undergraduate Programmes.
For detailed rules on progression please see the Regulations and Code of Practice for Taught Programmes and the relevant faculty handbook.
Please refer to the specific progression/award requirements for programmes with a preliminary year of study, the Gateway programmes and International Foundation programmes.
All undergraduate degree programmes allow the opportunity for a student to exit from a programme with a Diploma or Certificate of Higher Education.
Integrated Master's degrees may also allow the opportunity for a student to exit from the programme with an equivalent Bachelor's degree where a student has achieved 360 credit points, of which 90 must be at level 6, and has successfully met any additional criteria as described in the programme specification.
The opportunities for a student to exit from one of the professional programmes in Veterinary Science, Medicine, and Dentistry with an Award is outlined in the relevant Programme Regulations (which are available as an annex in the Regulations and Code of Practice for Taught Programmes).
An Ordinary degree can be awarded if a student has successfully completed at least 300 credits with a minimum of 60 credits at Level 6.
The pass mark for the professional programmes in Veterinary Science, Medicine and Dentistry is 50 out of 100. The classification of a degree in the professional programmes in Veterinary Science, Medicine, and Dentistry is provided in the Regulations and Code of Practice for Taught Programmes.
Please note: This specification provides a concise summary of the main features of the programme and the learning outcomes that a typical student might reasonably be expected to achieve and demonstrate if he/she takes full advantage of the learning opportunities that are provided.
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