| Unit name | Global French |
|---|---|
| Unit code | FREN10011 |
| Credit points | 20 |
| Level of study | C/4 |
| Teaching block(s) |
Teaching Block 2 (weeks 13 - 24) |
| Unit director | Professor. Marianne Ailes |
| Open unit status | Not open |
| Units you must take before you take this one (pre-requisite units) |
None |
| Units you must take alongside this one (co-requisite units) |
None |
| Units you may not take alongside this one |
None |
| School/department | Department of French |
| Faculty | Faculty of Arts |
Why is this unit important?
This unit conceptualizes the study of language and culture within a transnational framework to consider the global reach of the French language and the cultures in which it is spoken. It will introduce you to a selection of sources in French (filmic, literary, visual, and oral) and specific historical contexts that highlight the key themes of mobility, border-crossing, transnational/global identity and cultural exchange.
How does the unit fit into your programme of study?
The unit is compulsory for Single Honours students in French, offering a transnational perspective on concepts of the francophone and what ‘French’ means. It is also available as an optional unit for post-A level students of French on certain select Joint Honours programmes (including Comparative Literatures and Cultures, English, History, International Business Management, and Politics), for whom the unit’s ‘global’ nature will align with their wider interests and contextualise their core disciplinary studies.
An overview of content
The content of the unit will vary from year to year with three key aims in mind. First, the unit will provide you with an understanding of France’s colonial past and the contested notion of francophonie. Second, it will explore the status and use of French outside of France from a sociolinguistic perspective, focusing on case studies in Europe, North America, Africa and the Caribbean. It will consider France's social and linguistic relationship with other francophone countries in Europe, as well as examining the linguistic implications of France's migratory and colonial legacies. Third, it will discuss issues relating to European identity politics, tracing France’s relationship with the concept of Europe back through the medieval and early modern worlds to the present-day European Union. You will therefore be able to study material from different periods: for example, looking at French as a prestige language across Europe and the Middle East, and analysing cultural artefacts from the medieval period to the twenty-first century across the French-speaking world in Europe, Africa, and the Americas.
How will students, personally, be different as a result of the unit?
The unit will broaden your knowledge and intellectual development, encouraging you to be reflective and adaptable through the study of material once considered ‘peripheral’, now key to a postcolonial (and decolonized) perspective. It will encourage you to think carefully and openly about questions of identity and the transnational. Through group work and the formative presentations, it will develop your employability skills. Through the recorded video presentations, it will also encourage the application of developing linguistic skills and help you build your self-confidence as you progress through your degree.
Learning Outcomes
On successful completion of this unit, students will be able to:
1. Use and think critically about key terms such as mobility, border, national, and transnational;
2. Analyse and evaluate relevant material from a significant body of primary and secondary source materials, spanning a broad historical range and a global context;
3. Respond to questions or problems by presenting their independent judgements in an appropriately clear style and at a good level of complexity appropriate to Level 4/C;
4. Develop the ability to work effectively in groups on collaborative tasks.
Each week, your teaching will involve the following activities:
Using your own time for weekly independent learning, you will be expected to work through the primary materials and relevant secondary sources identified in the unit’s Resource List (including academic publications such as book chapters and journal articles). By regularly consulting those secondary sources and summarising other arguments or viewpoints, you will broaden and deepen your knowledge and understanding from the in-class teaching.
This unit is suitable only for students with A-level French or equivalent as it requires you to be able to understand and communicate in French at level 4/C.
Tasks which help you learn and prepare you for summative tasks (formative):
A group seminar presentation to develop your communication and collaboration skills in preparation for the summative assessments (0%, not required for credit)
Tasks which count towards your unit mark (summative):
Group video presentation in French, 10 minutes (30%) [ILOs 1,2 and 4]
Essay, 2000 words (70%) [ILOs 1-3]
When assessment does not go to plan
When required by the Board of Examiners, you will normally complete reassessments in the same formats as those outlined above. However, the Board reserves the right to modify the form or number of reassessments required. Details of reassessments are normally confirmed by the School shortly after the notification of your results at the end of the academic year.
If this unit has a Resource List, you will normally find a link to it in the Blackboard area for the unit. Sometimes there will be a separate link for each weekly topic.
If you are unable to access a list through Blackboard, you can also find it via the Resource Lists homepage. Search for the list by the unit name or code (e.g. FREN10011).
How much time the unit requires
Each credit equates to 10 hours of total student input. For example a 20 credit unit will take you 200 hours
of study to complete. Your total learning time is made up of contact time, directed learning tasks,
independent learning and assessment activity.
See the University Workload statement relating to this unit for more information.
Assessment
The Board of Examiners will consider all cases where students have failed or not completed the assessments required for credit.
The Board considers each student's outcomes across all the units which contribute to each year's programme of study. For appropriate assessments, if you have self-certificated your absence, you will normally be required to complete it the next time it runs (for assessments at the end of TB1 and TB2 this is usually in the next re-assessment period).
The Board of Examiners will take into account any exceptional circumstances and operates
within the Regulations and Code of Practice for Taught Programmes.
