Subject Area: French Studies

This course, entirely taught in French, gives you the opportunity to immerse yourself in the French language in order to develop your oral fluency and your linguistic awareness as well as your knowledge of contemporary French culture.

You will learn the linguistic basis for the description of spoken French and will familiarize yourself with the features of standard and non-standard speech varieties (regional French, French outside France, vernacular language of the youth) and the gestures used in oral communication, as well as about the representations of spoken French in writing (theatre, comic books, chat). Through the analysis of video documents and films, theatre plays and comic book excerpts, you will learn how French speakers use words and a set of grammar rules to communicate orally.

You will apply what you learned in various class exercises for the improvement of pronunciation and oral fluency, and the development of conversation and presentation skills on topics of current cultural relevance. In addition you will extend your reading, writing and overall thinking skills through the study of relevant texts in linguistics and associated disciplines.

Topics include, but are not limited to, French sounds and intonation, varieties and registers, conversational gestures, regional French, the language of the youth, the language of the media, the language of French political leaders.