Introductory description

This module will consolidate linguistic skills acquired in the first year and extend them through translation, writing, reading, speaking and listening activities.
A range of assessments will be offered for students to track and reflect on their progress through the provision of regular feedback. Students will also be provided with complementary autonomous learning activities and directed to appropriate activities for self-study in order to develop independent learning strategies.

Module web page

Module aims

Outline syllabus

This is an indicative module outline only to give an indication of the sort of topics that may be covered. Actual sessions held may differ.

Advanced Grammar

Translation
Translation into French and translation into English building techniques and translation strategies at word, sentence and text level

Writing and Reading French
Essay – form, content, methodology
Formal letter– form, content, methodology
Analysis of set topics

Oral
listening comprehension exercises, role-plays (including simulated job interviews), presentations in pairs followed by debates, press reviews followed by debates allowing discussion, vocabulary and opinion-building

Learning outcomes

By the end of the module, students should be able to:

• An advanced understanding of modes of written expression
• A solid command of advanced aspects of French grammar
• An advanced understanding of the challenges inherent in translation from and into English (syntax, register, idiom)
• Advanced listening skills
• Advanced comunication in spoken French using a good range of linguistic structures, idioms and topic-specific vocabulary
• Good ability to understand and critically engage with aspects of contemporary francophone society and culture and intercultural issues associated with them
• A systematic approach to proof-reading with due attention to accuracy
• Advanced reading skills across a range of document types
• Consolidation of independent language-learning skills

International

All modules delivered in SMLC are necessarily international. Students engage with themes and ideas from a culture other than that of the UK and employ their linguistic skills in the analysis of primary materials from a non-Anglophone context. Students will also be encouraged to draw on the experiences of visiting exchange students in the classroom and will frequently engage with theoretical and critical frameworks from across the world.

Subject specific skills

This module will build students’ linguistic skills through activities that stimulate authentic target language production and develop sensitivity to the transference of meaning across languages. Students will work towards the production of nuanced, accurate and contextually sensitive materials through a range of language classes and guided independent learning.

Transferable skills

All SMLC language modules demand critical and analytical engagement with linguistic and cultural products from target-language cultures. In the course of independent study, class work and assessment students will develop the following skills: written and oral communication in the target language and in English, intercultural understanding and the ability to mediate between languages and cultures, independent research skills in the target language(s) and in English, problem solving and analysis, creative and critical thinking, time management and organisation, ICT literacy in both English and the target language(s), personal responsibility and the exercise of initiative.