Courses of Instruction

French - FR

101F-102F. Beginning French I and II. 101F or satisfactory score on the placement exam is prerequisite to 102F. Lecture 3 hours; 3 credits each semester. Oral drill and discussion of grammar principles, written exercises, and reading assignments. This course requires extensive work in the language laboratory.

195, 196. Topics in French. 1-3 credits each semester. Prerequisites: none. A study of selected topics designed as electives for non majors. These courses will appear in the course schedule booklet, and will be more fully described in a booklet distributed to all academic advisors.

201-202. Intermediate French I and II. Lecture 3 hours; 3 credits. Prerequisite for 201: either FR 102 or satisfactory score on the placement exam. Graded readings with grammar review. Emphasis on civilization and culture.

295-296. Topics in French. 1-3 credits each semester. Prerequisites: none. A study of selected topics designed as electives for non majors. These courses will appear in the course schedule booklet, and will be more fully described in a booklet distributed to all academic advisors.

311. Communicative Competence: Speaking and Listening. (oral communication course) Lecture 3 hours; 3 credits. Prerequisite: FR 202 or advanced placement. A study of task-oriented communication strategies enabling students to become full conversational partners.

312W. Communicative Competence: Writing and Reading. Lecture 3 hours; 3 credits. Prerequisite: FR 202 or advanced placement. A functional approach to reading and writing enabling students to understand content, style, audience and organization.

320. Contemporary France through the Media. Lecture 3 hours; 3 credits. Prerequisites: FR 202 or advanced placement. This course introduces students to social, political, economic, intellectual and artistic manifestations of French culture today, and also provides a day-by-day analysis of contemporary French culture by reading current newspapers, magazines, watching French news broadcasts and tapping into Internet resources.

331. French Literary Forms: Prose. Lecture 3 hours; 3 credits. Prerequisite: FR 202 or advanced placement. A study of the novel and other prose genres in francophone literature with representative works from various periods and national origins.

332. French Literary Forms: Theatre. Lecture 3 hours; 3 credits. Prerequisite: FR 202 or advanced placement. A study of the theater in francophone literature with representative works from various periods and national origins.

333. French Literary Forms: Poetry. Lecture 3 hours; 3 credits. Prerequisite: FR 202 or advanced placement. This course will introduce students to a wide sampling or different styles and periods from the Middle Ages to the 1990s. Students will learn different ways of approaching French Poetry (the traditional explication de texte; understanding cultural contexts); rules of versification, and how to write about French poetry critically and creatively.

366. Business French: Language and Culture. Lecture 3 hours; 3 credits. Prerequisite: FR 202 or advanced placement. Prepares student for the commercial French exam of the Paris Chamber of Commerce and Industry. Presents aspects of French business life: banking, publicity, commerce, insurance, accounting, import-export, taxes, etc.

369. Practicum. 1-3 credits. Prerequisite: nine credit hours at the 300 or 400 level. Internships in private, public, and business organizations that deal with foreign nationals, foreign products or are involved in teaching French. (qualifies as a CAP experience)

395-396. Topics in French. 1-3 credits each semester. Prerequisite: FR 202 or the equivalent. A study of selected topics designed for non majors, or the elective credit within a major. These courses will appear in the course schedule booklet, and will be more fully described in a booklet distributed to all academic advisors.

407/507. Advanced Grammar and Syntax. Lecture 3 hours; 3 credits. Prerequisite: FR 312W or permission of the department chair. An intensive study of French grammar and development of style through activities, including theme, version, composition, and dictation.

410W/510. Berlin-Paris: Crucibles of European Ideas. Lecture 3 hours; 3 credits. Prerequisite: German and French students must read and write in the target language. This course explores the cultural movements that have characterized the German-French commonalities and differences from the early 1900s though the 1990s in cross-disciplinary discourses such as film, literature, art, politics, and economics. Cross-listed with FLET 410W/510.

415/515. Applied Phonetics. Lecture 3 hours; 3 credits. Prerequisite: FR 311 or 312W or permission of the department chair. Designed to develop the mastery of spoken French. Intensive French phonetics with exercises in pronunciation and its application to media comprehension.

418/518. Studies in Medieval and Sixteenth-Century French Literature. Lecture 3 hours; 3 credits. Prerequisite: senior standing or permission of the department chair. Introduction to the major works in medieval literature from the Chanson de Roland to the "Chanson de geste" followed by representative works from the Renaissance, including new and developing forms, such as the autobiography.

420/520 Francophone Civilization. Lecture 3 hours; 3 credits. Prerequisite: FR 311, 312W, or 320. A study of the culture and civilization of main Francophone countries, the Magreb, West Africa, La Republique Malgache, the Caribbean Islands, Canada, Belgium, and Switzerland, through selected cultural readings, art, music, and literature.

427/527. Studies in Seventeenth-Century French Literature. Lecture 3 hours; 3 credits. Prerequisite: senior standing or permission of the departmental chair. Following a preparatory period, the political stability of the French monarchy ushers in the golden age of classicism. Representative works from comic and dramatic theater, philosophy, poetry and the evolving novel.

428/528. Studies in Eighteenth-Century French Literature. Lecture 3 hours; 3 credits. Prerequisite: senior standing or permission of the departmental chair. A study of the two main currents of ideas of the Age of Reason or Enlightenment; the rationalistic drive to question established authority, exemplified by the "Encyclopedie" and leading to the Revolution of 1789; and the Rousseausitic return to nature and emovitity. Representative readings.

437/537. Studies in Nineteenth-Century French Literature. Lecture 3 hours; 3 credits. Prerequisite: senior standing or permission of the departmental chair. A study of the post-Revolutionary (1789) literary movements: Romanticism, Realism, Naturalism, Symbolism, which opened new horizons of modern science and culture in France. Representative works.

438/538. Studies in Twentieth-Century French Literature. Lecture 3 hours; 3 credits. Prerequisite: senior standing or permission of the departmental chair. A study of the greatness and decadence of modern man trapped in the wild "belle epoque," then in two savage World Wars, and finally in the inhumane Nuclear Age. Reflecting great scientific advances, the vast new horizons to be discovered are mainly inward: Dadaism, Surrealism, Existentialism, Literature of the Absurd, Structuralism focus on the anguish, absurdity, and madness of modern life.

469/569 A History of French Cinema. Lecture 3 hours; 3 credits. Prerequisite: FR 311 or 312W or permission of the instructor. This course will function as a survey of French film classics with the birth of cinema through contemporary times, and also shed light on various French cultural and literary movements as they are represented in film (Surrealism, WWII, Nouvelle Vague, decolonization).

495/595, 496/596. Topics in French. 1-3 credits each semester. Prerequisite: appropriate survey course or permission of the instructor. The advanced study of selected topics designed to permit small groups of qualified students to work on subjects of mutual interest which, due to their specialized nature, may not be offered regularly. This course will appear in the course schedule booklet, and will be more fully described in a booklet distributed to all academic advisors.

497,498. Tutorial Work in Special Topics in French. 1-3 credits each semester. Prerequisites: senior standing and approval of departmental chair. Independent reading and study on topic to be selected under the direction of an instructor. Conferences and papers as appropriate.