Programmes


	Programmes

French in U.C.C.

French is offered as a degree-level subject in the following degrees:

Each programme which includes French as a degree-level subject is organized into a number of distinct elements:

language modules embracing work on reading, writing, speaking and listening;
core modules dealing with the study of literary texts;
specialized modules covering different areas of French as a multidisciplinary subject, including Literary studies, Linguistics, French thought and the history of ideas, Cultural studies, French society and institutions.

A number of objectives are common to each degree programme:

to provide you with opportunities further to develop your skills in the study and the use of the French language;
to provide you with opportunities to extend and deepen your skills in the reading and discussion of texts;
to introduce you to work in specialized areas of French as a multidisciplinary subject.

The distinctive challenge of French lies in the assimilation and study of knowledge and ideas through the medium of the foreign language, and the study of the French language, as used in a range of different contexts, requires the development on your part of a sense both of precision and of adaptability. Because French is a multidisciplinary subject, you will find that you will need to to master a range of kinds of knowledge, on the one hand, and of analytical and conceptual resources, on the other. The study of French, because it often takes the form of the reading, analysis and discussion of texts, will lead you to develop a capacity for responsiveness, discovery and synthesis. The study of texts, and the analytical and interpretative work to which it gives rise, encourage the student to develop a capacity for independent critical thinking.

The benefits that flow from the study of French include the acquisition and development of transferable skills, including those of information gathering, analysis and interpretation. Small-group teaching also enables you to acquire a range of personal and interpersonal skills: in addition to communication and listening skills, you are required to to take responsibility for the success of group work, thus developing reflectiveness, self-awareness and a capacity for co-operative endeavour.

Graduates in French are expected at a minimum to be able to write and speak the language with precision and confidence; to have extended both their knowledge and understanding of French and francophone culture and their capacity to develop this knowledge and understanding further on the basis of independent study and work; and to have acquired advanced skills in interpretation, analysis, argument and communication.

The year abroad

A year of study abroad is an element of the following degrees:

B.A. in Language and Cultural Studies
B.A. in European Studies
B.C.L. in Law and French
B.Comm. European (French)

The third year of each programme is spent studying in a partner European university. This year is a fully recognized element of each of these programmes. This means that you will study approved courses in the partner university and that the results you obtain will form part of your student record here in U.C.C.

The Department also provides a wide range of postgraduate programmes

Last revised: 8 August 2001
french@ucc.ie