French Courses

FL 511, Second Language Acquisition

Provides students with an overview of the most current theories of second language acquisition and the teaching methodologies that result from these approaches. Students will detail differences between and similarities among the various models of second language acquisition as they learn how to identify and integrate them into the foreign language classroom.

Dr. Lindsy Myers myersll@umkc.edu    Syllabus

(3 credits)  

FL 514, Action Research

Introduces students to research methodologies that pursue action (change) and research (understanding) concurrently. Students will learn how to do a systematic inquiry into the teaching/learning environment of a classroom with the goal of developing reflective teaching practices. This course is intended as preparation for an action research project that students will conduct over the course of the following year.

Dr. Kristin Hoyt khoyt3@kennesaw.edu     Syllabus

 (3 credits) 

FR 503, Action Research: Presentation

 

During the school year prior to your final year in the program, if you are a master’s candidate, you will conduct an action research project with your own students/at your own school. You will write a 30-40 page paper (plus bibliography and appendices) documenting the project. The action research project, presentation, and paper take the place of a thesis project, and are graded based on the AR project rubric and the AR presentation rubric.

(1 credit) Dr. Kristin Hoyt khoyt3@kennesaw.edu    Syllabus

FL 515, Technology in the Classroom

 

Transforms knowledge into practice about Second Language Acquisition (SLA) and pedagogy, while focusing on the use of technology in the foreign language classroom. Fosters professional development as students formulate critical skills for creating, integrating, and assessing technology into the classroom. Topics may include interactive and non-interactive hypermedia technologies, Computer Assisted Language Learning (CALL), language testing and technology, distance learning, online discussions, and software selection.

 Syllabus

Kelly Conroy (3 credits) knconroy@gmail.com

 

FL 512, Teaching for Proficiency: Methods and Strategies

 

Explores how proficiency standards can be applied in the classroom in conjunction with state and local standards based on the national standards for foreign language education as established by the American Council on Teaching of Foreign Languages (ACTFL). Students learn how to integrate the five Cs of foreign language education: communication, cultures, connections, comparisons, and communities, with clearly defined proficiency standards for foreign language performance.

Dr. Kimberley Healey kimberley.healey@ashland.k12.or.us    Syllabus

(3 credits) 

 

FL 513, Foreign Language Assessment: Principles and Strategies

 

The goals of the course are to equip participants with up-to-date knowledge of best practices in assessing foreign language development and to provide them with meaningful opportunities to practice creating assessment tools and evaluation criteria in a collaborative setting. The approach to assessment emphasized in this course is multidimensional and Standards-based. Course participants complete a portfolio of assessment tools for classroom use, including an Integrated Performance Assessment. 

Dr. Heather Willis Allen heatherwillisallen@gmail.com   Syllabus

(3 credits) 

FR 503, Action Research: Presentation

Presentation of Action Research projects. This course is open to students presenting their final Action Research project. The course should be taken during the session when students present their project.

(1 credit) Dr. Kristin Hoyt khoyt3@kennesaw.edu    Syllabus

1a. FR 526, Contes et Nouvelles

 

Raconter des histoires est au cœur de l’activité humaine. Les contes et nouvelles en français existent dans une variété de formes depuis le moyen âge. Dans ce cours, nous étudierons la variété et la richesse du conte et de la nouvelle français et francophones à travers le monde et à travers le temps, en ajoutant particulièrement une étude de quelques contes et légendes de l’Anjou. Nous aurons aussi la visite en cours de quelques maîtres conteurs, des Français de la région d’Angers qui continuent la tradition orale du conte. En faisant cette étude, nous apprendrons ce qui définit ce genre, et la lecture d’une variété de contes et nouvelles nous ouvrira une fenêtre sur la culture des différents pays d’origine de ces contes et nouvelles.

Dr. Daniel Morris morris@sou.edu  Syllabus

(3 credits) 

1b.  FR 516, Teaching Holistic Reading with Short Fiction

This course will examine and demonstrate best practices for teaching holistic reading in the foreign language classroom at any proficiency level. While many of the techniques covered are readily applied to other genres, the focus will be on the integration of short fiction and its connections to literacy and language acquisition as a whole. In the context of this course, short fiction can encompass diverse text types such as wordless picture books, a series of comics, fairy tales, foreign language readers, abridged or authentic short stories and beyond. The class sessions will follow the intentional processes of text selection, pre-reading, reading, rereading and assessment with special attention paid to motivation and opportunities for creative and social learning. Students will design lesson plans and a final unit plan explicitly linking reading to other linguistic and cultural competencies and their curriculum as a whole. This course will be taught in French.

Dr. Lindsy Myers myersll@umkc.edu  Syllabus

(2 credits)  

2a. FR 528, France's Linguistic Diversity

 

This course is designed to introduce students to various aspects of the social and historical circumstances within which the French language has developed and continues to change. We will cover a broad range of themes from historical, political, cultural, and communicative perspectives, including language planning and policies, dialectal and contextual variation, and pragmatics and discourse analysis. In other words, we will examine the use of French in diverse social contexts, ranging from institutional to informal context, from face-to-face to mediated uses of language.

Dr. Sebastien Dubreil  Syllabus

(3 credits) 

2b. FR 516, Social Pedagogies and Language Learning

This course will examine pedagogical approaches that connect classroom instruction to the multifaceted contexts and challenges of language use beyond the classroom. We will draw on the framework of social pedagogies (Bass & Elmendorf, 2012) as applied to L2 contexts to shape L2 learners as “locuteurs/acteurs” (Kern & Liddicoat, 2008), that is to say as social agents who mobilize symbolic and linguistic resources and competencies to successfully negotiate complex intercultural and transactional contexts. Framing L2 curricula through the lens of social pedagogies we will envision how we can encourage the integration of content from the various courses that comprise a language program with engagement in communicative contexts and communities relevant to students’ social and academic life-worlds.

Dr. Sebastien Dubreil  Syllabus

(2 credits) 

3a. FR 581, Expression écrite

 

Ce cours est destiné aux étudiants qui ont une bonne maîtrise de la langue française et qui souhaitent perfectionner leurs productions écrites. Nous travaillerons sur des formes d'écrit diverses, principalement la description, la narration et l’argumentation. Lors de chaque séquence, les étudiants tenteront de mieux structurer leurs textes et d’atteindre une rigueur dans l’expression écrite. Nous travaillerons sur l’organisation des idées, la construction de plans, le premier jet et la réécriture. Les étudiants seront amenés à rédiger des textes seuls ou en groupe. 

Ludivine Glaud, Angers Faculty  Syllabus

(3 credits) 

3b. FR 516, La Pédagogie de l’écrit

« Bien » faire écrire les élèves : Une gageure ? Que leur demander et comment ? Que corriger et comment ? Comment évaluer ? Comment leur transmettre le plaisir d’écrire ? Comment faire émerger leur créativité pour l’écriture en langue étrangère ? Genre, style, ouverture, indulgence, premier jet et réécriture, correction, titre, partage, contrainte, originalité, curiosité, monde, imitation, parodie, navette, reformulation… : telles sont pêle-mêle les notions de base sur lesquelles s’appuiera le travail. Chaque séance se partagera entre réflexions théoriques et mises en pratique qui nourriront nos échanges.

Florence Coubard, Angers Faculty  Syllabus

(2 credits)

4a. FR 528, En Marge de la Société

Ce cours adressera les difficultés vécues par les communautés "invisibles" en France. Quelles sont ces communautés, et quels sont les lois, les moyens et les services sociaux mis en place pour les soutenir ou au contraire les marginaliser? 

Nous discuterons les communautés suivantes: les personnes âgées, les adultes et enfants handicapés, les SDF, les populations défavorisées, les immigrés, et les hommes et femmes aux identités de genre hors-norme.

Des spécialistes seront invités à venir discuter certaines de ses communautés et la façon dont la France (et Angers en particulier) adresse leurs difficultés et leurs besoins. Nous aurons aussi l'occasion de visiter certains centres spécialisés.

Dr. Marianne Golding golding@sou.edu  Syllabus

(3 credits)

4b. FR 516, Individual Differences

This course aims to build participants' understanding of individual difference factors (affective, cognitive, and social/demographic) and how they impact the language learning experience and students' language development. Throughout the session, we will explore ways that instruction and assessment practices can take individual difference factors into account to maximize student learning. 

Dr. Heather Willis Allen heatherwillisallen@gmail.com Syllabus

(2 credits)

5a. FR 526, Peinture et Poésie

This course will help students gain a greater understanding of the stakes and aims of French artistic and poetic endeavors in the twentieth century.  Since Angers is a city rich in artistic treasures we will also briefly study a few canonical artists and poets from the Renaissance and nineteenth century.  We will then examine the major poets of the twentieth century and look at corresponding artistic movements and themes.  Visual artists and poets have consistently asked similar questions, explored parallel aesthetic dilemmas and been in dialogue with each other.  Students will gain a familiarity with the major movements of twentieth century French poetry and visual art as well as the critical vocabulary necessary to understand these aesthetic inquiries.  This course will include an introduction to Renaissance iconography, Romanticism, Realism and a deeper investigation of Symbolism, Dadaism, Surrealism, OULIPO, performance art, feminist poetry and concrete poetry. The course will provide a solid background in the literary and artistic avant-gardes of the twentieth century in France and the francophone world.  As it will be taught entirely in French students will have the opportunity to practice high-level writing and speaking on abstract aesthetic concepts.

Dr. Kimberley Healey  Syllabus

(3 credits)

5b. Fr 516, Art in the Language Classroom

Designed as a teaching praxis companion course to the FR 426 Peinture et Posie, this course addresses issues of how to integrate art related activities into the language classroom, and how to use art as a means for teaching language. Should be taken in conjunction with FR 426 Peinture et posie.

Cécile Benoiton, Angers Faculty  Syllabus available in Angers/No text required

(2 credits)