French Language and Culture 1: ex beginners (FREN3111)

Course overview

FREN3111 builds on the language competencies developed in the beginners and intermediate courses. Through the detailed study of authentic written and audiovisual French-language texts, students further develop their linguistic and intercultural skills.

This course builds on the intermediate French skills which students already possess, to equip them for further study of the language and for contact with French-speakers brought about by internationalization and mobility: the course aims to produce competent, reflective intercultural operators with linguistic and cultural skills relevant to successful functioning in French-speaking contexts. In contrast to previous courses students may have taken at UQ, the course structure is not dictated by a textbook, since an important part of the course is learning to work with authentic texts to advance one's own learning of French.

The course theme for 2025 is "la rencontre avec l'autre" ("the encounter with the other"), with course content dividing into two parts in relation to this theme:

A.ﾠ The focus on life as a student, approached through authentic texts, which equips course participants:

• for interaction with French students in Brisbane.
• for their own possible future experience as a student in a French-speaking university.
• to appreciate the educational background of French peers they may meet in internationalized professional settings.
• to become life-long learners of French, by being able to deal with authentic texts both in terms of their original purpose and as examples of language-in-use.

B.ﾠ Study of:

• the autobiographical screenplay and film Au revoir les enfants by Louis Malle, which looks at a friendship which develops between two schoolboys of different ethnic backgrounds during World War II.ﾠ
• the novel Kiffe-kiffe demain by Faïza Guène, the story of a teenager who lives with her mother of North African descent in the banlieue, the poor urban districts of Paris, after the father abandons the family.

The work, both linguistic and cultural, on these two texts which feature two of France's major religious and ethnic minorities, will equip students with:

• an understanding that linguistic competency includes cultural competency. Comprehending a text is reliant not just upon understanding the language but comprehending its cultural context.
• the skills necessary to analyse written and filmic texts which will serve as a basis for the many cultural courses forming part of French minors and majors (coded FREN and LTCS)
• a historical understanding of key moments in French history, essential for comprehending France today and in preparing for the course FREN3113 in second semester

NB: Students who successfully complete FREN3111/2112 are eligible to participate in a 3-week intensive French course in New Caledonia next January (#2 units of Advanced French credit). Financial assistance is available in some cases. See https://employability.uq.edu.au/intensive-french-new-caledonia (also check the "Financial information" tab).

Course requirements

Assumed background

Students are expected to have successfully completed FREN2020 or equivalent. Students who have not successfully completed FREN2020 should have undertaken a placement interview with a member of the UQ French staff and been advised that FREN3111 corresponds to their level. If you have any questions about your level, please email the course co-ordinator, Dr Joe Hardwick, at joehardwick@uq.edu.au

 A student's enrolment in a course for which s/he holds incompatible qualifications may be cancelled at any time of the semester. This cancellation may involve forfeiture of credit, and students may remain liable for course fees.

Prerequisites

You'll need to complete the following courses before enrolling in this one:

FREN2020

Incompatible

You can't enrol in this course if you've already completed the following:

FREN2112 and FREN3112

Course staff

Timetable

The timetable for this course is available on the UQ Public Timetable.

Additional timetable information

There are three contact hours per week for this course.

This course follows the UQ timetable. You should check dates of the UQ exam period which may not necessarily align with those of your home institution if you are a cross-institutional student. This course is taught largely in tutorial format and will not be recorded, except for assessment purposes.ﾠ

Public holidays: 

Alternative arrangements for affected students will be announced through the Blackboard site. 

Class allocation: 

In order to optimise the student experience, it may be necessary to reallocate students to a different class from their first choice. 

Before this happens, every effort will be made to enable students to voluntarily change into an alternative class that is suitable. 

Please note: Teaching staff do not have access to the timetabling system to help with class allocation. Therefore, should you need help with your timetable and/or allocation of classes, please ensure you email hass.mytimetable@uq.edu.au from your UQ student email account with the following details: 

• Full name, 
• Student ID, and 
• the Course Code 

Additional information and support can be found here. 

Aims and outcomes

This unit aims to work on the skills required for intercultural communication, with particular reference to French-speaking contexts. Communication involves much more than just verbal language. When we are speaking with people from our own (sub)culture(s), we tend to take many of these factors for granted. In this unit, we encourage you to think about what it takes to be a successful intercultural communicator:

• An awareness of communicative strategies, including those for negotiating understanding and misunderstanding
• Knowledge about the other culture(s) and our own, and how to talk about this knowledge
• An awareness of cultural practices and “how things are done”
• An awareness of non-verbal communication
• An ability to use the appropriate language, appropriately
• An ability to notice relevant features of authentic texts and interactions and to use them to advance our own learning
• An ability to work collaboratively in groups

Students who complete this unit successfully should have levels of proficiency corresponding to the Council of Europe’s description of the Independent User (B1), across the skills assessed, with speaking and listening skills moving towards B2. The self-assessment grid for French can be accessed at the Council of Europe’s Language Portfolio site

http://www.coe.int/t/dg4/education/elp/elp-reg/Source/assessement_grid/assessment_grid_french.pdf

This system of proficiency ratings is widely accepted across Europe and can be used to present your linguistic abilities to potential future employers.

In addition to this linguistic evaluation, we will use the Council of Europe's "intercultural autobiography" materials to lead you to reflect on, and articulate your analysis of, your own intercultural encounters.

Learning outcomes

After successfully completing this course you should be able to:

Assessment

Assessment summary

A hurdle is an assessment requirement that must be satisfied in order to receive a specific grade for the course. Check the assessment details for more information about hurdle requirements.

Assessment details

Lettre formelle

• Identity Verified
• In-person

Mode

Written

Category

Examination

Weight

20%

Due date

10/04/2025

In-semester school-based examination held on the Thursday tutorial class in Week 7. The exam is scheduled to start at 9am.

Other conditions

Time limited.

See the conditions definitions

Learning outcomes

L02, L04, L05

Task description

Exam details

Submission guidelines

Deferral or extension

You may be able to defer this exam.

Lectures analytiques

• Team or group-based
• In-person

Mode

Activity/ Performance, Oral

Category

Presentation

Weight

30%

Due date

Part 1: Au revoir les enfants - 20/03/2025 - 17/04/2025

Part 2: Kiffe kiffe demain - 8/05/2025 - 29/05/2025

The presentations will take place during class time. Students will sign up on Blackboard to the presentation of a specific extract of the set texts on specific dates. The student's assigned timeslot will be considered the due date and time for this assessment.

Other conditions

Student specific.

See the conditions definitions

Learning outcomes

L01, L02, L03, L04, L05, L06, L07

Task description

Submission guidelines

Deferral or extension

You may be able to apply for an extension.

The maximum extension allowed is 14 days. Extensions are given in multiples of 24 hours.

This timeframe ensures that students experiencing unexpected challenges have sufficient flexibility while maintaining the integrity of the course schedule. It also allows assessors to provide timely feedback before subsequent tasks are due, ensuring students remain on track with their learning progression.

Le récit autobiographique interculturel

• Online

Mode

Written

Category

Essay/ Critique, Reflection

Weight

20%

Due date

12/06/2025 5:00 pm

Exam Week 1. The essay question will be released on Blackboard at 17.00 on Monday 9 June and the completed essay must be uploaded to Blackboard by 17.00 on Thursday 12 June.

Learning outcomes

L02, L03, L05

Task description

Submission guidelines

Essay to be uploaded to Turnitin by the indicated due date and time.

Deferral or extension

You may be able to apply for an extension.

The maximum extension allowed is 28 days. Extensions are given in multiples of 24 hours.

An extension of 28 days is allowable as the assessment falls during the exam period. However, please note that the publication of a final grade for the course may be delayed for approved extensions of longer than 7 days.

Late submission

A penalty of 10% of the maximum possible mark will be deducted per 24 hours from time submission is due for up to 7 days. After 7 days, you will receive a mark of 0.

Présentation orale

• Hurdle
• Identity Verified
• Team or group-based
• In-person

Mode

Oral

Category

Presentation

Weight

30%

Due date

16/06/2025 - 18/06/2025

Exam Week 2. Precise dates and times will be announced on Blackboard.

Learning outcomes

L01, L02, L03, L04, L05, L06, L07

Task description

Hurdle requirements

Submission guidelines

Deferral or extension

You may be able to apply for an extension.

The maximum extension allowed is 28 days. Extensions are given in multiples of 24 hours.

An extension of 28 days is allowable as the assessment falls during the exam period. However, please note that the publication of a final grade for the course may be delayed for extensions of longer than 7 days.

Course grading

Full criteria for each grade is available in the Assessment Procedure.

Additional course grading information

The final grade forﾠFREN3111 is awarded on the basis of the overall marks gained for the course, as per the cut-offs outlined above.ﾠ

Marking criteria and/or marking rubrics are available in the ‘Assessment’ folder in Blackboard for this course. 

Supplementary assessment

Supplementary assessment is available for this course.

Additional assessment information

Please read the general information on academic dishonesty and plagiarism in this Course Profile.

STATEMENT ON UNAUTHORISED HELP (written AND oral)

All assignments, take home exams, online exams etc. submitted should be the work of the student and the student alone. This means that students are NOT to seek unauthorised outside help (which may include help from other students, teachers, private tutors, ghost writers, native speakers, or electronic translation software such as Google Translate, etc.) either in the preparation of assignments, take home exams, online exams etc. or in checking for errors before these are submitted. Cases where students are suspected of having used outside help will be referred to the School of Languages and Cultures Integrity Officer for further investigation. Students who use outside help may be found guilty of academic misconduct which can attract significant penalties. The University’s policy on Student Integrity and Misconduct is available here.

It is never acceptable to show your assessment items at any point before submission to another person for help, feedback or correction of any kind.

While it is useful to draw on models for your own production in French, direct copying of significant portions of a model will not be tolerated. This is dishonest and ultimately unhelpful to your progress in French.ﾠ If you are having difficulties, please make an appointment to see your tutor who can assist you with the problems you are encountering.

Where assignments are to be uploaded to Turnitin:

• It is the student's responsibility to upload their own work to Turnitin and to ensure that the digital copy uploaded is the final copy of the assignment and not a draft.ﾠ Students are also encouraged to fully reference their articles where appropriate even as they are drafting (putting quotes in quotation marks, references and page numbers in parentheses, footnotes etc).
• Students must ensure that, where both a hard copy must be submitted and a digital copy uploaded to Turnitin, that the text of these documents is identical (the formatting might be different).ﾠ

Learning resources

You'll need the following resources to successfully complete the course. We've indicated below if you need a personal copy of the reading materials or your own item.

Library resources

Find the required and recommended resources for this course on the UQ Library website.

Own copy required

You'll need to have your own copy of the following reading resources. We've indicated below if you need a personal copy of the reading materials or your own item.

Additional learning resources information

PLEASE NOTE, SCHOOL LOCKER IS UNLIKELY TO SUPPLY THE TWO TEXTS BELOW. PLEASE CONTACT INTEXT DIRECTLY TO ORDER THESE:

https://www.languageint.com.au/product/1113

https://www.languageint.com.au/product/3712

Most of the documents from the course reader will also be provided on Blackboard.ﾠ

Blackboard is not just a repository of information and texts, but is a space where you can interact with the other students in the cohort, and a portal to interaction with the wider Francophone community.

Learning activities

The learning activities for this course are outlined below. Learn more about the learning outcomes that apply to this course.

Policies and procedures

University policies and procedures apply to all aspects of student life. As a UQ student, you must comply with University-wide and program-specific requirements, including the:

• Student Code of Conduct Policy
• Student Integrity and Misconduct Policy and Procedure
• Assessment Procedure
• Examinations Procedure
• Reasonable Adjustments - Students Policy and Procedure

Learn more about UQ policies on my.UQ and the Policy and Procedure Library.