French and Francophone Studies Language Program Mission Statement
The French and Francophone Studies Program is designed to provide students the skills and knowledge needed to communicate effectively in French and with French-speaking people around the globe, both orally and in written form. We challenge our students to recognize, understand, and respond to the linguistic, historical, political, and cultural dynamics connecting France and the French- speaking world, including the United States.
French and Francophone Studies Major and Minor Mission Statement
The French and Francophone Studies Program ensures that our students develop the linguistic and cultural competences necessary to think critically about French-speaking countries from an interdisciplinary perspective. We focus particularly on the historical processes that have shaped their relationships in the past and continue to shape it today in our globalized world. We do so through the careful study of cultural documents (literature, film, visual arts, history, sociology, philosophy, etc.) produced by French-speaking peoples around the globe. Finally, we encourage our students to study abroad so that they may experience first-hand the cultural and linguistic complexities of the French-speaking world today.
French and Francophone Learning Goals (Majors/Minors)
Upon completion of their course of study, French and Francophone Studies majors and minors
demonstrate:
● Progress in French across the four language skills (reading, writing, listening and speaking), as well as a high level of cultural competency.
● The critical skills necessary to read, analyze and interpret a variety of texts through writing, discussion and other forms of analytical and creative expression.
● An interdisciplinary understanding of the cultural and political diversity of French-speaking communities around the world and in the United States.
● A sense of the histories of the French-speaking world, capturing the complexities that have shaped the lives of its peoples and of the countries in which they reside.
● Ability to produce independent research using information literacy and research skills.
