Students comprehend spoken language directed to native speakers with rare requests for paraphrase or explanation.

Students are able to express themselves consistently on a variety of concrete and abstract theme; errors are rare and never impede comprehension; students’ vocabulary is both broad and precise.

Students demonstrate a command of audience-appropriate language register; student’s language use is precise and idiomatic.

Reading (in French)

Students understand most factual information in non-technical prose as well as on topics related to special interests. Misinterpretation occurs rarely.

Students are able to read most literary genres in the original, technical material in a field of interest, and standard newspaper items.

Students are able to appreciate distinctions in structure, verb tenses, and vocabulary (including common idioms) between French and their native language.

Students demonstrate a broad range of structures and rules, and their errors do not impede comprehension.

Students organize main ideas into paragraphs and extended discourse, and use styles appropriately.

Students demonstrate an ability to write on a variety of topics making extensive and appropriate use of formal features of writing.

Students demonstrate intellectual understanding of the culture’s practices and empathy with its practices.

Students can identify key historical figures, events, and geographical aspects associated with areas where French is spoken and can explain their influence on French culture (art, literature, media, etc.).

Students actively utilize local opportunities to practice linguistic skills in French with native speakers and other students, or spend time working or studying in an area where French is officially spoken.

Students must know how to write in French on a PC or Mac using the computer’s:

• input method for accented characters in Windows or Mac
• French dictionary, grammar, and spellchecker
• media players for playing DVDs, audio and video files and recording audio

Students should be familiar with a least one correction program (such as Antidote ) and Smith’s course management system (Moodle)

Students identify the kind of information – biographical, historical, literary, and cultural – they need, and know where to find it. In other words, they should be familiar with various electronic resources (see below), particularly the MLA Bibliography, and some reference books. They should also be aware that web search engines are often inadequate for scholarly research.

Students are able to evaluate the reliability of a source: who wrote it? When? Who published it? For what purpose?

Students know how and when to acknowledge and cite their sources in MLA format according to the guidelines included in the booklet Writing Papers: A Handbook for Students at Smith College.

They know how to use basic reference sources such as French dictionaries and encyclopedias such as:

Students should be familiar with and able to locate both primary and secondary sources available in print and electronically; and they should be skilled in the uses of standard databases such as:

The French Studies curriculum requires that students progress from beginning (100-level) and intermediate (200-level) courses to advanced mastery of language, literature and culture (300-level, courses taken on Smith’s Junior Year Abroad programs in Paris and Geneva). In all classes, students will be given assignments that reflect the skills appropriate to the level of the course. For example, some intermediate courses of the 230 level or higher may entail literary and cultural research, including visits to the library and meetings with Reference librarians. All 300-level literature and culture courses and seminars require research, making use of the sources and skills outlined above.

Assessment of French Studies majors’ progress and proficiency will soon take place through a one-credit mandatory portfolio course (to be implemented next year).

In consultation with their major advisor, students will constitute an electronic portfolio demonstrating their intellectual engagement with and knowledge of French Studies. The portfolio will contain:

• Four pieces of work, such as essays, papers, PowerPoint presentations, oral recordings, translations, reports from credit-bearing internships (normally, one of these should come from the course taken as the basis of the major, one from the junior year, one from the first semester of the senior year, and one from any other course counted toward the major);
• A language assessment (when available);
• A table of contents;
• A two-page essay, written in English, in which the student recounts her personal trajectory as a French Studies major; reflects upon the major turning points in her study of French and upon what she has learned.

The major advisor in conjunction with the course director will determine whether the portfolio is unsatisfactory or satisfactory.

Return to Top

Home | Research | Library Services | General Information | Smith Libraries & Collections | Need Help?