Content Official Master's Degree in French as a Foreign Language and Linguistic Diversity

Study guides

Master description

The Master's Degree in French as a Foreign Language and Linguistic Diversity has a simple structure that allows both potential students and others to identify clearly the type of studies offered, the course content and the competences to be acquired. It comprises nine modules, six of which are compulsory (one for twelve ECTS credits, two for nine credits and three for six credits), and three are optional, for six credits. Two modules are year-long and the others semester-long.

The compulsory modules are as follows.

1. An obligatory module on the Methodology of Teaching French as a Foreign Language and ICT, (9 ECTS-OB), which sets out the theoretical foundations and methodological approaches in Teaching French as a Foreign Language (FLE), as well as the fundamental elements of linguistic mediation in diversified and changing socio-cultural contexts.
2. Linguistic Diversity and Intercultural Mediation, an obligatory module of 6 ECTS credits, which sets out the theoretical principles and methodological foundations to the approach of comparative linguistics and comparatively analyses distinct phenomena in different languages and their implications both in the teaching-learning of languages and in linguistic mediation in those diversified and changing socio-cultural contexts requiring management of plurilingualism and multiculturalism.
3. An obligatory module in Intercomprehension in Romance Languages. This module is an introduction to Intercomprehension (IC) in Romance languages. After studying the notion of language families and the diversity of Romance languages, polysemy of the concept of intercomprehension is introduced and an analysis of the practice of intercomprehension in its two dimensions is provided: first, spontaneous understanding of documents written or recorded in languages close to the language of reference; second, multilingual interaction among languages, that is, a communicative exchange among so-called allochthonous languages in which each interlocutor uses his own language.
4. World Literature and the French-Speaking World (6 ECTS credits, Compulsory) deals with the diachronic and synchronic study of literature in the French-speaking world, in particular so-called world literature in French: a concept that is replacing what was referred to some years back as post-colonial literature.
5. Historical and Cultural Factors in the French-Speaking World (6 ECTS credits, Compulsory) introduces basic concepts within the social sciences: culture and civilisation, history, society and identity, organised around specific topics related to the history of France and the French-speaking world.
6. The Master's Dissertation (TFM:12 ECTS credits, Compulsory) requires reflection and original unpublished research on the part of the students, supervised by a specialist PhD-holding lecturer from the master's degree teaching staff.
7. External work placement (6 ECTS credits, Compulsory).

In addition to the above compulsory modules, students pick two 6-ECTS modules from the three that are available: Phonic Component and Orality, Lexical and Grammatical Component, and Semantic and Pragmatic Component.

Together, these modules cover all levels of analysis in linguistics, from more form-related features to more meaning-related or even pragmatic ones, thus equipping students on completion of the programme to use the language not only for strictly communicative purposes but also for linguistic and cultural mediation.

The module titles have been deliberately chosen to correspond to concept-terms that are widely used and therefore easily recognised, at least by graduates in related disciplines, though in actual classroom practice the standard definitions and divisions in language studies may be called into question.

Special importance is attached to the compulsory external work placement in companies or institutions, which can involve either teaching French as a Foreign Language or working in mediation in business, social work, associations, local councils, hospitals, etc.

Course begins on

12/09/2022

Study plan structure

 

 

Type	Credits
Compulsory	30
Optional	12
Master Thesis	12
External Practicum	6
TOTAL	60

 

 

Module	Credits	Type
Intercomprehension among Romance Languages	6	OB
Language Diversity and Intercultural Mediation	6	OB
Master's Dissertation	12	OB
Methodology of Teaching French as a Foreign Language and ICT	6	OB
The Historical and Cultural Factors of the French-Speaking World	6	OB
Work Placements	6	OB
World Literature and the French-Speaking World	6	OB
Lexical and Grammatical Component	6	OT*
Phonic Component and Orality	6	OT*
Semantic and Pragmatic Component	6	OT*

* Optional, you must take 12 credits

 

OB: Compulsory
OT: Optional

 

Discontinuation of courses

All optional subjects are not scheduled each year.

Additional information about the study plan