Language Attitudes and French

Code

MLAC3192

School

Modern Languages and Cultures

Level

3

Credits

20

Semesters

Full Year UK

Summary

​​This module encourages students to evaluate the attitudes that are displayed towards different types of language variation in French both inside and outside France. It focuses in particular on attitudes towards varieties of French which differ from the Standard French used in Paris. The module first introduces students to the concept of Standard Language ideology. It then introduces them to a variety of sources which display varying attitudes to French from the 17th century to the present day, including texts on ‘good usage’ in French, language advice columns, online blogs, and social media sites such as Facebook and Twitter. These sources are examined to determine what areas of the French language are viewed positively and what areas are critiqued, and the methods used to critique language. The module also explores attitudes towards instances of proposed language change, including proposals to reform the French spelling system and to make language more gender inclusive, and attitudes towards regional varieties of French which different from Standard French, such as the French spoken in North America and Africa. In addition, students are introduced to the various methods used to analyse and measure language attitudes and encouraged to consider the advantages and disadvantages of methods including corpus studies, questionnaire studies, interview studies and discourse analysis studies.​ 

Target Students

Final-year students on degree programmes of which French is a component element.

Co-requisites

Modules you must take in the same academic year, or have taken in a previous year, to enrol in this module:

• French 3 (MLAC3082)

Assessment

• 40% Coursework 1: Essay 2,000 words.
• 60% Exam (2-hour): Written Exam in Person

Assessed in both autumn & spring semest

Educational Aims

Learning Outcomes

• An understanding of how language attitudes are formed, of the factors that influence the formation of language attitudes, and of the outcomes of language attitudes both in relation to the French-speaking world and more generally.  
• An understanding of the relationship between language, society and power.  

• An understanding of the methods used to analyse and measure language attitudes and the ability to employ some of these methods  
• The ability to make critical use of source material 

• The ability to engage in independent study and research  
• The ability to engage in critical and analytic reflection
• The ability to express ideas clearly and effectively in the context of a well-constructed argument 

• An improved ability to understand non-standard varieties of French to further effective and sophisticated communication with native speakers
• The ability to articulate and apply principles of linguistic analysis
• The ability to present linguistic findings in line with academic conventions in both written and oral format 

• The ability to clearly communicate information and ideas in appropriate registers of both oral and written English
• The ability to gather, process and critically evaluate material from a variety of sources  
• The ability to organise time and work programmes effectively and to meet deadlines 

• Reflecting on feedback received on marked work and feeding this in to further assessed work 

Conveners

• Dr Olivia Walsh