Course Title: French 4

Part A: Course Overview

Course Title: French 4

Credit Points: 12.00


Course Coordinator: Dr Alexis Bergantz

Course Coordinator Phone: +61 3 9925 8203

Course Coordinator Email: alexis.bergantz@rmit.edu.au

Course Coordinator Location: 37.05.26

Course Coordinator Availability: By appointment


Pre-requisite Courses and Assumed Knowledge and Capabilities

Required Prior Study

LANG1430 French 4 is open to students who have successfully completed LANG1187/LANG1428 French 3 or who have completed 2 years of ab initio (beginner) French at high school.

Students who have had approximately 140 hours of French tuition in another institution and have reached an intermediate level (A2/B1 on the CEFR*) may be allowed to enrol in the course but only after a placement test.

If you have completed Year 12 French, please contact the course coordinator to request a placement test.

Please note that enrolments may be refused on the basis of previous French study or abilities, and students may be instructed to vary their enrolment in accordance with RMIT’s Enrolment Processes

* Common European Framework of Reference for Languages 


Course Description

This course is the fourth of eight consecutive courses in French offered at RMIT University.  

The course will provide you with the opportunity to further develop your language skills and to build on the foundations of French 3. All classes will be delivered in French and emphasis will be placed on the development of oral fluency and aural competency, as well as on your skills in reading and writing.  

A wide variety of materials (including multimedia and interactive materials) will be used to enrich your knowledge of French speaking cultures and societies, and contribute to your knowledge of cross-cultural issues.  

Student-centred language practice and communicative activities encourage you to be responsible for your own learning, and critical in your communication with people from different cultures. 


Objectives/Learning Outcomes/Capability Development

This course will complement the RMIT capabilities you are developing in your program. 


Course Learning Outcomes

Upon successful completion of this course, you will be able to: 

  1. Communicate effectively in both oral and written French in most social contexts, including giving and following commands, describing feelings and emotions and a range of hypothetical situations
  2. Analyse and comprehend authentic spoken, written and multimedia French materials, including French spoken at normal speed by a variety of native speakers 
  3. Effectively employ language learning strategies and techniques to further develop your language skills, and demonstrate independent learning 
  4. Reflect on and critically analyse aspects of contemporary French and Francophone societies and the relationship between culture and language 
  5. Reflect on and debate your own cultural values and norms, and make critical comparison to French and Francophone cultures, further developing your knowledge of cross-cultural communication issues and challenges 


Overview of Learning Activities

A variety of structured in class exercises provide opportunities to develop your skills, with emphasis placed on communicative skill building, guided and natural conversations, and hypothetical situations. 

Multimedia teaching and learning resources, and readings relating to sociolinguistics and cross-cultural communication issues will be introduced and discussed. Various role-plays, exercises and games are employed to expose potential difficulties which may arise in cross-cultural communication. 

You will be expected to participate actively in many pair and group activities and to use only French. Therefore, regular class attendance is important to support your learning. 


Overview of Learning Resources

You may need to purchase a prescribed text and a recommended language dictionary. Multimedia teaching and learning resources and tools will also be used, and made available through MyRMIT Studies. 

RMIT will provide you with resources and tools for learning in this course through our online systems.

There are services available to support your learning through the University Library. The Library provides guides on academic referencing and subject specialist help as well as a range of study support services. For further information, please visit the Library page on the RMIT University website and the myRMIT student portal. 


Overview of Assessment

Assessment Tasks

You will be assessed on how well you meet the course’s learning outcomes and on your development against the program learning outcomes.

Assessment Tasks

Assessment Task 1: Writing task 1 (10%); Writing task 2 (10%) CLO1, CLO2 

Assessment Task 2: Oral assignment, including reflective statement, (20%), CLO1, CLO2 

Assessment Task 3: Contribution to peer-learning (10%), CLO1, CLO3, CLO4, CLO5. 

Assessment Task 4: Final oral task (20%) CLO1, CLO2 ; Final listening and written task (30%), CLO1, CLO2, CLO4, CLO5. 

If you have a long term medical condition and/or disability it may be possible to negotiate to vary aspects of the learning or assessment methods.

You can contact the program coordinator or Equitable Learning Services if you would like to find out more.

Your course assessment conforms to RMIT assessment principles, regulations, policies, procedures and instructions.