French Major

Professor Rojas
Associate Professors Colvin, Counselman, Nieto, Wolber
Assistant Professors Lewis Cusato, Paris-Huesca

“Language, aside from its character as a grammatical skeleton bequeathed by tradition, is at the same time a living body experience of a people’s form of life.” — Americo Castro

The curricula in the modern foreign languages are designed to develop skills in understanding, speaking, reading, and writing the language and to impart a critical and creative appreciation of the culture, civilization, and literature of the areas where the language is spoken. The Department of Modern Foreign Languages (MFL) offers majors and minors in French, German, and Spanish, as well as courses in Arabic, Chinese, Italian and Japanese. Students majoring in French or Spanish are required to participate in an approved program of study abroad. Students majoring in Spanish normally attend the University of Salamanca program, which is directed by Ohio Wesleyan, during the fall semester. For programs other than Salamanca, in preparation for study abroad, French and Spanish students must make an appointment with the Chair of the MFL Department to discuss and complete the academic guidelines for studying abroad. Students majoring in German are urged to study abroad in one of the approved programs in a German-speaking area (see “Off-Campus Study Programs”). The department strongly recommends that students minoring in a modern foreign language also participate in a foreign-study program. Financial aid is available for all approved programs. Detailed information concerning billing and financial aid is available in the Office of International and Off-Campus Programs.

Learning Objectives

By the time students graduate with a French major, they will:

Demonstrate strong speaking, reading, listening and writing skills in the target language that enable them to function in an environment where French is used exclusively.
Demonstrate awareness and appreciation of the cultural and linguistic diversity within France and the Francophone world.
Analyze and interpret authentic literary, filmic and other cultural texts in organized and coherent (written or oral) presentations that reflect an awareness of the socio-cultural, historical and political contexts in which the texts are produced.
Demonstrate awareness of how issues related to race, ethnicity, religion, gender, culture or socio-economic status influence perspectives and power relations and communicate respectfully with people of varying beliefs and diverse backgrounds.

Major Requirements

A minimum of nine courses (≥ 0.7 credits each) above the FREN 111 level. No more than two courses numbered below FREN 300 may be counted toward the major. Up to three courses may be transferred from an approved, semester-long study abroad program and up to two courses from an approved summer program abroad. Normally, no more than one independent study or directed readings (FREN 490, FREN 491) may be applied to the major. Only in exceptional cases, and with departmental approval, may a student take fewer than 6 courses in residence (at Ohio Wesleyan).