FRANCOPHONE STUDIES AND INTERCULTURAL COMMUNICATION

Knowledge and understanding
By the end of the course, students will have an advanced understanding of the French language (target level B2+/C1) and of the main features of Francophone cultures, viewed through political and intercultural lenses. They will know the key concepts and methods of the French school of Discourse Analysis (analyse du discours), the specific characteristics of political, institutional and media discourse in the Francophone world, and the main theoretical models of intercultural communication.

Applying knowledge and understanding
Students will be able to analyse, interpret and translate authentic French-language documents (press articles, political speeches, EU documents, audiovisual and digital media). They will apply the tools of analyse du discours to identify communication strategies and linguistic variation across Francophone contexts, and will be able to recognise and manage cultural differences in communicative situations.

Making judgements
Students will develop the ability to critically assess political and media discourse, recognising rhetorical strategies, ideological positioning, cultural implicit meanings and potential sources of intercultural misunderstanding. This capacity is built through the comparative analysis of media sources, collaborative workshops on communication strategies, and the selection and critical examination of texts for the final dossier.

Communication skills
Students will be able to communicate their analyses clearly and effectively in French, using the appropriate specialised vocabulary and adapting their register to different cultural and institutional contexts. These skills are developed through seminar discussions, group work, the simulation of political and intercultural debates, and the written analysis of the exam dossier.

Learning skills
Students will acquire the ability to continue improving their language, analytical and intercultural competences independently. This is fostered through the independent selection and analysis of ten texts for the final dossier, individual reading of the recommended bibliography, peer learning in workshops, and optional language practice sessions with language instructors.

Attendance is compulsory, in accordance with the Glopem Regulations. Only students arriving late due to the late granting of a visa may be admitted to the exam as non-attending students; they are invited to contact the instructor at the start of the course to agree on an equivalent set of tasks.

The course is designed to facilitate an extensive exploration of linguistic variation and communication strategies across the Francophone sphere, employing Semiotic Discourse Analysis as the foundational theoretical framework for scholarly enquiry. Through the adoption of student-centred teaching methodologies across seminars, lectures, and workshops, the course aims to enable students to develop a critical analysis of diverse media (e.g. newspapers, political discourses, websites and social media, television, cinema, radio). This multidisciplinary approach endeavours to equip students with the analytical tools necessary to navigate and interpret the complexities of Francophone linguistic and cultural landscapes.

PROSPECTIVE TEACHING PROGRAM

MODULE 1: Introduction to Francophone Studies

• Activity: excerpts from the podcast Francophonie, à qui appartient le français ? (Additional: Binge Audio, 24 June 2020); collective analysis of authentic (audiovisual) documents on current Francophone affairs.

MODULE 2: Introduction to Political and Institutional Discourse Analysis

• Basic structures of discourse analysis (Required: Raus 2017, ch. 2)
• Discourse as an "act" and the polyphony of communication (Required: Raus 2017, ch. 3)
• Lexicon and interdiscursivity: semantic relations, mythologies and interdiscursive memory (Required: Raus 2017, ch. 4)
• Ethos (Required: Raus 2017, ch. 8)
• Political discourse and the discourse of international organisations (Required: Raus 2017, ch. 10–11; Additional: Le Bart 1998, intr.)
• Activity for all sessions: collective analysis of authentic (audiovisual) documents on current Francophone affairs.

MODULE 3: Semiotics of Media

• The construction of the enemy through the media (Required: Conesa 2011a; Additional: Conesa 2011b, intr.; Book 2, ch. "L'ennemi médiatique"; Bromberg et Rodolphe Ghiglione 1998, intr., ch. 1)
• Activity: collective analysis of authentic (audiovisual) documents on current Francophone affairs.

MODULE 4: Elements of Intercultural Communication

• From the linguistic imaginary to the cultural imaginary (Required: Houdebine 2015)
• Introduction to the concept of intercultural communication (Required: Ladmiral & Lipiansky 2015, intr.; Bourse & Yücel 2019, intr.)
• Hofstede's "cultural dimensions" (Additional: Hofstede 1994; Bollinger & Hofstede 1987)
• The multicultural dimension in groups and organisations (Required: Meyer 2014, 2017)
• Activity for all sessions: role-plays on "cultural dimensions" based on the charts by Hofstede (1994, 1987), and by Meyer (2014, 2017).

MODULE 5: Collaborative Analysis of Media and Communication Strategies

• Activity: preparation of a role-play on managing intercultural communication, based on a current news item chosen together with the students.

MODULE 6: Simulation of Political and Intercultural Debate

• Activity: preparation of a simulated political debate through a role-play.

SUPPLEMENTARY TEACHING
The academic course will be enhanced by optional language practice sessions, supported by language instructors.

TEXTBOOK

• Pierre Conesa, La fabrication de l’ennemi dans les démocraties et quelques autres régimes, AFRI, 2011a, pp. 67-78.
• Pierre Conesa, La fabrication de l'ennemi, ou comment tuer avec sa conscience pour soi, Paris, Robert Laffont, 2011b.
• Christian Le Bart, Le discours politique, Paris, PUF, coll. « Que sais-je ? », 1998.
• Daniel Bollinger et Geert Hofstede, Les différences culturelles dans le management, Paris, Les Éditions d'Organisation, 1987.
• Geert Hofstede, Vivre dans un monde multiculturel, Paris, Les Éditions d'Organisation, 1994.
• Michel Bourse, Halime Yücel, Communication interculturelle: mode d'emploi, Paris, l'Harmattan, 2019.
  
• Marcel Bromberg et Rodolphe Ghiglione, Discours politique et télévision : La vérité de l'heure, Paris, PUF, 1998.
• Anne-Marie Houdebine, « De l'imaginaire linguistique à l'imaginaire culturel », La Linguistique, vol. 51, 2015, p. 3-40.
• Jean-René Ladmiral et Edmond Marc Lipiansky, La communication interculturelle, Paris, Les Belles Lettres, 2015.
• Julien Longhi et Georges-Élia Sarfati (dir.), Les discours institutionnels en confrontations : contribution à l'analyse des discours institutionnels et politiques, Paris, L’Harmattan, 2014.
• Erin Meyer, «Traverser le champ de mines culturel», Harvard Business ReviewFrance, 19/11/2014.
• Erin Meyer, «Obtenir un Yes, Sí, Ja, Hai ou Da», Harvard Business ReviewFrance, 12/01/2017.

Dictionaries and vocabularies

• Mokhtar Lakehal, Le grand livre de la politique, géopolitique et relations internationales : 4000 termes définis, Paris, L'Harmattan, 2014.
• Olivier Nay, Dictionnaire de la pensée politique : idées, doctrines et philosophes, Paris, Armand Colin, 2005.
• Olivier Nay, Lexique de science politique : vie et institutions politiques, Paris, Dalloz, 2014 (3e éd.).
• Alain Mabanckou et Abdourahman Ali Waberi, Dictionnaire enjoué des cultures africaines, Paris, Fayard, 2019.
• Mokhtar Lakehal, Dictionnaire de science politique: Les 1500 termes politiques et diplomatiques pour rédiger, comprendre et répondre au discours politique, Paris, L’Harmattan, 2009 (4e éd.).
• Dario Battistella, Jérémie Cornut, Elie Baranets (dir.), Théorie des relations internationales (6e édition), Paris, SciencesPo, 2019.

Suggested Grammars

• Françoise Bidaud, Traduire en français aujourd’hui. Consolider ses connaissances en grammaire en traduisant, Novara, UTET, 2019 (ou autres éditions).
• Nicolas Laurent Bénédicte Delaunay (éd.), Bescherelle, La grammaire pour tous, Paris, Hatier, 2012 (ou autres éditions).
• Françoise Bidaud, Grammaire du Français pour italophones, Turin, UTET, 2021 (ou autres éditions).
• Y. Delatour, D. Jennepin, M. Léon-Dufour, B. Teyssier, Nouvelle grammaire du français (Cours de Civilisation Française de la Sorbonne), Paris, Hachette, 2004 (ou autres éditions).

• Type of assessment: Analysis of a dossier.
• Structure: Analysis in French of a dossier consisting of ten texts selected by the student (about 10 pages). The dossier must be submitted to the teacher ten days before the exam.
• Components and weight: Dossier analysis, 100%.
• Intermediate assessment: None.
• Assessment criteria: grading follows the programme's shared grading grid below (18–30 and lode), based on knowledge of the topics, capacity to apply and discuss them critically, and clarity of exposition. Course-specific criteria: quality of the analysis in French; relevance of the ten texts selected by the student; language proficiency.
• Attending / non-attending students: The continuous-assessment components assume attendance in accordance with Glopem regulations. Only students arriving late due to the late granting of a visa may be admitted to the exams as non-attending students. They are invited to contact the instructor at the start of the course to agree on an equivalent set of tasks.
• Language: French.
• Use of AI tools: The use of AI tools is not allowed.

To ensure equal opportunities and in compliance with current laws, interested students may request a personal interview in order to plan any compensatory and/or dispensatory measures based on educational objectives and specific needs. Students can also contact the CInAP (Centro per l’integrazione Attiva e Partecipata – Servizi per le Disabilità e/o i DSA) referring teacher within their department (https://www.cinap.unict.it/content/referenti).

In Italy, grades for individual courses range from 18 (minimum pass) to 30 (maximum). The highest grade may be awarded with lode (cum laude, distinction) for outstanding performance. The scale is not directly convertible to percentages or GPA, but it is roughly comparable to “sufficient–excellent” ranges used internationally.

• Analyse the enunciative markers in a political speech and discuss how the speaker constructs their ethos.
• Compare how two Francophone media outlets from different countries report the same event: lexical choices, nominalisations, reported speech, and framing.
• Examine an institutional document in French: argumentative structure, interdiscursive memory, institutional register, and the way it addresses its readers.
• Identify the cultural implicit meanings in a media text and discuss the possible sources of intercultural misunderstanding for a reader from another cultural context.
• Justify the selection of the ten texts and explain the coherence of the dossier as a whole.