Ateneo - UPO

French Language for Tourism. In line with the educational objectives of the Master's Degree Course in Languages, Cultures, Tourism (LM-49), the course aims to support students in acquiring linguistic, communicative, and intercultural knowledge and skills useful for working in the tourism sector (oral interaction; written comprehension and production; translation).

For the language course: Françoise Bidaud, La nouvelle grammaire du français pour italophones, Torino, Utet, 2008. For the linguistics course: Domitille Hatuel, Tourisme en action : théorie, pratique, itinéraires, Recanati, ELI-La Spiga, 2015; complementary documents uploaded on DIR by the lecturer.

The course aims to develop students’ skills in oral interaction and written comprehension and production in French, particularly in the field of tourism. The French Language module will explore aspects related to phonetics, morphosyntax, and grammar, with the goal of achieving Level B2 in the various skills in accordance with the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (CEFR); the Linguistics module, on the other hand, will be dedicated to the study of specialized vocabulary, communication strategies, and the most appropriate linguistic registers for addressing different contexts and audiences in the field of tourism. 50% of the classes for both courses will be lecture-based, and 50% will be interactive. Classes for both courses will be conducted 50% in a lecture format and 50% in an interactive format and will be worth 3.8 CFU (language) + 1.2 CFU (linguistics); the remaining 2.2 + 4.8 CFU will correspond to self-study.

B1 language proficiency level according to the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (CEFR: https://europass.europa.eu/it/common-european-framework-reference-language-skills).

Lectures (delivery-based teaching: approximately 50%); group work (text analysis, text production, translations) and interaction between participants and the lecturer (interactive teaching: approximately 50%). The course’s DIR page features exercises to be completed independently, as well as supplementary and in-depth teaching materials, which form an essential complement to the activities carried out in class.

The DIR platform will provide the detailed course syllabus, instructions and sample written exam questions, worksheets, and supplementary teaching materials. If you have any questions regarding the course programme, teaching materials, lecture content or the conduct of the examination, please contact the lecturer. Students with physical disabilities, Learning Disabilities or Special Education Needs can request specific services and tools via reference office consulting the University webpage: https://www.uniupo.it/en/services/services-students-physical-or-learning-disabilities. Students with disabilities, learning disabilities or special education needs, once they have contacted the University Staff, can refer to the lecturer to define the examination modalities.

For the evaluation of the integrated course, the grades for the two modules will be taken into account equally and jointly. For full details regarding the administration of the two exams (one for the Language module and one for the Linguistics module), please refer to the course descriptions for the respective courses. Please note that, for both exams, students with disabilities, Specific Learning Disorders, and Special Educational Needs will be provided with dedicated tools and services.
The language exam will consist of a written test and an oral exam. The written test will comprise a grammar test (60 questions) graded out of 30, and a written comprehension and production test, also graded out of 30. Passing both tests with a minimum grade of 18/30 is essential to pass the entire exam. The overall grade of the written test corresponds to the average of the grades of its two component tests. The evaluations will be divided into 5 bands: (1) Excellent (30 with honors/30): excellent knowledge of all course content and full mastery of all expected skills; precision, accuracy, and effectiveness of expression. (2) Very good (30-28/30): very good knowledge of all course content and achievement of all expected skills; expression free of significant errors. (3) Good (27-24/30): good knowledge of course content and satisfactory achievement of all expected skills; overall correct expression. (4) Sufficient (23-18/30): acceptable knowledge of course content and sufficient achievement of expected skills; presence of some errors in expression. (5) Insufficient (less than 18): partial and superficial knowledge of course content and failure to achieve the expected skills; expression flawed by numerous errors. Once the written test is passed, students can take the oral exam, which consists of the presentation of the compulsory project monitored during the academic year. The oral exam awards a maximum of 3 points (1 for fluency, 1 for grammatical accuracy, and 1 for phonological accuracy): the overall grade for the course is calculated by adding the grade obtained in the written test to the points earned in the oral exam.
The linguistics exam will consist of two components, a written exam (written comprehension-production and translation: graded out of 30 points, passing score at 18 points) and an oral exam (presentation of the translation projects carried out in groups and answering 3 theoretical and methodological questions from the professor regarding the course syllabus: graded out of 30 points, passing score at 18 points). The two components may be taken in different exam sessions, but no more than 12 months apart from each other. To validate the exam, it is necessary to achieve a passing score in both components. The evaluations will be divided into 5 bands:(1) Excellent (30 with honors/30): excellent knowledge of all course content and full mastery of all expected skills; precision, accuracy, and effectiveness in written and oral expression and in translation.(2) Very good (30-28/30): very good knowledge of all course content and achievement of all expected skills; absence of significant errors in written and oral expression and in translation.(3) Good (27-24/30): good knowledge of course content and satisfactory achievement of all expected skills; overall correct written and oral expression and translations.(4) Sufficient (23-18/30): acceptable knowledge of course content and sufficient achievement of expected skills; presence of some errors in expression and translation.(5) Insufficient (less than 18): partial and superficial knowledge of course content and failure to achieve the expected skills; written and oral expression and translations flawed by numerous errors.

The course aims to guide and support students in acquiring the linguistic, metalinguistic, and cultural knowledge and skills necessary to communicate and work in the tourism sector. Language instruction is based on the study of French grammar (CEFR Level B2), the development of written and oral production and comprehension skills at Level B2, the acquisition of idiomatic expressions, and the translation of sentences from Italian to French. Linguistics instruction, on the other hand, will be based on the analysis of tourism communication materials and the completion of practical activities (written and oral production; translation) using real tourism and informational materials (texts produced by the Drôme Department’s regional promotion agency and by various public institutions in the Vercelli area); Ample attention will be devoted to studying the sector’s vocabulary and relevant communication strategies for interacting in various contexts and with different audiences.

For the language module, the expected learning outcomes can be summarized as achieving level B2 of the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (CEFR) in the various skills (https://europass.europa.eu/it/common-european-framework-reference-language-skills). For the linguistics module, the learning outcomes can be divided into basic outcomes (the ability to communicate effectively in French in everyday situations relevant to professionals in the tourism sector; the ability to produce accurate and relevant translations and texts) and advanced outcomes (the ability to use vocabulary, idioms, and linguistic register appropriate to different types of contexts and target audiences).