UCL CENTRE FOR LANGUAGES
& INTERNATIONAL EDUCATION
Course Units 2015-2016
French for Professional Purposes I and II
Prerequisite for entry
Successful completion of French Business and Current Affairs at the UCL CLIE, have completed some post-‘A’ level
training or spent some time in the country actively using the language.
Course duration
40 x 2-hour classes.
Self-Study
160 hours in total.
Course codes
LCFR6067, LCFRG067 and LCFRM067.
Aims and Objectives
The course is designed for advanced level students requiring the language for professional purposes.
It comprises knowledge and understanding both of the structure of the language and its use in professional
environments, such as presentations, meetings and conferences. The course covers career development in the target
language countries, business culture and conventions, negotiating and interacting, reading specialist texts (i.e. in the
student’s main degree subject e.g. engineering), note taking and debates as well as other related topics. These areas will
be related back to the student’s degree subject.
The course will enhance knowledge and use of linguistically complex structures (a variety of styles and registers from a
range of authentic material).
Various transferable skills will also be further developed.
Functions
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expressing specialised opinions, critical topic-related comments;
debating, commenting, negotiating;
composing written pieces of information for professional purposes (summaries, reports, synthesis, essay work);
conducting presentations on complex professional topics;
conference skills (simulating conference and professional discussions);
note-taking;
reading specialised texts;
interviewing.
Course Content
Main topics/themes to be covered
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employment in business and industry;
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job applications and interviews;
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work and employment policies;
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business cultures;
project management.
Skills
Reading
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reading for gist, scanning for specific information and text structure in professional sources;
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in-depth analysis of professional topics in relevant publications.
Writing
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formal business letters (summarising / writing reports);
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analysis and review of articles;
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note-taking from presentations;
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writing up presentations;
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professional reports;
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CVs and covering letters.
Listening
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radio, TV;
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presentations;
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professional debates.
Speaking
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formal and informal discussions, debates, round table;
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presentations;
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conferences and seminars.
Linguistic Structures
Discourse Strategies
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analysing/comparing texts from various professional sources (different text types, styles and registers);
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preparing oral contributions for different audiences;
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spoken versus written professional communication.
Main Aspects of These Strategies
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structuring (logical structures);
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linking devices (lexical, grammatical);
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assessing appropriate usage of registers and style;
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professional vocabulary.
Learning Resources
There is no textbook for this course.
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Monolingual Dictionary (Micro Petit Robert)
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Bilingual Dictionary (Collins/Robert)
Materials for the course will be drawn from:
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Authentic written material from various sources to be advised by tutor; specialized tailor-made professional
purpose folders designed by tutor.
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Authentic audio and audio-visual material.
In addition there is a wide range of language learning materials available for self-study in the Self-Access Centre.