French Major

Language, Literature and Culture Overview

The Language, Literature and Culture Department aims to promote students’ competency in learning other languages, and to broaden and enrich their education through in-depth study of other cultures. Mastering a language includes listening, speaking, reading and writing proficiency.  Students can easily apply these skills to other disciplines at Clark and to their future professions. 

Students can study ASL, Chinese, French, German, Hebrew, Japanese, Latin and Spanish at Clark, and can major in Ancient Civilization, Comparative Literature, French or Spanish. It is also possible, at the department’s discretion, to major in more than one language taught at Clark (the Combined Language major), or to self-design a major in German. Students can also apply skills in Asian languages to an Asian Studies major and skills in Hebrew to a concentration in Jewish Studies.

The Language, Literature and Culture Department is part of the Alice Coonley Higgins School of Humanities.

For more information, please visit the Language, Literature, and Culture Department’s website.

French Major Requirements

1.  Eight courses above the intermediate level. French major credit is given only for courses above FREN 106:

• An introductory course in literary analysis, in French  (FREN 131   or FREN 132 )
• A course in culture criticism, in French (FREN 137   or FREN 140 )
• The Advanced Topics course (297) or equivalent
• At least two courses taken in a Clark-sponsored or Clark-approved study-abroad program (This requirement may be waived in special circumstances.)

At least four of the eight required courses must be taken in residence at the Worcester campus.

2. Credit is only given for FREN 120  or FREN 124 , not both.

3. Five related courses, one of which must be CMLT 130  - The National Imagination. These five related courses should be selected with the major adviser. These are courses that explore human activities and knowledge as related to cultural practices. They might be courses in other languages and literatures or in areas that are broadly related to cultural studies such as: writing/rhetoric/English, the arts (drama/music/art), history/politics/philosophy/religion, some social science courses, but not methodologies or field work in social sciences, and usually not hard sciences/math. When the major program is concentrated in one language, a reading knowledge of a second language is strongly recommended. Only course grades of C or better may be counted toward the major.

Honors

This honors program is for language, literature and culture majors only. By November 1 of the capstone semester, faculty will identify qualified senior majors (with a minimum GPA of 3.5) and invite them to submit a proposal for a semester-long honors thesis during the spring of their senior year. Other students who wish to take honors should identify an area of interest during the capstone semester, consult with the capstone professor and/or an appropriate honors adviser, and submit a proposal (by December 1) to the professor they would like to direct the project.*

• Proposals will be approved at the discretion of the individual professor.
• The Department Chair must also approve the project.
• The honors candidate and adviser will decide on a work schedule, but a preliminary draft must be completed by the first week of April.
• The final version is due one week before the last day of classes.
• A second faculty reader will participate in the final evaluation of the honors project.
• An honors project counts as one unit of credit.

*Students graduating early and wishing to do an honors project should see their adviser during the fall of their junior year and get approval for the project from the thesis director and the department chair.

Language, Literature and Culture Faculty

Languages, Literature and Culture Courses

Courses offered within the last 2 Academic Years