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Major and Minor Requirements

Students may major in French (Plan A major) or French and a second language (Plan B major).

REQUIREMENTS

Plan A majors in French are required to have 11 courses beyond FREN 102.

Plan B majors whose primary concentration is French are required to have seven courses in French beyond FREN 102.

Plan B majors whose secondary concentration is French are required to have five courses in French beyond FREN 102.

Plan A majors:

Core Courses: All Plan A majors in French are required to have 11 courses beyond FREN 102. The following five are required: FREN 241. Advanced Composition and Style; FREN 251. French Literature I: From the Middle Ages to Romanticism; FREN 252. French Literature II: Modern French Literature (no more than one of these three may be by transfer credit); at least one FREN 355 course from the special topics cycle to be taken at Trinity College, and FREN 401.

Electives: Six electives are required. Three electives can be taken in another discipline (numbered at other than the 100 level), focusing on France or on some aspect of Francophone studies. These courses may be found, for example, among the offerings of such departments or programs as English, history, fine arts, international studies, music, philosophy, political science, the other sections of the Language and Culture Studies Department, or the equivalents of such offerings in any approved foreign study program.

Plan B majors:

Plan B majors whose primary concentration is French are required to have seven courses in French beyond FREN 102; the following are required: FREN 241, two courses chosen from FREN 247, FREN 251, and FREN 252, at least one French 300-level course (to be taken at Trinity College), and FREN 401. Among the remaining two elective courses, one course in English not offered under a French rubric (numbered at other than the 100 level) focusing on France or on some aspect of Francophone study may be counted toward the major (see examples under Plan A major above).

Plan B majors whose secondary concentration is French are required to have five courses in French beyond FREN 102; the following are required: FREN 241, two courses chosen from FREN 247, FREN 251, and FREN 252.

Capstone/Senior Project: The Writing Intensive Part II requirement for Plan A majors and Plan B majors whose primary concentration is French is fulfilled by FREN 401: Senior Seminar. This course culminates in a 20-25 page research paper. Students double-majoring in French and another discipline are encouraged to combine research interests; however, no part of their senior project can be translated material from coursework in another department.

ADDITIONAL OPPORTUNITIES

Study away: All Plan A and Plan B majors are encouraged to study in an approved program in some part of the Francophone world.

Honors: Students qualifying for honors in their French majors must attain a cumulative average of A- or better in all courses counting toward the major, including FREN 401.

Language Concentration (“Minor”) in French:

The minor in French: for students who wish to minor in French, this is a sequence of 5.5 credits beyond FREN 102 designed to develop linguistic skills and to give an appreciation of Francophone culture and civilization. The five required courses in French must include FREN 281. Conversational French: Current Events and can include, but are not limited to, FREN 251, 252, or a 300-level course in French. The additional .5 credit can be achieved through the French Film Festival course (with written work done in French), or another 1-credit French course. A maximum of one course taught in English under the Language and Culture Studies rubric may be counted toward the minor. No more than one transfer credit taken in a program other than Trinity-in-Paris may be applied to the minor.

To declare a minor in French, contact Karen Humphreys, Jean-Marc Kehrès, or Sara Kippur. Students interested in cross-disciplinary approaches to the study of Francophone culture are referred to the French studies interdisciplinary minor.

French studies interdisciplinary minor

Coordinator: Karen Humphreys, Principal Lecturer

The minor in French studies has at its heart a travel-away experience in a  francophone country, because living abroad is so centrally important to the  understanding of another culture. This minor gives students the opportunity to integrate their study-away experience with courses taken at Trinity both before and after their study away. Students who participate in an approved program in a  francophone country are strongly encouraged to pursue this minor, as are those who have taken a first-year seminar on Paris. The minor consists of six courses, with a minimum grade of C in each course.

Course requirements:

The six required courses for the minor must be distributed as follows:

  • ​At least two courses taken at the Trinity home campus.
  • At least two courses taken as part of an approved study-away program in France on French topics or language.
  • At least one French course above FREN 202 taken at the Trinity home campus.
  • A capstone course completed after the return from study away that will allow students to integrate their experience away with their academic program at Trinity. Ordinarily, this course will originate in LACS. Other courses may substitute with the approval of the coordinators of the minor. Courses must be drawn from at least three categories of inquiry (the arts; history, politics, and thought; and French language and literature), as approved by the minor coordinator. A list of approved courses for each academic year will be available from the minor coordinators.