BA English Language and French

Our aim at the School of Modern Languages and the School of English, Communication and Philosophy is to develop and educate their students to become ‘global citizens’. By combining French and English Language you will gain a variety of transferable skills and knowledge beneficial to the world of employment, making you competitive and attractive in an increasingly global workforce and opening the doors to a variety of career paths.

English Language at Cardiff has a distinctive character. You will be provided with a rigorous grounding in the analysis of the language and you will learn such essential linguistic tools as phonetics, grammar and discourse analysis from those who are helping develop those fields. Since we take a broad approach to language, you will also learn how to analyse the types of multimodal texts (for example combining word, image and sound) that predominate in contemporary media. We also focus on the intersection of language with culture, society, politics and mind.

France is a major actor on the European and world stage, possessing a rich and sophisticated culture. French is one of the official working languages of the European Union and of the United Nations.

In addition to developing high-level language skills, you will gain an in-depth intercultural understanding that encompasses a specific knowledge of French cultures and communication and critical-thinking skills, which foster resilience and independence through time spent in immersive foreign language contexts.

We offer French for both advanced students and beginners. In terms of language acquisition, this course will enable you to develop your writing, oral and aural skills through a range of learning activities and audio-visual materials. In your first year, in addition to your language tuition, an introduction to French history and culture seeks to provide a solid foundation for more specialised studies as you progress through your course.

Your understanding of the language will be further developed and refined during your year abroad, when you will experience life in a French-speaking country at first hand.

In the final year, you have the opportunity to write a dissertation, which stimulates initiative and can serve as a useful preparation for postgraduate study.

It is important to remember that studying languages is not just about the language itself, it involves exploring many aspects of a country, and we aspire to offer a genuinely broad course that offers challenging and stimulating modules.

As a joint honours student, you will find that often there are complementary issues and perspectives that link subjects, be they critical analysis, historical contexts or recent research. On completion of this four-year programme, you will have a high level of language proficiency, as well as a critical understanding of key aspects of French history, culture, literature, politics and contemporary society.