BA French

Programme overview

Entry requirements

Entry Requirements are available on the Course Search entry

Programme specification

Studying French at Leeds will enable you to become a versatile, inter-culturally aware, and professional graduate able to speak, write and read French with confidence in the workplace and beyond. Thanks to the skills gained from our course, which includes a compulsory year abroad, our students from the last ten years are now working in journalism and the media, the charity sector, translation and interpreting, law, the civil service, business, marketing, tourism, education, design, the arts and finance.

Language skills and a broad knowledge of the diverse cultural heritage and varied history of the French-speaking world will make you part of the global reach of French ‘soft power’ today: as a major cultural, economic and political force, France remains hugely influential in the shaping of the modern world. On our degree, language, culture and society combine and interact from the beginning: knowing about the diversity of French means that you will be greatly respected when working with any French speaker. At Leeds you will gain a thorough knowledge of this global language and its culture, especially during the year abroad in a French-speaking context (Belgium, Switzerland, Canada, Guadeloupe, Martinique, French Guiana and Senegal are recent destinations in addition to Metropolitan France).

Whether you are learning as a beginner or have a more advanced understanding of French, you’ll study the language of the media, commerce and cultural expression, and choose between options in advanced translation and interpreting, political institutions, modern history, literature, contemporary visual culture and cinema. The research culture of French@Leeds ranges widely and we are committed to offering modules taught in French from the second year onwards.

Year 1

[Learning Outcomes, Transferable (Key) Skills, Assessment]
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Optional Modules

Students with prior knowledge of French (A level/B1 CEFR) will be required to study the following compulsory modules:

Code	Title	Credits	Semester	Pass for Progression
FREN1019	Writing the self in French	20	Semesters 1 & 2 (Sep to Jun)
FREN1020	Introduction to French Studies (Resistance and Desire)	20	Semesters 1 & 2 (Sep to Jun)
FREN1070	Introduction to Skills in French Translation	20	Semesters 1 & 2 (Sep to Jun)
FREN1120	Upper Intermediate French (B2)	20	Semesters 1 & 2 (Sep to Jun)	PFP

Students who do not have prior knowledge of French to B1 CEFR / A-level must take the following compulsory modules:

Code	Title	Credits	Semester	Pass for Progression
FREN1023	Ab Initio Introduction to French Studies (Resistance and Desire)	20	Semesters 1 & 2 (Sep to Jun)
FREN1100	Beginners French (A1)	20	Semester 1 (Sep to Jan)
FREN1110	Pre-Intermediate French (A2)	20	Semester 2 (Jan to Jun)	PFP

All students must take 20 credits of the following optional modules:

Code	Title	Credits	Semester	Pass for Progression
MODL1050	Introduction to Audio-Visual Culture	20	Semesters 1 & 2 (Sep to Jun)
MODL1070	World Histories	20	Semesters 1 & 2 (Sep to Jun)
MODL1090	Intercultural Competence: Theory and Application	20	Semester 2 (Jan to Jun)
MODL1100	Politics, Culture and Society	20	Semesters 1 & 2 (Sep to Jun)
MODL1150	Worlds of Literature	20	Semesters 1 & 2 (Sep to Jun)
MODL1401	Discourse, Culture and Identity	20	Semesters 1 & 2 (Sep to Jun)

Please note that optional modules run subject to enrolments. An optional module may not run if only a low number of students choose it.

Discovery Modules

Students who are taking FREN1120 must take 20 credits of discovery modules.

Students who are taking FREN1100 and FREN1110 must take 40 credits of discovery modules

Year 2

[Learning Outcomes, Transferable (Key) Skills, Assessment]
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Optional Modules

Students who studied FREN1010/FREN1120 in Year 1 (post A-Level route) must take the following module:

Code	Title	Credits	Semester	Pass for Progression
FREN2010	French Language in Contexts	20	Semesters 1 & 2 (Sep to Jun)	PFP

Students who studied FREN1012/FREN1100 and FREN1013/FREN1110 in Year 1 (ab initio route) must take the following modules:

Code	Title	Credits	Semester	Pass for Progression
FREN2017	French Language Skills (B1/B2 of the CEFR)	20	Semesters 1 & 2 (Sep to Jun)	PFP
FREN2210	Forms of Subversion	20	Semesters 1 & 2 (Sep to Jun)

Students taking FREN2017 and FREN2210 may take FREN2200 from the second list of optional modules below:

Students taking FREN2010 are required to study a minimum of 20 credits and may study up to 40 credits from the first list of optional modules below:

Code	Title	Credits	Semester	Pass for Progression
FREN2090	Politics and Society in France since 1945	20	Semester 2 (Jan to Jun)
FREN2340	Twentieth and Twenty-First Century French Fiction	20	Semester 1 (Sep to Jan)
FREN2352	Self and Other	20	Semester 1 (Sep to Jan)

Please note that optional modules run subject to enrolments. An optional module may not run if only a low number of students choose it.

Students taking FREN2010 may also study up to 20 credits of the following optional modules:

Code	Title	Credits	Semester	Pass for Progression
FREN2200	Cinema in France: The Seventh Art	20	Semester 2 (Jan to Jun)
FREN2350	Introduction to Professional French Translation and Interpreting	20	Semesters 1 & 2 (Sep to Jun)
FREN2360	The French-Speaking Business World	20	Semesters 1 & 2 (Sep to Jun)

Please note that optional modules run subject to enrolments. An optional module may not run if only a low number of students choose it.

All students are required to take 20 credits from the following optional modules:

Code	Title	Credits	Semester	Pass for Progression
MODL2003	Global Queer Politics and Cultures	20	Semester 2 (Jan to Jun)
MODL2006	Social Class across Cultures	20	Semesters 1 & 2 (Sep to Jun)
MODL2015	Black Europe	20	Semesters 1 & 2 (Sep to Jun)
MODL2070	Reception, Transmission and Translation: The Global Circulation of Literature	20	Semesters 1 & 2 (Sep to Jun)
MODL2075	Global Environmental Humanities	20	Semester 2 (Jan to Jun)
MODL2090	Languages in Action: from Theory to Practice	20	Semesters 1 & 2 (Sep to Jun)
MODL2250	Digital Communications Across Cultures	20	Semester 2 (Jan to Jun)

Please note that optional modules run subject to enrolments. An optional module may not run if only a low number of students choose it.

Discovery Modules

All students must take a minimum of 20 and may take up to 40 credits of discovery modules.

Year 3

[Learning Outcomes, Transferable (Key) Skills, Assessment]
View Timetable

Compulsory Modules

All students will be required to study the following compulsory module:

Code	Title	Credits	Semester	Pass for Progression
MODL9500	LCS Year Abroad	120	Semesters 1 & 2 (Sep to Jun)	PFP

Year 4

[Learning Outcomes, Transferable (Key) Skills, Assessment]
View Timetable

Compulsory Modules

All Students must take the following compulsory modules:

Code	Title	Credits	Semester	Pass for Progression
FREN3010	Advanced French Language Skills	20	Semesters 1 & 2 (Sep to Jun)	PFP
MODL3050	Final Year Project	40	Semesters 1 & 2 (Sep to Jun)	PFP

Optional Modules

Students must choose a minimum of 20 and may take up to 40 credits from the following optional modules:

Code	Title	Credits	Semester	Pass for Progression
FREN3073	Theory and Practice of Interpreting (French and English)	20	Semesters 1 & 2 (Sep to Jun)
FREN3105	Word and Image: Culture in the French-Speaking World	20	Semesters 1 & 2 (Sep to Jun)
FREN3106	Protest from below in the Francophone World	20	Semester 1 (Sep to Jan)

Please note that optional modules run subject to enrolments. An optional module may not run if only a low number of students choose it.

Students may also take up to 20 credits of the following optional modules:

Code	Title	Credits	Semester	Pass for Progression
MODL3130	Languages in Action: from Theory to Practice	20	Semesters 1 & 2 (Sep to Jun)
MODL3200	Representing the Holocaust: Transgression and the Taboo	20	Semester 1 (Sep to Jan)
MODL3410	Contemporary World Literature	20	Semesters 1 & 2 (Sep to Jun)
MODL3620	Decolonial Approaches	20	Semester 1 (Sep to Jan)
MODL3630	Social Movements across Cultures	20	Semester 2 (Jan to Jun)
MODL3650	Minoritised Languages, Dialects and Cultures from Past to Present	20	Semester 2 (Jan to Jun)

Please note that optional modules run subject to enrolments. An optional module may not run if only a low number of students choose it.

Discovery Modules

Students may also take up to 40 credits of discovery modules.

Last updated: 19/05/2026 14:52:55

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