Undergraduate Course Information
Courses offered in 2026-2027
Use this page to explore course offerings and to plan your way through your degree program.
Course Descriptions
Short excerpts of course descriptions have been provided for your convenience. Use the provided links to find the official course descriptions in the Academic Calendar. Unless otherwise indicated, courses grant 3.0 units of credit. This page only contains courses that will be offered in 2026-2027. For a list of all option courses, including those not offered this year, see our Option Courses page.
Skill Tree Progression
Although courses often develop many skills at once, a visual summary of the core skills you should expect to develop in each course has been provided. These visuals are meant to provide a useful shorthand; always refer to course learning outcomes to see exactly what you will be learning in a course.
Skill Development Key
- Oral Communication
- Written Communication
- Grammar Knowledge and Intuition
- Textual Analysis and Critical Thinking
- Research Methodologies
- Professional and Applied Skills
100-level Courses
FREN 151 and FREN 152 serve as the introductory courses for French Studies plans.
In these intermediate-level courses taught in French, you'll develop a broad base of language skills--reading, writing, listening, speaking--that will enable you to succeed in our program.
FREN 118 - Academic Calendar Description
This French course is designed for students wishing to further develop their written and oral communication skills as well as acquire the means to competently engage in a range of everyday common social and professional situations.
NOTE: To determine eligibility, students must complete the French Placement Test and submit a solemn declaration of their proficiency level (see Department website for additional details).
Note: This course cannot be used as credit towards any FREN Plan.
See Getting Started for more information.
Skill Development :
This course, offered entirely in French, is designed for non-native French speakers at the intermediate level (approximately B1) seeking to enhance their grammar, reading, listening, writing, and speaking skills.
NOTE: Students who have completed Grade 12 Core French, International Baccalaureate French, French Immersion, French-as-a-Foreign Language (or the equivalent of these) should take the Placement Test prior to registering for the course to assess for possible placement in FREN 152 or upper-year French courses (200-level and above).
See Getting Started for more information.
Skill Development :
This course, delivered entirely in French, is designed for non-native French speakers at the intermediate level (approximately B1 to B2) seeking to enhance their grammar, reading, listening, writing and speaking skills, with an introduction to literary analysis.
French Plan: FREN 152 grants credit towards all degree plans in French. It is the gateway course for all French degree plans.
See Getting Started for more information.
Skill Development :
200-level Courses
Several 200-level courses focus on refining specific language skills, while FREN 230 serves as an introduction to methods of textual and critical analysis that will serve you in later courses.
This course is designed for non-native French speakers approximately at the B1 level seeking to enhance their written and oral communication skills while gaining cultural insights and expanding their vocabulary pertaining to cultural concepts and practices. Emphasis is placed on aural comprehension, oral production, and active student participation. Throughout the course, learners work in small groups on collaborative projects to foster practical language application.
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The methodology of literary analysis. Assignments may include textual analysis and dissertation (essays).
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A presentation of the principles of textual production in French as applied in the production of various types of texts.
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300-level Language Courses
300-level language courses allow you to dive deep into the nuances of the French language and achieve even greater levels of fluency.
This course is designed for non-native French speakers approximately at the B2 level seeking to fine-tune their written and oral communication skills while acquiring cultural insights and enriching their vocabulary pertaining to cultural concepts and practices. Throughout the course, learners engage in both individual and small group activities, exploring diverse contemporary topics that foster proficiency in language subtleties, cultural awareness, and a more global perspective.
Skill Development :
Acquisition of a deeper knowledge of the principles of textual production, with particular emphasis on the use of computer-based grammatical and lexicographic tools, and an examination of the stylistic constraints on textual production.
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A detailed analysis of French grammar based on the description of language structures.
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A practical translation course. Review exercises in comparative stylistics, written, and oral themes.
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300-level Literature Surveys
These broad literature surveys are designed to give you a better understanding of the cultural and literary history of France and its former colonies.
An introduction to French literature from the Middle Ages to the end of the Eighteenth Century stressing how tensions generated between different ideas within a period determine the aesthetic, philosophical, and literary choices made by major authors.
Skill Development:
An introduction to French 19th and contemporary literature. More specifically focused on literature the course will also explore predominant trends in different media such as painting and cinema. Drawing on critical, historical, and literary theory, students will acquire the skills to assess how specific works reflect or relate to the aesthetic, literary, and philosophical trends of their time.
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An introduction to the history of ideas and cultural evolution in French Canada, African and Caribbean culture and literature, from the colonial period to the present day.
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300-level Option Courses
These courses will be offered in 2026-2027. Different option courses will be offered in following years.
Option courses allow you to hone your communication and critical thinking skills.
They often allow you to work on questions and texts that are close to a faculty member's active research interests.
An examination of comparative approaches to Indigenous literatures across North America. Questions of translation, tribal specificity, literary nationalism, inter- and trans-Indigenous orientations are examined in relation to a diversity of works by Indigenous scholars, writers, filmmakers, and other artists and thinkers.
Skill Development:
In this course, which aims to provide a solid undergraduate-level foundation in several key figures, texts and concepts in Haitian Studies, students will learn to address some common misunderstandings about Haiti by exploring the political documents of its revolutionary period and literary representations of its popular culture and vodou.
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Montreal is a converging point for immigrants. We will explore significant texts that represent this diversity, from a migrant perspective or one of majority, and the political implications that arise in a pluralistic context, seeking to identify the model of interculturalism, and its links with notions such as hybridity adopted by migrant writers.
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Drawing from the fields of art, film, philosophy and literature, this course seeks to engage students from all disciplines to explore how, as a society, we can work to better understand and address the needs of the elderly and dying.
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400-level Capstone Courses
Put your skills to the test in two professional capstone courses.
In FREN 498, you will organize and present at a professional research conference on campus. (Research focus)
In FREN 499, you will teach tutorials to first-year students enrolled in FREN 151 and FREN 152. (Teaching focus)
This is a full year course and is worth 3 units.
Taking place over a full year, this seminar will give students enrolled in the Major and Specialization programs the opportunity to reflect on the impact of literature on certain issues. During the fall term, students will work on creating a corpus of works that will enable them to reflect on a given issue, and to begin commenting on them through workshops (1 text in fall; 5 texts in winter). This work will intensify in the winter term: in addition to workshops, students will be responsible for organizing a student conference at which they will present the fruits of their work over the course of the year. This will also serve as an assessment of the potential contribution of the selected texts to the debate on the year's given issue.
Skill Development :
This is a full year course and is worth 6 units.
The goal of this course is to provide fourth-year undergraduate students pursuing a career in education with the opportunity to practice teaching the French language. As part of their weekly teaching practicum, students will be responsible for leading tutorials under the supervision of the course coordinator. Coursework will emphasize evidence-based methods for the effective teaching of a second language.
NOTE: An application and interview in the spring prior to the year in which they will be enrolled in the course is required.
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