Developing Writing Skills in French

Developing Writing Skills in French By Graham Bishop, Bernard Haezewindt

Designed for intermediate to advanced students, this text equips readers with the necessary skills to write confidently in French in a range of situations. Suitable for use as a classroom text or as a self-study course, it is carefully structured to ensure a better understanding of the effect of choice of words, register and style.

Each chapter contains a selection of model texts, activities and clear notes on the format, style and language demonstrated. Every activity also has a model answer in the key, which also offers advice, explanations and further examples to support the student's learning.

Features include:

• key learning points clearly indicated at the beginning of each chapter
• a rich selection of model texts from a variety of different media.

Based on a well-reviewed Open University course and written by experienced teachers of the language, Developing Writing Skills in French has been trialled with non-native speakers of French to produce a valuable resource that will help students write appropriately for a variety of contexts.

Developing Writing Skills in French - Contents

Acknowledgements

Introduction

Chapter 1 Le bonheur. Understanding the terms ‘noun’, ‘adjective’ and ‘pronoun’ and using each one in a sentence, understanding sentence cohesion and the function of relative pronouns using synonyms, antonyms and homonyms

Chapter 2 L’habitat. Understanding the present, past and future tenses and their function in writing texts, altering the perspective of texts by changing verb tenses, understanding the function of adverbs and complements in a written passage, improving written passages by using appropriate adverbs, completing a story line by adding detail, manipulating the active and passive voices, improving a written text by adding adverbs and changing tenses

Chapter 3 L’expression artistique. Producing sentences starting from their basic elements (noun + verb +…), improving a written passage by using connectors (link words), simplifing a written text, writing a text using elements gathered in note form, structuring a well-planned essay

Chapter 4 L’environnement en danger. Manipulating register to adapt to different target audiences. using appropriate register for official correspondence. producing pastiches to explore different styles

Chapter 5 Quelques personnages historiques. Writing a description of the career and ideology of a political figure, describing a day in the life of a political figure, analysing texts to distinguish between objective and subjective descriptive content, describing a political figure in both a positive and a negative manner, improving your style by redrafting your work

Chapter 6 Quelques édifices publics. Identifying the nature and main themes of a text, finding shorter alternatives to expressions used in a text, summarizing texts and interviews, giving objective and subjective reactions to texts, changing register, arguing for and against a theme

Chapter 7 Nouveau départ. Writing a short story on a contemporary theme by following specific steps, summarizing a short story in three sentences, checking your written work, redrafting and improving your work

Chapter 8 Science et technologie. Analysing the features of a scientific biography, writing a fictional or factual text, relating to the theme of science and technology, identifying the stylistic features of a text, correcting and improve a text, commenting on a passage, summarizing the factual content of a passage, Answer key

Developing Writing Skills in French - Reviews

'Perhaps the greatest strength of this book lies in its attention to the development of transferable skills … Given the importance attached in higher education to the development of transferable skills, this is a vital selling point.' – The Times Higher Educational Supplement

Developing Writing Skills in French - Authors

Graham Bishop is Lecturer in French and German, and Bernard Haezewindt is Lecturer in French, both at the Open University, UK.