Late Assessment Submission Penalty

Unless a Special Consideration request has been submitted and approved, a 5% penalty (of the total possible mark) will be applied each day a written assessment is not submitted, up until the 7th day (including weekends). After the 7th day, a mark of ‘0’ (zero) will be awarded even if the assessment is submitted. Submission time for all written assessments is set at 11.55pm. A 1-hour grace period is provided to students who experience a technical issue. This late penalty will apply to non-timed sensitive assessment (incl essays, reports, posters, portfolios, journals, recordings etc). Late submission of time sensitive tasks (such as tests/exams, performance assessments/presentations, scheduled practical assessments/labs etc) will only be addressed by the unit convenor in a Special consideration application. Special Consideration outcome may result in a new question or topic.

To be very clear:

• Unless you have applied for special consideration and had your application approved, for each day your assignment is late, 5% of the total possible marks will be deducted. For example, if you submit your assignment 7 days late, 35/100 marks will be deducted from your actual mark.
• If your assignment is more than 7 days late (including weekends), you will get 0 for your assignment.

These are serious penalties that will substantially alter your final grade and even determine whether you pass or fail this unit. Please make every effort to submit your assignment by the due date.

If you find you cannot submit your assignment on time, please apply for Special Consideration through AskMQ. Make sure you read Macquarie University's policy regarding Special Consideration requests before you apply:

https://students.mq.edu.au/study/assessment-exams/special-consideration

Classes

For current updates and class times please consult the MQ Timetables website: https://timetables.mq.edu.au/2023/ 

Recorded content pertaining to the weekly lessons will be accessible via Echo360.

Material

Required text:

• Grammaire essentielle du français B2, Bourmayan et al., Editions Didier (required in French Studies 5 and 6).

Intext Book Company is an Australian website that stocks a large range of educational books in French - https://www.languageint.com.au/. 

Workshops for FLX cohort

3 x 1-hour Zoom workshops will be organised for the FLX cohort throughout the session:

• 10-11am, 3/03/23 [week 2]
• 10-11am, 24/03/23 [week 5]
• 10-11am, 28/04/23 [week 8]

Level B2 represents a new level as far above B1 (Threshold) as A2 (Waystage) is below it. It is intended to reflect the Vantage Level specification. The metaphor is that, having been progressing slowly but steadily across the intermediate plateau, the learner finds he has arrived somewhere, things look different, he/she acquires a new perspective, can look around him/her in a new way. This concept does seem to be borne out to a considerable extent by the descriptors calibrated at this level. They represent quite a break with the content so far. For example at the lower end of the band there is a focus on effective argument: account for and sustain his opinions in discussion by providing relevant explanations, arguments and comments; explain a viewpoint on a topical issue giving the advantages and disadvantages of various options; construct a chain of reasoned argument; develop an argument giving reasons in support of or against a particular point of view; explain a problem and make it clear that his/her counterpart in a negotiation must make a concession; speculate about causes, consequences, hypothetical situations; take an active part in informal discussion in familiar contexts, commenting, putting point of view clearly, evaluating alternative proposals and making  and responding to hypotheses.

Secondly, running right through the level B2 there are two new focuses:

1. The first is being able to more than hold your own in social discourse: e.g. converse naturally, fluently and effectively; understand in detail what is said to him/her in the standard spoken language even in a noisy environment; initiate discourse, take his/her turn when appropriate and end conversation when he/she needs to, though he/she may not always do this elegantly; use stock phrases (e.g. ‘That’s a difficult question to answer’) to gain time and keep the turn whilst formulating what to say; interact with a degree of fluency and spontaneity that makes regular interaction with native speakers quite possible without imposing strain on either party; adjust to the changes of direction,  style  and  emphasis  normally  found  in  conversation;  sustain  relationships  with  native speakers without unintentionally amusing or irritating them or requiring them to behave other than they would with a native speaker.

2. The second new focus is a new degree of language awareness: correct mistakes if they have led to misunderstandings; make a note of ‘favourite mistakes’ and consciously monitor speech for it/them; generally correct slips and errors if he/she becomes conscious of them; plan what is to be said and the means to say it, considering the effect on the recipient/s. In all, this does seem to be a new threshold for a language learner to cross.