“Secondary Education and Research” specialization
A brief overview
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From the second semester of their second year as undergraduates onwards, students have to choose what is called in France an “orientation,” that is a specialization in order to get ready for the next steps of their curriculum, as a job-oriented training. Among the specializations offered by the LLCER degree of the Lettres et Sciences Humaines Campus of Nancy, the “Secondary Education and Research” specialization addresses students who are interested in secondary education, higher education and/or in academic research. This specialization enables students to continue their studies at the master’s level in what is called in France a MEEF master’s (related to education and teaching), or even in the “Langues et Sociétés” Master’s degree, oriented towards the English-speaking worlds and jobs related to books, texts and materialities.
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That is why the courses which compose this specialization are oriented towards the preparation of students for the examinations for secondary school postings, such as the French CAPES or agrégation.
To be mentioned – the “Secondary Education and Research” specialization is not available in every LLCER degree. It is only available in English, Italian and Spanish LLCER degrees.
The third semester of the English degree
During the first semester of their second year as undergraduates, LLCER students are asked to choose two options which will help them in their specialization choice at the beginning of the following semester.
For the 304 teaching unit, students will have to make a choice between:
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The “Culture of the Middle Ages and of the Renaissance” option,
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The “Arts and Cinema of the English-speaking world” option, or
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The “Interculturalism” option.
And, for the 305 teaching unit, students will also have to make a choice between:
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The “Linguistics” option, or
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The “Overview of International Press” option.
For students who target a specialization in the field of education, the “Middle-Ages and Renaissance Culture” and “Linguistics” options are highly recommended since they provide students who follow them with a global knowledge on the different aspects related to the Middle-Ages and Renaissance periods in the United Kingdom, and they provide them with an introduction to the linguistics classes which they will have to follow from the following semester and until the end of their degree.
In parallel with these two options which the students have to choose, they also have to choose between:
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The 303A “Disciplinary Methodology” teaching unit, or
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The 303B “Professional English” teaching unit.
Students who target a specialization in the field of education will have to choose the courses of the 303A teaching unit in order to learn how to improve their critical analyses of documents and in order to practice their target language frequently.
The fourth semester of the English degree
During the second semester of their second year as undergraduates, students who have chosen the “Secondary Education and Research” specialization will have to continue taking the courses of the “Disciplinary Methodology” teaching unit, in keeping with the previous semester, that is to say:
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A class entitled “Critical Tools," and
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A class entitled “Oral Practice”
Moreover, as part of the 404 teaching unit, students will have to take:
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A class entitled “History of Genres and of Representations,” which is part of a course divided into three sections. This class enables students to have a global knowledge about the cultural and literary history of the United Kingdom, mostly. This class also enhances the students’ general culture, which is a great asset for those who aim at undertaking the examinations for secondary school postings. Thus, each semester focuses on a given period of the cultural and literary history of Britain. The 17th century is the core concern of the fourth semester of the degree;
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A linguistics class, which has to do with the history of the English language and with its evolution over time (that is, by the way, what we call diachrony).
The fifth semester of the English degree
During the first semester of their third year as undergraduates, students who have chosen the “Secondary Education and Research” specialization will have to continue taking the courses of the “Disciplinary Methodology” teaching unit, in keeping with the two previous semesters, that is to say:
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A class entitled "Disciplinary Outlooks" which is, in fact, a sort of introduction to the methodology of research, and during which students will be asked to write the introduction to a research paper on the topic of their choice;
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A class entitled "Oral Practice."
Moreover, as part of the 504 teaching unit, students will have to take:
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A "History of Genres and of Representations" class, of which the main topic is the period going from the 18th century to the mid-19th century;
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A "Critical Schools of Thought" class, which constitutes an introduction to critical theories, from the Antiquity to the 20th century;
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A linguistics class.
They will also have to take, as part of the 505 teaching unit, a didactics class. This class enables students to learn how to teach, regarding the various methodologies used to teach languages and regarding the official texts in effect in France.
The sixth semester of the English degree
During the second semester of their third year as undergraduates, students who have chosen the “Secondary Education and Research” specialization will have to continue taking the courses of the “Disciplinary Methodology” teaching unit, in keeping with the three previous semesters, that is to say:
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A class entitled "Research methodology," during which students will have to write an entire research paper on the topic of their choice. They will of course be supervised by a lecturer;
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A class entitled "Synthesis of documents," which is focused on the French CAPES and agrégation examinations, which enables students to train progressively;
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A class entitled "Oral Practice."
Moreover, as part of the 604 teaching unit, students will have to take:
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A "History of Genres and of Representations" class, which focuses on the period which goes from the end of the 19th century to the 21st century;
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A linguistics class which is, once again, focused on the French CAPES and agrégation examinations.
Doriane's personal opinion on this specialization
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Having always been a good student and having always appreciated the school environment, it appeared logical to me to choose the "Secondary Education and Research" specialization during the second semester of my second year as an undergraduate. This specialization enabled me to acquire an important cultural background and to develop my general culture. The intakes of my classes – both theoretical and practical – interested me a lot and I do not regret at all my specialization choice. The notions seen in class have always been developed by our lecturers, who are specialists of the fields addressed in class, and thus extremely qualified. Moreover, the very fact that classes are in keeping with one another was highly pleasant and it enabled us to study a wide variety of notions.
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My favourite class was definitely the part of the "History of Genres and of Representations" class which dealt with the fin-de-siècle era, even though we had only 8 hours to cover this period since it was quickly followed by the second part of the class, addressing the modernist and postmodernist periods.
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Thanks to this specialization, I think I can define myself as an anglicist, that is as a specialist of the Anglo-Saxon language, literature and civilization.