Licence LCE Anglais Semestres 1, 4, 6; Année Universitaire 2006-07
Civilisation (US)

What is "Civilisation"?


In French universities, the academic degree program in languages, including in English [LLCE, as opposed to the business-oriented (LEA)] typically includes courses in literature, linguistics, translation and civilisation, and these are, indeed, the four main areas examined for the CAPES and the agrégation. Though the precision of the definition of the term "civilisation" varies somewhat depending on the level of study ("licence, "master", or "doctorat"), in general it covers what is left over from the rest, i.e., it is not literature, not linguistics and not translation.

This means, of course, that "civilisation" covers a great deal of ground: it includes the social sciences, such as sociology and economics as well as areas of the humanities such as history, and arguably philosophy and the history of ideas. It often includes some of the fine arts, including the cinema, music, architecture and the graphic arts.

My courses

In practical terms, for the courses I teach (Majeure LLCE Anglais semestres 1,4,6 "Civilisation"), I intend to try to explain some of the facets of life in the US.

The objectives of the course are to give students basic information and interpretive positions that I hope will be of use in future studies, and to give them intensive practice in following a university level course in a foreign language. The computer assisted presentations are intended both to "liven up" the course and to provide a visual complement to my spoken language, which is often found to be difficult .

Until it becomes technically possible to give access to the computer-assisted presentations, this site will provide text versions of the lectures — less spectacular, no doubt, but useful nonetheless, it is hoped.


Université Jean-Moulin - Lyon 3
Faculté des Langues
Charles C. Hadley 2006-07
This page was last updated on mardi 9 janvier 2007 at 7:13