GRADUATE SCHOOL OF TRANSLATION, INTERPRETATION and LANGUAGE EDUCATION

French and Francophone Studies Program - Automne 2018 Persuasion in Politics

Prof. Clarissa Eagle FRLA 8211 – 4 credits

Mardi et jeudi, 10h – 11h50 Salle – B208

Heure de bureau : Mardi 12h10-13h10 – M102A Vendredi, 10h – 12h

Salle – B209 Course description InFRLA8211,wequestiontheconventionalunderstandingofpoliticalpersuasionasaprocess inwhichcommunicatorstrytoconvinceotherpeopletochangetheirattitudesorbehaviorinanatmosphereoffreechoice.Wewillgrapplewiththeideathat persuasionmay not always function as a simple, neutral vehicle bywhich toconveyone’s political beliefs, and somaynot always serve a good faith andopenexchangeof ideas.When,duringan interviewonFrance’sBFMTV,MarineLePen“alerte lesFrançaissur l’autorisationduregroupement familialpour lesmigrants”(alertstheFrenchabouttheauthorizationoffamilyreunificationformigrants),issheperformingasimpletransferofinformationorappealingtoandaffirmingvaluessheknowsarecentraltoherbase?Whatistheimpactof“alerting”?Ofrecallingnationalidentity(“lesFrançais”,asifallFrenchpeoplesharedasingleobjectiveidentity)inthe context of “migrants”? Of referencing authority (that of the State) and family(thebloodthatunitesthemigrantsasOthers)?Herstatementcouldbemistakenforan innocent news headline, but behind herwords lies a complexweb of culturaldistinctionsandhierarchiesthat,withoutcarefulattention,wemayremainmostlyunawareof (Ochs&Schieffelin,1986).Second language learners inparticularrisk“missingthepoint”becauseoftheimplicitnatureofembeddedmeanings(Tanaka,1988).

FRLA8211Eagle

2

Research in pragmatics tells us that shared cultural assumptions are deeplyembedded in our language, and this embeddedness is instrumental in both theintersubjectiveaffirmationandactiveconstructionofworldviews(Bourdieu,1990;Duranti,1997;McConachy,2013).TheprimaryobjectiveofFRLA8211is toguidelearners to see and question this web of cultural assumptions and values inlanguage use, and in persuasive political discourse in particular. Once studentsbegin to have an awareness of the processes that both reaffirm and alter theircultural,social,andpoliticalrealities,theyhaveachancetotakeagencyoverthoseprocesses. Inotherwords, thiscourseencourages language learnerstostepoutofthemoldofpassivelanguageimitatortoforegroundlanguagelearnersaslanguageusers and intercultural mediators who can piece apart the layers making upcontemporarypoliticaldiscourseandproactivelyweavetheirownstories into thecomplexwebofFrenchlanguageusetoday.

Required Language Proficiency

This course will be conducted entirely in French, and all readings will be in French. Required base language proficiency is Intermediate-low (per the 2012 ACTFL proficiency guidelines, available here).

Texts

While we will make use of several different texts throughout the semester, students are not required to purchase a textbook for this class. Please see “Les texts” module on Canvas for electronic versions of all extracts of texts used in class. Learning Outcomes KnowledgeUponsuccessfulcompletionofFRLA8211,studentswillbeableto:

1. SpeakandwriteinaninformedandrelativelynuancedmanneraboutstandardconventionsandpracticesofpersuasioninFrench;

2. Speakandwriteinaninformedandrelativelynuancedmanneraboutvaluescommonlyassociatedwithconservativeandliberalmoraldecision-making,notingindividualandcontext-dependentvariationsasappropriate;and

FRLA8211Eagle

3

3. Speakandwriteinaninformedandrelativelynuancedmanneraboutthe

rhetoricalusesofandrisksassociatedwithessentializinginourlanguageuse,drawingonFredDervin’saccountofculturalposturing.

Studentsshouldbeabletospeakandwriteontheaboveinbothpresentationalandinterpersonalmodes(ACTFL2012).Formoreonlanguage-specificlearningoutcomes,seeLanguageLearningOutcomesonthesyllabus.

SkillsUponsuccessfulcompletionofFRLA8211,studentswillbeableto:1. Differentiatetheculturalandlinguisticnuancesinthespeechorwritingof

anotherpersonorgroupofpeople;2. Conductanalysesofpoliticaldiscourseinanarrayofmediums(socialmedia,

blogs,speeches,interviews),includingtherecognitionofpatterns,embeddedmeanings,andculturalandhistoricalcontexts;

3. Switchculturalframesofreferenceasappropriateastheyexplorethewebof

meaningsinpoliticaldiscourseandeverydayconversation.4. Criticallyexamineanddeepenawarenessoftheirownculturalassumptions;and5. Addresstheirownmisunderstandingsandprejudicesvis-à-visothercultures,

andhelpothersexaminetheirownmisunderstandingsandprejudices.

Attitudes

This course is designed to inspire in students a desire to:

1. Seek out future cross-cultural experiences;

2. Continue to learn about language and culture;

3. Remain open to new ideas and interpretations of cultural practices and paradoxes, recognizing a multitude of “realities”; and

4. Practice flexibility and adaptability in face of cultural differences about what constitutes goodness, honesty, “a good life”.

FRLA8211Eagle

4

To meet curricular goals (Knowledge, Skills, and Attitudes), specific French language proficiency-oriented outcomes for the course include:

1. Parsing, imparting, and requesting information of moderate complexity on a variety of topics;

2. Communicating personal meaning in connected thoughts;

3. Expressing agreement and disagreement with an interlocutor, and developing arguments and counter-arguments of moderate complexity;

4. Describing complex events in most major time frames with some use of aspect.

Language proficiency-oriented outcomes adapted for our class from the 2012 ACTFL Can-Do Statements for Intermediate-mid foreign language learning, available at https://www.actfl.org/sites/default/files/pdfs/Can-Do_Statements.pdf.

Course Site and Other Online Platforms

The course is supported by a Canvas site, which you can access via Course Hub (http://www.courses.miis.edu). Consult this site to access the current week’s plan détaillé and assignment descriptions, PDFs of readings, PowerPoint presentations used during class, and other organizational documents of this sort.

For informative presentations on other Middlebury-affiliated online resources, students can access go.miis.edu/Lynda with their Middlebury credentials. More information on online interaction platforms and resources will be provided during the first week of classes.

Structure of Class

Unit Themes Language

Important dates

I.

Weeks 1-3

How do we persuade? Conventions and practice

Presenting personal opinions (“je” + present indicative) to an interlocutor (“vous” + present indicative);

Asking rhetorical questions (interrogative pronouns);

Speaking in generalizations (“on” +

Week 3: 1st debate (recorded) Week 3: Vocab 1

FRLA8211Eagle

5

present indicative), la voix passive

Content

Méthodologie de l’argumentation, Français Facile

Les formes de l’argumentation, Le Monde

Comment persuader quelqu’un, WikiHow.fr

Convaincre par les émotions, YouTube

7 techniques de persuasion du Loup de Wall Street, YouTube

Lisa Friedmann, « L’art de convaincre en politique », Le circle psy (2016)

Phil A. Wyatt, « Manipulation et persuasion politique » (blog) (2012)

Emmanuel Paris, « Les couloirs de la persuasion : Usage de la communication, tissu associatif et lobbies du changement climatique », Les modèles du future (2007)

« Kerry use des arguments économiques pour persuader Trump », Le Parisien (2016)

Test de fondations morales, MoralFoundations.org

Michel Sauquet & Martin Vielajus, Culturoscope (2016)

II. Weeks 4-8

Who and why do we persuade? What do we not say, when we persuade? Persuasion and division: objectification, prescription, alignment

Expressing cause, consequence (connector words);

Recognizing the use of register to convey subtle messages (“tu” vs “vous”, irony and satire) and explicit direction in discourse;

Giving and requesting information (interrogative pronouns);

Qualifying and linking persons and things; recognizing amplifications, simplifications, imagery (adjectives and accords, comparatives and superlatives)

Week 4: Blog 1 v.1 (on debate 1)

Week 5: Blog 1 v.2

By week 7: 1st meeting with contact Week 7: Vocab 2 Week 8: 1 2nd debate Week 8: Blog 2 v. 1 (on 1st mtg

Content

Rokhaya Diallo, « Rokhaya Diallo VS Eric Zemmour (interview) », Youtube

Black M, « Je suis chez moi » (chanson), Vevo

« On est chez nous », discours de Le Pen, YouTube

FRLA8211Eagle

6

« Elections en Italie : la révolte des peuples s’accentue », FrontNational.com

La lettre de Jean-Marie Le Pen, 15 mars 1992

Discours de Jean-Marie Le Pen à Saint-Franc, Présent, 21 et 22 octobre 1991

Discours de Benoît Hamon après le 1er tour, YouTube

Patrick Charadeau, « Réflexions pour l’analyse du discours populiste », Mots (2011)

Didier Tirard, « Donald Trump, Brexit, Marine Le Pen : le regain populiste », The Conversation (2016)

Alexandre Dorna, « Pistes pour une étude contextuelle du discours politique populiste », Bulletin de psychologie (2007)

Fr.wikipédia.org (immigration en France)

Michel Sauquet & Martin Vielajus, Culturoscope (2016)

with contact)

III. Weeks 9-13

How can we persuade for a more just and equitable world? Persuasion and positive change

Hypothesizing (si + present indicative, futur proche; si + imparfait, conditionnel);

Recognizing implicit assumptions (“il paraît que…” + indirect discourse);

Asking and giving information in open-ended way (interrogative structures)

By week 9: 2nd meeting with contact Week 9: Blog 2 v. 2 Week 11: In-class écrit Week 12: Vocab 3 Week 12: Value prop

Content

Student individual research on political topic of their choosing

Charlie Hebdo (select political cartoons)

Deep Green Resistance.fr

Le Climat Sous Surveillance

Fred Dervin, Impostures interculturelles, L’Hamarttan (interview)

Fred Dervin, « Au-delà du nationalisme méthodologique: L’interculturel sans essentialisme », Raisons Politiques (2014) (extracts)

Bénédicte Goussault, “L’identité: Une illusion?”, Espaces temps: Les cahiers (1997) (extracts)

J. Blanchet-Gravel, “Laurence et la société xenophile”, Huffposte.fr (2015)

FRLA8211Eagle

7

Michel Sauquet & Martin Vielajus, Culturoscope (2016)

IV. Weeks 14-16

When do we use strategies of persuasion? AF conversations and blog reports : associations and modalisations

Avoiding unsupported generalizations and distinctions in writing and speech;

Recognizing implicit “commonsense” in conversational routines, speech acts, politeness phenomena;

Communicating with heightened awareness of the ways in which interactional practices are informed by cultural assumptions

By week 13: 3rd meeting with contact Week 13: Student presentations on individual research Week 14: Blog 3 v.1 (on second and 2nd and 3rd mtgs with contact) Week 15: Blog 3 v.2

Content

Student individual research Conversation recordings and transcripts Cultura questionnaires Michel Sauquet & Martin Vielajus, Culturoscope (2016)

Synthesis and presentations

Week 16: Website published

Language functions addressed in class are intended to help students engage in course content matter rather than drill grammar points abstracted from context. The category of “Language” is thus subject to change depending on the language demands of the content currently being studied. Every Friday before 5pm, a detailed schedule for the coming week will be made available to you on Canvas (see the final page of this document for an example). The weekly schedule will reference materials to be covered (texts, video, audio, etc.) in class, language functions addressed in each class, essential question for the week, and homework.

FRLA8211Eagle

8

Assessment

1. Regular creative participation in class and online 30% 2. Exploratory blog posts (3) 20% 3. Cahier + self-evaluations (2) 15% 4. Vocabulary quizzes (4) 15% 5. Value proposition 10% 6. Website 10%

Participation Participation is vital to your success in this class. The participation grade evaluates:

(a) General preparedness for class each day (completion of daily assignments such as readings, meetings with cultural contact, questionnaires, blog reflections, discussion forum responses on Canvas or MIT’s Cultura interface, and so on).

(b) Each student’s continuous and spontaneous participation, including comments made and questions asked, during group activities and class discussions. Exploratory blog posts Over the course of the semester you will be required to write three short blog posts in French, from 300 (min.) to 450 (max.) words. Though these are exploratory free-writes to encourage honest introspection, suggestions for subjects will be provided to you, as will specific parameters concerning relevant language functions and related forms. You will be required to revise each text once, with each version receiving a grade. The first version will be evaluated on (1) content (relevancy, accuracy), (2) language (spelling, grammar, and communicability) and (3) evidence of intercultural positioning (a demonstration of informed choices regarding the use or avoidance of objectification, alignment, prescription). The second version will be evaluated based solely on spelling, grammar, and communicability. Student cahier + self-evaluation You will be required to keep one cahier in which all work done over the course of the semester is to be saved: first versions of blog posts, all notes from class discussion, all vocabulary quizzes, and so on. You will submit your cahier to me

FRLA8211Eagle

9

for review at the end of the semester, along with your self-evaluation (discussed below). Your cahier should also include a section for new vocabulary items culled from (a) weekly class discussion and (b) class readings and viewings of videos. As we explore the text(s) for each day in class, we will collectively agree on the relevant vocabulary items to be recorded. It is your responsibility to add the relevant vocabulary items to your cahier as they arise in class discussion. Please note that the material covered on vocabulary tests will be taken from this section of your cahier. Regarding vocabulary from texts: for each homework reading or viewing, students should note three new vocabulary items (words or expressions) in their cahier. Each new vocabulary entry should include the following: radical + suffix / prefix, collocations, definition(s) in French, and one original sentence. In the sentences, you will use the relevant vocabulary item in an original way, but also in a way such that its meaning is evident. Do not simply imitate or copy any of the sentences found in the primary text. You may copy definitions directly from Larousse.fr, but not original sentences. (Please do refer to Larousse.fr for example sentences, however!) If your item is a verb, also include the past participle + conjugations in present in singular - plural contrastive pairs. For example:

Prétendre (past participle: prétendu)

Radical: tend Préfixe: pré- Suffixe: -re

Je prétends -> Nous prétendons Tu prétends -> Vous prétendez Il/elle/on prétend -> Ils/elles prétendent

Collocations : Prétendre + que, prétendre + infinitive

Définition(s) : Avoir l’intention de, affirmer quelque chose, affirmer être capable de faire quelque chose

Ex, Je n’ai pas encore gagné la présidence mais je prétends le faire!

FRLA8211Eagle

10

The cahier is not intended to create extra work for you. It should rather serve to record and assess your progress in French, which helps you keep a critical eye on your own learning. I will ask only that you write a short self-evaluation at the end of the semester (in French or English) on the basis of your cahier. In one or two short paragraphs, the self-evaluation should summarize (a) the improvements you can see in your French after reflecting on your cahier, and then (b) some realistic goals for your French that you envision yourself being able to meet in the future. You will also be asked to complete one report of intercultural experience and one self-assessment intercultural competence. Further detail will be given during the first week of class. Vocabulary quizzes There will be four quizzes assessing your knowledge of the vocabulary (individual words and idiomatic expressions) relevant to our class discussions. These quizzes will assess your knowledge of vocabulary in context: i.e., you will be required to demonstrate how the relevant vocabulary is used meaningfully. You will not be asked simply to translate a list of words abstracted from the contexts in which they are actually used. An example vocabulary quiz will be posted under the “Vocabulaire” module on Canvas. Summative assessments There will be two summative assessments:

• Value Proposition:

Afteranalyzingavarietyofpersuasivepoliticaldiscourseandtwoverydifferentexamplesofpersuasioninenvironmentalmovements–DeepGreenResistanceandClimatSousSurveillance–studentswillcreatetheirownvaluepropositiononapoliticallyrelevanttopicoftheirownchoosing.Avaluepropositionisatermtypicallyusedinmarketingandreferstoapositioningstatementthatemploysconcisetextandpicturestoshowhowaparticularaudiencecouldbenefitfromaproductorservice(Skok,2013).Inourclass,theproductorserviceweare“selling”willbeanissueorpracticethatstudentsfindpersonallycompellingandrelevant,andwhichtheywouldwantotherpeopletofindcompellingandrelevantaswell.Thevaluepropositionwillbeaccompaniedbyashorttext(200-250words)inwhich

FRLA8211Eagle

11

studentsexplaintheirintendedaudience,thechoicestheymadein“marketing”theirposition,andhowstudentsexpecttheirmessagetobereceived.

• Website:

ThefinalprojectforFRLA8211willbethecreationofaMiddcreatewebsiteintendedtodrawattentiontothesametopicthatstudentschosefortheirvalueproposition.Thiswebsitecantakeavarietyofforms,butmustinclude(1)arevisedversionofeachstudent’svalueproposition;(2)informationconcerningtheissue,botheducationalandtailoredtostudents’intendedaudience,whichmustbearealaudience;and(3)awrittenstatementsummarizingtheimportanceoftheissue.Thewebsitewillbegradedoncontent(relevancy,accuracy,interest),language(communicabilityandformalaccuracy),andevidenceofinterculturalpositioning(evidenceofstudents’informedchoicesofusingoravoidingobjectification,alignment,prescription,andsoon).Agradingrubricforthisprojectwillbeprovidedduringthefirstweekofclass.

Academic Ethics and Etiquette

Please take care to arrive to class on time. You may miss up to 2 classes without penalty. Please notify me in advance, insofar as you are able to do so, in the event you will not be in class. Three or more absences without sufficient justification will result in a reduced participation grade: each unexcused absence will result in a 2% reduction of your overall participation grade. If you are absent from class, it is your responsibility to catch up on everything you might have missed. Legitimate reasons for missing class include the following: sickness/injury, MIIS-related activities, etc. If you miss class for a legitimate reason, please communicate that reason to me so that I am aware of your situation and so that, if necessary and where possible, you will be able to provide proof showing your absence is legitimate.

Please do not use your cell phone during class. Please feel free to use your laptop or tablet during class, but only for class-related purposes. Your laptop/tablet may not be used for personal reasons (checking email, Facebook, etc.). If I see that you are using it for non-class related purposes, I will penalize your participation grade for that session.

FRLA8211Eagle

12

On academic integrity: all standards outlined in the Policies and Standards Manual apply. Please consult the manual here: http://www.miis.edu/offices/records/policies You may not seek help on any homework assignments from sources outside class (e.g., from a private tutor, French-speaking friends, etc.). Your work must always be your own. On the other hand, you are encouraged to consult your classmates as well as Caitlin (French Language Studies tutor), and to speak French as often as possible with anyone you know who happens to speak it too. Please do not hesitate to come talk to me or to Caitlin as often as you like. We are here to help you. If you find yourself struggling with particular aspects of French, or with the course as it is structured, or anything else related to your studies, please let us know!

Grading Criteria

To determine assignment and course grades, the following performance scale will be used, which aligns with the Institute’s Policies and Standards Manual (Sec. 51) and reflects normative benchmarks for graduate-level academic achievement: Percentage Letter Grade Grade Points 94–100% A and A+ 4.00 90–93% A- 3.67 87–89% B+ 3.33 84–86% B 3.00 80–83% B- 2.67 77–79% C+ 2.33 74–76% C 2.00 70–73% C- 1.67 67–69% D+ 1.33 64–66% D 1.00 60–63% D- 0.67 Below 60% F 0 P (Pass): Credit given for course, but no grade points (GPA not affected)** NP (No Pass): No credit given for course, no grade points (GPA not affected)**

FRLA8211Eagle

13

W (Withdrawal with Permission): No grade points or credit **Please note that for the Pass/No Pass option, 70% and above is considered Pass, while 69% and below is considered No Pass.

Accommodations

Students with documented disabilities who believe that they may need accommodations in class are encouraged to contact Assistant Dean of Student Services, Ashley Arrocha, as early in the summer as possible to ensure that such accommodations are implemented in a timely manner. Assistance is available to eligible students through the Office of Student Services. Please contact aarrocha@miis.edu or 831-647-4654 for more information. All discussions will remain confidential.