to take students to a level approaching minimum social proficiency (a notional 2- on the ISLPR scale). Students will: be able to make reasonably detailed explanations of their areas of social interest and respond appropriately to native speakers in familiar situations, express themselves using complex structures and understand the gist of television programs aimed at native speakers; be able to write continuous texts using complex sentences and read newspaper and magazine material; further develop their acquaintance with various aspects of French culture and acquire a basic understanding of the history of French literature of the 17th century, study some texts from this period and gain familiarity with terms and aspects of literary criticism.