16/1980 • THE AUSTRALIAN NATIONAL UNIVERSITY

FACULTY OF ARTS

DEPARTMENT OF ROMANCE LANGUAGES

ANNUAL REPORT, 1979

Introduction

The recommendation of the Romance Languages Review Connni ttee that Italian be detached from French and administered as - a separate program foundered on a legal difficulty. ,

111roughout the year all members of the academic staff took part in lengthy and wide-ranging discussions on the teaching of modern languages at university level. One useful result has ~een the decision to re-establish a fully representative Language Laboratory Committee. The implications and possible applications of several other points raised in the course of those consultations will continue to be examined within the Department.

Staff

Professor of French and Head of Department

Senior Lecturers in French

Senior Lecturer in Italian

Lecturer in French

Lecturer i~ Italian

Tempora.ry .0ecturer in French

Senior Tutor in French

Senior Tutor in Italian

Temporary :rutor in French

Visitors

D.P. Scales, BA Syd., DU Paris, Off. Palmes Academiques

J.A. Grieve, BA Belf., HA (on secondment to Humar.i ties Research Centre)

G.J. Halligan, MA NZ, MLitt Cantab.

M.D. Woolf, MA Oxon.

Viviane M. Smith, LesL DES Rennes, DU CAPES Paris

A. Ravano, Dott. lingue str. Genoa

C.G.H. Mann, DipEd CCAE, DU Mont;pellier, MA

Jacqueline M. Mayrhofer, LesL DES CAPES Agr. d'anglais Paris

Julie Docker, BA Syd.

Fran~oise Arundel

The follow'lng visitors gave lectures and/or conducted seminars: Mr S. Beynon John (Reader in French, University of Sussex, and Visiting Fellow, Humanities Research Centre); Professor Anne Ubersfeld (La Sorbonne nouvelle/Universite de Paris III); Mrs Margaret Tomalin (Department of Italian, University of Sydney); Professor An:1e Paolucci (St John's University, New York, and Visiting Fellow, Humanities Research Centre).

16/198p

- 2 - •• Enrolments

Particularly noteworthy features are the . growing demand for Introductory French and Italian I, and the continuing interest in the French honours course, where numbers are as high as they were in our palmiest days, without any decline in quality.

A statistical table is attached.

New developments

In response to the trend mentioned in the first part of the preceding sentence, we are in the process of designing new second and third year units for a major of which Introductory French (to be renamed) would be the first stage. This new sequence will probably be called French IA, IIA, IIIA.

We are also trying to see whether and how, despite the smallness of the existing staff, an honours program in Italian might be introduced.

Student participation

'After a rather slow start, the French and Italian clubs organised a number of functions; and the continuing presence of several enter­prising students should ensure that 1980 will be a very good year for extra-curricular activities relevant to our fields of study.

The Departmental Committee met once each term, but in fact had little business to discuss.

The me~hods of assessment, worked out as usual in consultation with the students taking the various unit.:;, seem to have been generally satisfactory.

Other activities

There were again regular screenings of French and Italian films during term.

In the May vacation a five-day refresher course was held at the University :cor secondary teachers of French, and proved so successful that we plan to repeat it next year. We were most grateful to the Cultural Services of the French Embassy for organising the programme, supplying materials, and bringing two conseillers pedagogiques from Sydney and Melbourne to run it; also to M. Serge Preca, Directeur des Cours de l'Alliance Fran~aise de Canberra, for his participation in the cou~se; to the A.C.T. Schools Authority for publicising it; and to the Univ1~rsi ty 's Media Services, especially Mr Ken Threlfall, for being so helpful.

There was an encouraging response to the Open Day for Schools, which thus proved well worth while so far as this Department was concerned.

• - 3

Research

Miss Viviane Smith was admitted to the degree of Docteur de l'Universite de Paris for a thesis on Rene Behaine.

16/1980

Staff pursued . research on the French Eneas, Colette, Maurice Genevoix, Proust, Goldoni, and the theory and methods of literary criticism; while postgraduate students worked at projects on Rimbaud, Victor Segalen and Hubert Aquin (one M.A., two Ph.D.).

Publications

Mann, C.G.H., "La quete egoiste et solitaire des heros clans :es romans de Montherlant", Essays in French Li"[;era -/:;ure , 14 (dated November 1977, ' but actually publisheJ over a yea:. later), pp. 60:--68.

Scales, D.P., "Balzac and nature", Australian Journal of French Studies, XVI, January-April 1979, pp. 68-79.

- 4 - 16/1980

THE AUSTRALIAN NATIONAL UNIVERSITY

DEPARTMENT OF ROMA..~CE LANGUAGES ANALYSIS OF STUDENT PERFORMANCE

Percentage of no. enrolled Percentage of number sitting

.Subject Enrolled High as at _Sitting Wastage Failure Sitting Distinct::.on Credit Pass Fail or unit 30.4.79 Distinction

No. % No. % No. % No. % No. % No. % No. % No. % No. % No. %

Intro. 49 (100) 41 (84) 8 (16) 4 (8) 41 (100)' 4 (10) 13 (32) 12 (29) 8 (19) 4 (10) French

French I 44 (100) 36 (82) 8 (18) 36 (100) 8 (22) 8 (22) 9 (2.5) 11 (31) . French IF 12 (100) 7 (58) 5 (42) 7 (100) 1 (14) 2 (28) 4 (58)

French II 28 (100) 23 (82) 5 (18) 2 (7) 23 (100) 3 (13) 7 (31) 4 (17) 7 (31) 2 . '{8)

French III 21 (100) 21 (100) 2 (10) 21 (100) 2 (10) 2 (10) 7 (32) 8 (38) 2 (10)

French 10 (100) 10 (100) 10 (100) 1 (10) 5 (50) 2 (20) 2 (20) Studies B

Italian I 52 (100) 43 (83) 9 (17) 43 (100) 5 (12) 18 (42) 13 (30) 7 (16)

Italian II 18 (100) 14 (78) 4 (22) 14 (100) 3 (21) 6 (43) 4 (29) 1 (7)

Italian II! 15 (100) 15 (100) 15 (100) 5 (33) 8 (53) 2. (14) • ------------------------ ----------------------------- -- -------------------------------------------------------------------------t

Ii IJ

Enrolled Sitting Results (as at 30.4.79)

French Final Honours 5* 4* 4 Hl

Masters Qualifying 1 1 Hl standard e· Masters Degree 1

~

Ph.D. 2

(* 1 student part-time)