<p>What should a language learner do after completing the highest levels of foundational study for a language track without going into specialised literature? From a quick search of the Student Organisations web page, UVA apparently has very little student organisations dealing with foreign languages…which surprises me because most high schools will have them. Is it like this for most tertiary schools?</p>
<p>I don’t have anything against literature in itself, just that I would really would like avoiding having to do literary criticism for a grade. My biggest obstacle to real fluency in French is spoken and conversational ability (the heart of language), not the ability to read and write. Understandably, written materials help spoken ability, which is why if I can’t learn further in the classroom I would like to do that whole book club sort of thing where people recommend enjoyable stories or poems and people write and share their own.</p>
<p>I know exactly what you mean. I’ve encountered the same thing with French (I’m not interested in taking a bunch of literature-heavy classes, even though I want to improve my fluency).</p>
<p>Even if there aren’t any college organizations, try looking into options in the community. Also, does the French department at UVA have any conversation hours or other events like that for students to practice their French?</p>
<p>does UVA not offer an advanced conversation course?</p>
<p>What should a language learner do after completing the highest levels of foundational study for a language track?</p>
<p>Spend time where the language is spoken, perhaps as a study abroad.</p>
<p>Most colleges do offer fairly advanced conversation courses, but after you’ve taken them, there seems to be no way to progress other than (a) settling for literature classes in the language or (b) going abroad, as MidwestMom mentioned.</p>
<p>Yeah I took FREN 334 which is “Advanced French Oral/Written Expression”, but there wasn’t any course higher than that.</p>
<p>I used to play violent video games in French, till college apps came and then I stopped from a year and left my Quebecois clan. Really exercised your sense of 3D space, and you had to learn to identify the enemy quickly over voicechat…</p>
<p>ah, well if you’ve taken that… it leaves study abroad. the other french classes will still help your speaking, even if they aren’t “speaking” classes, because you will still have to articulate arguments and things like that.</p>