Some foreign language classes require more commitment outside of the classroom than others, but not all offer the same amount of credit hours for it.
Languages such as Arabic, Chinese, Japanese, Hindi and Urdu, offer four-hours per semester in entry-level classes, but for most foreign language courses, the Department of Foreign Languages and Literature only offers three hours per semester at the 101 and 102 levels, according to Department Head Ruth Gross.
“We give our sections a lot of autonomy, because every language has its own particular difficulties for a learner, so we leave it up to the sections as to how they want to achieve the highest goals they can,” Gross said.
The Spanish program made the conversational component of a class a part of Spanish Oral and Written Expression I, FLS 331, and Spanish Oral and Written Expression II, FLS 332, according to Gross.
Students enrolled in FLS 332 must sign up for a conversation group led by a native-speaking student that meets for one hour each week for ten weeks in addition to their lectures. Although the conversation group is required, the program does not offer it as an additional credit hour, as is done in other foreign language conversation courses.
Spanish Upper Division Coordinator Mark Darhower said the faculty in the Spanish program believed asking students to spend their time outside of class in conversation would be more beneficial to their language development than asking them to do grammar drills in a workbook.
“It was a gift to the students,” Darhower said. “Spanish majors have an oral proficiency requirement and so we are lucky to be able to provide that.”
The work-study program and various grants funded the salaries of the native speakers who lead the groups, but funds vary from year to year.
Last year, the program required FLS 331 students to attend conversation groups as well, but after funding decreased the department reserved the groups for students in FLS 332.
“We wouldn’t consider formalizing this because we don’t know how long that resource will continue,” Darhower said.
Spanish also falls into what is known as the group-one category, because it is one of the quickest languages to learn, according to Gross.
As a result, Chinese and Japanese, which fall into the group-four category, along with Hindi, which is in category group two, are worth a total of four credit hours with their required conversation courses because of their increased difficulty level. Arabic, a group-four language, gives an additional credit hour for its conversation course, but remains optional to students.
“In Arabic, we wanted to make it a four-hour class all along,” Gross said. “We need that extra hour.”
In fact, Gross said that in the past, students studying foreign languages met with their instructors every day.
“It’s pedagogically wrong not to have at least four hours a week of a foreign language at the beginning level,” Gross said. “Both UNC and Duke have five hours, but we can’t do that here.”
Increasing the number of credit hours the University gives for foreign language classes would make it difficult for students to fit them into their schedules, according to Gross.
“The schedule rules us rather than us ruling the schedule,” Gross said. “We do what we can given the constraints.”
Though learning a language does take time, Gross said that it is time well spent.
“I know it’s hard to learn a language, but it’s also worthwhile, and if you don’t know another culture, you can’t understand your own,” Gross said.
