--- Forwarded Message from Nina Garrett <[log in to unmask]> ---

>Date: Tue, 05 Oct 1999 10:00:44 -0400
>To: Language Learning and Technology International Information Forum               <[log in to unmask]>
>From: Nina Garrett <[log in to unmask]>
>Subject: Re: #5229 Language Graduation Requirements
>In-Reply-To: <[log in to unmask]>

------------------
Responding to Dennis' inquiry about students who want the FLRequirement
waived on the basis of previous experience in a language the institution
doesn't offer  -- I'm responsible for dealing with that at Yale, which in
fact offers 53 languages!  

Our policy is that students can have the FLR automatically waived ONLY when
their high-school transcript (or transcript from a post-secondary
institution from which they are transferring to Yale) shows that all their
instruction was carried out in the language.   ("Taking" the language
doesn't count.)  If this cannot be certified, then they must be tested,
even if they claim to be "native speakers" or "fluent", because their
definitions of these terms are often fuzzy, to say the least.  We test
their speaking, reading, and writing.  The speaking test is an oral
interview, done over the telephone if no appropriate tester can be found on
campus.  The reading test consists of translating a passage from the
language into English;  I'm not too happy about this, but I've only been in
charge of this process since the beginning of this semester, so it'll take
a while before I can plan, get approval for, and implement, a better way to
go about it.  The writing test is a spontaneous writing assignment.  

In all skills, the general idea is that the student is supposed to
demonstrate "intermediate proficiency" roughly equivalent to what Yale
students achieve in four semesters of basic language instruction.  Courses
in those four semesters all meet five days per week, and Yale students are
pretty bright on the whole, so the assumption is that that level is
relatively high.  BUT of course we all know that the level achieved in four
semesters of Arabic or Chinese is likely to be quite a bit lower than that
achieved in Spanish or French, and NO ONE knows what level is actually
achieved, by any standardized measurement, in any of our regular courses
(that's something else I'm going to look into!!) so mandating any
particular proficiency level for waiving the FLR is at the moment specious.
 For now we're winging it;  eventually I'll have a better grasp of the
overall picture and we can design some rational and coherent policy.

As for finding testers, I look first for native speakers with some
language-pedagogy experience on campus or in local institutions.  Second I
look for native speakers around here with enough sensitivity to language
learning so that I can talk with them and do some consciousness-raising
about how to test and how to assess performance.  Third I inquire (1) among
my language center director buddies at institutions that do offer the
language in question, (2) at NASILP headquarters, and (3) on the LCTL-L
listserv, for people who can do such testing.  I don't have the budget to
bring these people here, so the oral tests are then administered over the
phone, the translation and writing tests are sent to us and administered
and proctored in the student's residential college.

There's a set of cases that require a little bending of the rules.  We not
infrequently get students who are genuine native speakers -- they've grown
up in the country where the language is spoken, it's the language of their
home and community, etc. -- but they've gone to an English-immersion high
school to prepare for post-secondary study in the US or Great Britain, so
they can't be automatically waived on the transcript rule.   If it is clear
from conversation with them that they have in fact had courses in their
native language (literature, etc.) and really are able to do high-school
level work (reading and writing) in it, then I usually go ahead with the
waiver.  But I definitely do not waive American students who have lived in
the country for years but gone to American schools, not even if one of
their parents is a native speaker.  

        Hope that helps --

        Best,
                Nina


At 08:02 AM 10/5/99 -0400, you wrote:
>--- Forwarded Message from Dennis Magnuson <[log in to unmask]> ---
>
>>Date: Mon, 4 Oct 1999 09:58:00 -0500
>>To: [log in to unmask]
>>From: Dennis Magnuson <[log in to unmask]>
>>Subject: Language Graduation Requirements
>
>Neteros,
>While Daniel Tom has opened up a major thread that should concern many, if
>not all, of us, I would like to pose a related question that has surfaced
>several times in the past two years here at Luther College.  Although we
>have a three semester language req, we are getting requests from SS who
>have studied languages that we do not offer to accept their "experiences"
>in those languages.  Example, an Asian student from India who has grown up
>here in the States and is studying pre-medicine, coming from a home where
>we are told that his parents speak Bengali, wants Luther to OK his having
>met the FL requirement.  Assuming that there is an Oral Proficiency
>Interview, or some similar evaluation instrument/procedure, he is asking
>that to be accepted. (BTW, we have interepreted "proficiencying out" of the
>requirement to mean that a student can READ, WRITE, and handle ORAL
>communication on an intermediate-mid level.  We doubt that he is able to do
>the graphic skills, but, of course, we have no way to evaluate that here.)
>
>So, my question: what does your institution do for students who are
>completing the FL req: just accept completion of FLs that you teach--either
>from HS or at the college level-- or do you allow other possibilities?
>
>As we will be discussing this in the next two days in our department, I
>would appreciate a brief reply ASAP; I will summarize these replies and
>post them here.
>
>Thank you.
>
>Dennis M.
>end
>
>Dennis D. Magnuson
>Assoc Prof of Span &
>Dir, Lang Lrng Ctr
>Luther College
>Decorah, IA  52101
>tel (319) 387-2160
>[log in to unmask]
> 
Nina Garrett
Director of Language Study
Yale University
P.O. Box 208349
New Haven, CT 06520-8349

Tel.  (203) 432-8196
Fax. (203) 432-4485
[log in to unmask] 
http://www.yale.edu/cls/

Campus address: Room 308, 1 Hillhouse Avenue