<div dir="ltr">
<div class="gmail-article-header"><h1>Yale reforms language credit policies</h1>
<p class="gmail-subtitle">
</p>
<p id="gmail-bottom-bar-signal" class="gmail-byline">
<a href="https://yaledailynews.com/blog/author/brittonodaly/" title="Posts by Britton O'Daly" class="gmail-url gmail-fn" rel="author">Britton O'Daly</a> & <a href="https://yaledailynews.com/blog/author/adelaidefeibel/" title="Posts by Adelaide Feibel" class="gmail-url gmail-fn" rel="author">Adelaide Feibel</a> <span>Apr 24, 2018</span>
</p><p class="gmail-author-info">
Staff Reporters </p>
<p></p>
</div>
<section class="gmail-article-text">
<img class="gmail-card-image" src="https://ydn-wpengine.netdna-ssl.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/courtesy-of-yale-center-for-language-study-Credit-reform-1-online.jpg">
<p class="gmail-image-credit"> <a class="gmail-image-link" href="http://">Yale Center for Language Study</a>
</p>
<p class="gmail-p4"><span class="gmail-s2">Students soon will no
longer have to enroll in two terms of introductory study in a modern
foreign language in order to receive credit for the first term, and will
also have the opportunity to pursue a newly established certificate of
advanced language study, Yale College Dean Marvin Chun announced in an
email Tuesday morning.</span></p>
<p class="gmail-p4"><span class="gmail-s2">Under the new policies, which will take
effect next semester and which were first proposed by the Center for
Language Study’s Language Study Committee, students will receive credit
for completing a level one language course, regardless of whether they
go on to enroll in the next-level course. Currently, students only
receive credit for the level-one course if they complete the second
level as well. Though this change will not affect the foreign language
distributional requirements — undergraduates will still be required to
complete levels one through three of a foreign language to meet the
requirement — it will give students more flexibility to change course in
their language study without losing credit, Chun wrote in his email.</span></p>
<p class="gmail-p4"><span class="gmail-s2">Meanwhile, the establishment of a new
certificate of advanced language study will enable language departments
to offer formal recognition to students who take a number of advanced
courses in a specific language. Though the necessary quantity and types
of courses will vary by language department, all departments will
require that interested students complete at least four advanced-level,
or L5, courses. Some departments are expected to begin offering
certificates as early as next year, according to Chun’s e-mail.</span></p>
<p class="gmail-p4"><span class="gmail-s2">Outgoing President of the Yale College
Council Matt Guido ’18 said that the YCC started but never completed a
report on language certificates last year and came into this year
wanting to continue pushing to make the certificates available to
students. He added that the YCC, along with various University
committees, has also spoken to Chun about changing how credits are
awarded to students for level-one and -two language courses.</span></p>
<p class="gmail-p4"><span class="gmail-s2">“It really speaks to Chun’s style of
leadership, to hear as many voices as possible in his first year as dean
and really work with it as effectively as possible,” Guido said. “It is
something that students have talked about for multiple years now, and
he was able to get it done in his first year as dean.”</span></p>
<p class="gmail-p4"><span class="gmail-s2">The new policies, which were recently
approved by Yale College faculty members, are intended to promote more
in-depth and flexible language study beyond the minimum standard
required of all undergraduates.</span></p>
<p class="gmail-p4"><span class="gmail-s2">According to Theresa Schenker, senior
lector II in German and director of the German language program, her
department plans on hashing out the details of its own certificate
during the next faculty meeting, though she expects the certificate
requirements will follow the minimum Chun mentioned — four advanced
language, culture or literature courses taught in German.</span></p>
<p class="gmail-p4"><span class="gmail-s2">Schenker speculated that the new
certificate will be a “very attractive option” for undergraduates. The
certificate, which will appear on students’ transcripts, will allow
students who are interested in German but do not have the time to
complete the major to receive recognition for their language study. It
will also enhance job prospects, since multilingualism is a marketable
skill, Schenker said, adding that one student in her “History of the
German Language” class has already expressed interest in pursuing a
certificate in German.</span></p>
<p class="gmail-p4"><span class="gmail-s2">Ninghui Liang, coordinator of the Chinese
Language Program and senior lector of Chinese, said she anticipates
that 80 to 90 students will pursue certificates in Chinese based on
enrollment levels in the current academic year.</span></p>
<p class="gmail-p4"><span class="gmail-s2">Director of the Modern Hebrew Language
Program Shiri Goren said the certificate program provides an alternative
way to recognize students’ achievements, since Yale does not have
minors. Though the Hebrew Program offers a wide variety of L5 classes —
10 in total — Goren told the News that the certificate program seems
flexible enough to accommodate smaller language programs that may not
offer multiple courses at the highest level.</span></p>
<p class="gmail-p4"><span class="gmail-s2">But she predicted that only a few students will likely be able to fulfill the language requirements of the certificates.</span></p>
<p class="gmail-p4"><span class="gmail-s2">Though Schenker emphasized the importance
of taking more than one semester of a language to develop communicative
ability, she praised the decision to lift the one-year credit
restriction, which she said will benefit students who have already
completed their language requirement but want to try a new language.</span></p>
<p class="gmail-p4"><span class="gmail-s2">Goren, who serves on the Language Study
Committee, said the new policy on level-one and -two courses is intended
to “ease the burden” placed on a small number of students who struggle
with a language that is not a good fit, allowing them to switch to a new
language without losing the credit from the first term.</span></p>
<p class="gmail-p4"><span class="gmail-s2">“Anyone completing a semester of a language should get credit for it,” Schenker said.</span></p>
<p class="gmail-p4"><span class="gmail-s2">Alejandra Padin-Hujon ’18 said that, as
an Arabic tutor and teaching assistant, she has seen many students drop
Arabic and other similarly difficult languages after just one semester,
but she does not want students who drop classes to suffer for that.
Still, she added, she hopes that Yale ultimately strives to be a place
where people value learning foreign languages instead of just meeting
academic requirements.</span></p>
<p class="gmail-p4"><span class="gmail-s2">George Gemelas ’18 said that he wonders
how great an effect the change will have, since he does not know of many
people who stop studying a language after completing the first level.</span></p>
<p class="gmail-p4"><span class="gmail-s2">Both Gemelas and Padin-Dujon said that
the certificate is a good idea, since it can be hard to clearly
demonstrate skill in foreign languages.</span></p>
<p class="gmail-p4"><span class="gmail-s2">“I’ve seen a lot people go L1 through L5
at Yale, and unless you’re a [modern Middle Eastern studies] or [near
Eastern languages and civilizations] major there’s nothing to show for
it,” added Padin-Dujon. “Nobody assumes you speak Arabic and there’s
very little ability to testify to the fact that you do … This kind of
certificate could be really useful for that.”</span></p></section>
<br clear="all"><br>-- <br><div class="gmail_signature" data-smartmail="gmail_signature">=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+<br><br> Harold F. Schiffman<br><br>Professor Emeritus of <br> Dravidian Linguistics and Culture <br>Dept. of South Asia Studies <br>University of Pennsylvania<br>Philadelphia, PA 19104-6305<br><br>Phone: (215) 898-7475<br>Fax: (215) 573-2138 <br><br>Email: <a href="mailto:haroldfs@gmail.com" target="_blank">haroldfs@gmail.com</a><br><a href="http://ccat.sas.upenn.edu/~haroldfs/" target="_blank">http://ccat.sas.upenn.edu/~haroldfs/</a> <br><br>-------------------------------------------------</div>
</div>