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<h1 class="gmail-article-headline gmail-no-marg">DUA: Change the foreign language requirement</h1>
<h2 class="gmail-article-subhead">The University’s foreign language requirement as it stands now is overly burdensome for students</h2>
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By <a href="http://www.cavalierdaily.com/staff/shrey-dua">Shrey Dua</a>
| 10/02/2018
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<p>Many of the University's language departments are housed within New Cabell Hall. </p>
<strong>
<a href="http://www.cavalierdaily.com/staff/ariana-nazari">Ariana Nazari</a>
| Cavalier Daily
</strong>
<p>The University’s general education curriculum is both <a href="http://college.as.virginia.edu/requirements"><ins>long and diverse</ins></a>.
Amongst the plethora of classes University students must complete, one
that deserves particular scrutiny is the foreign language requirement.
The foreign language <a href="http://college.as.virginia.edu/competency-requirements"><ins>requirement</ins></a>
asks students to complete four semesters of a language of their
choosing, prior to their seventh semester. As simple as it sounds, the
requirement consists of typically four or five classes a week, with
lengthy homework due nearly every day, in order to maximize exposure to
the language. </p>
<p>In my own experience, completing homework and memorizing vocabulary
and grammar takes up more time than most of my other classes combined.
This reality is unfortunate because, for many students, the foreign
language requirement is just a box that is waiting to be checked. In
fact, most students enter the University having already taken several
years of a language to graduate from high school. Given this, I believe
the foreign language requirement as it stands now is overly burdensome
for students who have already had experience with a foreign language and
does not adequately consider students’ experiences with these languages
prior to them entering the University. </p>
<p>One of the ways the University evaluates a student’s language
abilities is through various placement tests. These tests supposedly
place students into classes corresponding to their skill levels,
however, there are some inherent problems with these exams. Only <a href="http://college.as.virginia.edu/fl-faq"><ins>some</ins></a>
of the more popular languages, French, Spanish, German, Latin and
Italian, have placement tests that are online and can be completed at
home. Other more obscure languages have tests that must be taken in
person at the University. </p>
<p>Unfortunately, there are some other fundamental issues with the
placement exams and how they assess student’s previous experiences with a
foreign language. For one, online placement tests make it possible for
some students to cheat and access additional resources or, in some
cases, have a fluent friend or family member take the test for them.
This allows some students to unfairly forgo the foreign language
requirement all-together, with seemingly no other way for the University
to verify if the student is, in fact, fluent in the language. Transfer
students — many of whom may have already completed a different foreign
language requirement for their previous university — may also be
required to continue with a language they have not studied in some time
or, if they score poorly enough on the placement test, start all over
again. </p>
<p>For transfer students with aspirations to enter the coveted McIntire
School of Commerce, the foreign language requirement presents a near
impenetrable obstacle. The business program <a href="https://www.commerce.virginia.edu/undergrad/prerequisites"><ins>requires</ins></a>
all accepted students to have completed the language requirement, in
its entirety, prior to entering McIntire. For transfer students who are
required to take four semesters of a language, any hopes of entering the
business school are nearly immediately dashed, with the only
possibility being to enter the <a href="https://sli.virginia.edu/"><ins>six-week summer intensive program</ins></a>.
This program can theoretically assist students in meeting the language
requirement in a timely fashion, but completing it heavily impedes
summer internships, requires students to pay for additional summer
housing and is difficult to enter in the first place due to the limited
number of spots available per language. </p>
<p>Other options to complete the foreign language requirement, like
Advanced Placement tests and SAT II subject tests, prove to be just as
flawed. Many languages, like Russian, Hindi and Persian, don’t have any
sort of applicable AP or SAT subject tests, giving students with
experience in these languages less opportunities to place out of the
requirement. In addition, the departments vary in terms of what <a href="http://college.as.virginia.edu/fl-placement-index"><ins>scores</ins></a>
adequately fulfill certain course requirements, meaning some students
come into the University at an immediate disadvantage simply because of
the language they chose to study. </p>
<p>I believe a school in the Commonwealth that has a much more
logical foreign language system is Virginia Tech. At Virginia Tech, if a
<a href="https://www.advising.vt.edu/index.php/vt-advising-resources/foreign-language-requirement"><ins>student has taken two to three years</ins></a>
of a language in high school, they adequately meet the foreign language
requirement, and no further action is required. It allows students
who’ve been adequately exposed to a language the opportunity to avoid
retreading old land and explore other offerings at the university, while
still giving students with lesser experience adequate time with a
unique culture and language. </p>
<p>Despite the inherent issues with the way foreign languages are
administered by the University, it would be a mistake not to acknowledge
the benefits of studying a foreign language. It encourages students to
have a more global mindset, instilling with them a feel for values and
cultural nuances wholly unfamiliar to them. In a more interconnected
world, it’s an invaluable perspective to have and to nurture. With that
said, forcing students to spend thousands of dollars learning a language
they have likely already spent time studying and may have no interest
in exploring further is ridiculous. By mirroring the language policy of
Virginia Tech, we would enable those personally invested in a language
the opportunity to continue learning it, while allowing students with
more experience in a language the ability to forgo the requirement all
together. </p>
=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+<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>