University of Nebraska Kearney

Attachment, February 5, 2004

Guidelines to Facilitate the Discussion of Foreign Language Study in the General Studies Council

Objectives:

• To familiarize the members of the General Studies Council with the degree to which foreign language study is currently integrated in UNK programs.
• To explore options, within the General Studies program, that would reflect a stronger commitment to the value of foreign language study for the students at UNK.

Reasons to evaluate the current integration of foreign language study at UNK:

• Recommendation by the external reviewer in the 2001GS Academic Review Report:

  A large number of the faculty with whom I spoke felt that the University should do more to encourage students to take a foreign language. From my perspective this is an admirable desire entirely in the tradition of a liberal arts education... I urge the University to place foreign language more within the mainstream of the program.

• UNK's rating in the 2003 National Survey of Student Engagement with regard to language study. The report surveyed 130,000 freshmen and seniors at more than 400 universities including UNK. According to the survey, only 25% of UNK freshmen plan to take Foreign language compared to 48% nationwide; only 16% of UNK seniors have taken a foreign language (or plan to do so before graduating) compared to 41% nationwide. The difference between UNK' s students and students nationwide with regard to taking foreign language courses constitutes by far the largest negative discrepancy (next to Study Abroad) of all the areas compared by the report.
• The campus-wide exploration of ways to internationalize UNK students' perspective (recently initiated by the Office of International Education); the significant part of GS in such endeavor and the contributions of foreign language study to the acquisition of international competence.

LANGUAGE STUDY AT UNK

I. ADMISSION REQUIREMENT

Students seeking entry to the University must have successfully completed 2 units in the same language (1 unit represents one full year of study). Students who have not fulfilled the admission requirement have to take one or two five-hour beginning language courses (100 & 101 or 101). Students may count the 5-10 credits towards the total of 125 credit hours for graduation.

Sections offered:
FR100: one per year GERM 100: one per year SPAN 100: six per year
FR101: one per year GERM 101: one per year SPAN 101: six per year

II. GENERAL STUDIES
Students seeking a degree from the University need to complete a core program of General Studies, totaling 45 hours. If they take the minimum of required courses in the various categories, they will have completed 39 hours. They may then select courses (6 hrs.) in any area to fulfill the 45-hour requirement for GS. Foreign language options in the General Studies Program, are listed in

CATEGORY II. FOREIGN LANGUAGE. There is no requirement, but

1. Students may count up to 3 hours of 200 level courses towards the requirement for 45 hours of General Studies. As such, this would mean that all UNK students could take a language and use the 3 hours of credit toward the 45 required hours in the program. However, because of several factors, the number of students who would opt for this selection is probably small.
   1. Students opt to take more than the minimum of courses in an area of interest.
   2. Students select from other non-required areas:
      • Humanities:
        Philosophic perspectives (0 hours required--up to 6 hours count toward GS credit)
      • Mathematics, Statistics & Computer Science:
        Computer Science courses (0 hours required -- up to 3 hours count towards GS credit)
      • Social and Behavioral Sciences:
        Social perspectives: (0 hours required--up to 6 hours count towards GS credit)
        Political perspectives: (0 hours required--up to 6 hours count towards GS credit)
        Geographical perspectives (0 hours required--up to 6 hours count towards GS credit)
        Behavioral perspectives (0 hours required--up to 6 hours count towards GS credit)
   3. Students are required to complete additional General Studies coursework for a specific degree/major, and do not have the option of choosing 6 hours "freely."
      An overview of the degrees offered in the catalogue shows the following distribution between programs and "floating hours." Of the approximately 137 degree programs counted:

      32 programs allow for 6 elective hours
      6 programs allow for 5 elective hours
      6 programs allow for 4 elective hours
      7 programs allow for 3 elective hours
      25 programs allow for 2 elective hours
      1 program allows for 1 elective hour
      51 programs allow for 0 elective hours

      Based on these factors, the number of students who would (or could) opt for a language course to complete the 45 hours of General Studies coursework must be quite limited.

2. Another option in the FOREIGN LANGUAGE CATEGORY allows students who have received a grade A or B in English 101 [to] substitute a 200 level course for the English 102 requirement. However, the number of students opting to do so is limited by the following factors.
   1. Students who pursue a degree in Education have to take both composition courses.
   2. ENG 101 is waived for Students with ACT scores of 30 or above, who may then substitute a course in any General Studies area. (So, the better students who may have successfully taken up the challenge of a foreign language course before the placement plan went into effect now have more options. A profile of the Fall 2001 entering class of approximately 1000 students showed a total of 54 students scoring 30 and above on the ACT). It needs to be stressed that, apparently, several of these 30+ students still take 101 (H), and the number of students who substituted FL for English 102 has always been minimal.

III. LANGUAGE REQUIREMENT FOR THE BA

Initial requirement:

Foreign Languages - Complete two intermediate or upper level courses or equivalent competency in a foreign language.

Altered requirement (recently approved by Academic Affairs 10/6/03)

Foreign Languages - Complete two intermediate or upper level college courses (6 hours) or equivalent competency in a foreign language. Students who are admitted to UNK with the Core Requirement of 2 units in the same Foreign Language completed in high school (and provide a copy of their high school transcript to their advisor and the Registrar's Office) may choose to meet this language requirement by completing two introductory courses at UNK (100 and 101, 10 hours) in a single, different language than the one taken in high school. Students entering UNK without completing the Core Requirement in high school are not eligible for this option.

This change was made

1. To meet concerns of faculty in various disciplines who cited the level of difficulty of intermediate courses as the main reason for the preference of the BS over the BA (and students' apprehension to risk a lower grade in a course that is not even part of their major).
2. To encourage students to explore another language and the many cultures in which it is spoken.

IV. LANGUAGE PROGRAMS IN THE DEPARTMENT OF FOREIGN LGS:

• French, German and Spanish major: BA; BA in Translation and Interpretation, BAE. 7-12.
• Minors in French, German, Spanish and (Japanese).
• English as a Second Language Teaching Subject Endorsement

  (Program shared with Teacher Ed. Students take two methods courses taught by ML faculty. Before the 1997 Admission Requirement of core courses, students also had to take two semesters of a foreign language (10 hrs.). In 1997, this requirement was waived since the high school language experience was considered sufficient. The ESL endorsement currently includes only 20 required hours. (When the admission requirement was being discussed, the Department of Modern Language was not permitted to give a placement test in order to check incoming students' proficiency in the language.)

V. POSSIBLE IMPLICATIONS OF THE BA ALTERATION ON THE CURRENT GS LISTING:

1. Should students who opt for 10 hours of a "new language" be able to count at least 5 hours (one course) as elective hours in the current GS program (rather than three)?
2. Should students who opt for 6 hours of intermediate coursework be able to count these 6 hours as elective hours?

If the implications of the BA requirement alteration are incorporated in the GS program, the focus on enhanced appreciation for foreign language study at UNK within GS constitutes a 5-6 hour language component.

VI. PRELIMINARY SUGGESTIONS FOR CONSIDERATION:

While the Department of Modern Languages realizes all too well the profound repercussions of a language requirement for all UNK students (cf. in the FOREIGN LANGUAGE CATEGORY), we do invite the members General Studies Council to support our search for options reflecting recognition of the value of foreign language study within the existing framework. More specifically, we would like for the Council to give language study a more equal position among other disciplines within a particular category. Category V.NATURAL SCIENCES may serve as a model. Seven hours of coursework are required, and students may choose a discipline (Biology, Chemistry, Geography, Physics) as long as the selection is made from two different areas.

In his Academic Review Report, the external reviewer suggested incorporating foreign languages into the HUMANITIES CATEGORY. Here, four perspectives are listed (literary, aesthetic, historical, philosophic), but the nine required hours are designated to only three of the four perspectives. So, for the students intent on satisfying the minimum of required hours , there is little incentive to even consider the fourth perspective.

Inserting FL study in the HUMANITIES CATEGORY without any additional alterations may give the discipline greater visibility, but does not reflect enhanced valorization of the discipline. In order to do so, FL 1) would have to be incorporated as another perspective and, 2) designated requirements would have to be eliminated, in order to give students choices to fulfill requirements comparable to those in the NATURAL SCIENCE CATEGORY.

A similar option puts, of course, all of the burden on the Humanities, and does not adhere to Chuck Peek's request that, if FL is to be valued at UNK, all areas should sacrifice a little to facilitate a stronger position for the discipline. A compromise then, between HUMANITIES and other areas in the GS program, would entail raising the hours in the HUMANITIES from 9 - 12 to 9 - 14 (3 or 5 hours of FL). Perhaps the discussion of other Academic Review suggestions will reveal possibilities facilitating such addition.

Another "home" for FL study could be found in the LANGUAGE CATEGORY, which now includes the two English Composition courses and Speech (9 hour required).

However, here also, in order to be effective, options would entail raising hours and giving students more choices for required courses.

The change into a requirement -- however small it may be-- makes the choice of a foreign language course much more attractive. The Department of Modern Languages believes that such an incentive is justified at a time when we need to prepare students with a greater understanding of other cultures, and to enable them to relate to people who are different from them. Speaking a foreign language constitutes an integral part of that endeavor. The proposed considerations are offered as potential changes. Hopefully they will invite other suggestions and make for a productive discussion.

Foreign language instruction should be part of every child's education. A language is more than sounds and syntax: it is a culture, a way of thinking and a perspective on the world. Each language is a precious resource that must be studied, used and preserved precisely because a language opens the mind to new possibilities. The study of language is the study of life, literature, history and thought. It is nothing less than the study of our world and ourselves. (Ron Paige, Secretary of Education).

What are the objectives of the Department of Modern Languages?

• Requirement in our own category (3 hours at the intermediate level/ 6 hours at the intermediate level),
• Add a foreign languages perspective to a category (cf. Humanities); add a number of required hours (3-5) and allow the students to choose from a number of perspectives, rather than requiring them to choose from designated perspectives.

This means, however, that we need to get these hours from somewhere--as I tried to show, the floating hours are not really "free" and will not accommodating all students.

Of the 30 BA programs, 14 have a BS equivalent. Of those 14, 6 have no requirement for the BS degree (cf. the language requirement). They are:

• Industrial Technology
• Business Administration
• Speech
• Math
• Physics
• Political Science
• (Sociology has a 3-hour requirement;)

Programs in journalism/ multimedia and broadcasting have a 9-hour requirement, but six of those satisfy General Studies Requirements as well).

2003 UNK General Studies Program
45 hours minimum distributed across categories

1. English Language (9 hours)
   1. ENG 101
   2. ENG 102
   3. SPCH 100
2. Foreign Language (up to 3 hours; 200+ level)
3. Humanities (9-15 hours)
   1. Literary Perspective (3-6)
   2. Aesthetic Perspective (3-6)
   3. Historical Perspective (3-6)
   4. Philosophical Perspective (0-6)
4. Math, Stat, CS (3-6 hours)
5. Natural Sciences (7-15 hours; 2 diff cats, 1 lab)
   1. Biology
   2. Chemistry
   3. Geography & Earth Science
   4. Physics
6. Social & Behavioral Sciences (9-15 hours)
   1. Economic Perspective (3-6)
   2. Social Perspective (0-6)
   3. Political Perspective (0-6)
   4. Geographical Perspective (0-6)
   5. Behavioral Perspective (0-6)
7. Personal Development (2-3 hours)
8. Capstone (0 hours)

UNK General Studies General Education Program as suggested by the 2001 APR
45 hours minimum distributed across categories

1. English Language (9 hours)2
   1. ENG 101
   2. ENG 102
   3. SPCH 100
2. Foreign Language (0-6)3
3. Humanities (9-15 hours, form 3 diff cats)4
   1. Literary Perspective (3-6)
   2. Aesthetic Perspective (3-6)
   3. Historical Perspective (3-6)5
   4. Philosophical Perspective (0-6)
   5. Foreign Language (0-6)
4. Math, Stat, CS (3-6 hours)
5. Natural Sciences (7-15 hours; 2 diff cats, 1 lab)6
   1. Biology Perspective
   2. Chemistry Perspective
   3. Geography & Earth Science Perspective
   4. Physics Perspective
6. Social & Behavioral Sciences (9-15 hours)
   1. Economic Perspective (0-6)7
   2. Social Perspective (0-6)
   3. Political Perspective (0-6)
   4. Geographical Perspective (0-6)
   5. Behavioral Perspective (0-6)i
   6. Historical Perspective (0-6)
7. Personal Development (2-3 hours)
8. Capstone (0-3 hours)
   1. Interdisciplinary 300 level course8

________________________

1 Recommendation IX
2 Recommendation II-1 (Require ENG 101 and 102 in first year)
3 Recommendation II-2
4 Recommendation III-3
5 Recommendation III-6
6 Recommendation III-5
7 Recommendation III-3
8 Recommendation II-4, II-5, II-6