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Minors in Modern Languages

Minors in Arabic, Chinese, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Russian, and Spanish are offered. All courses are oral-intensive, with additional hours required in the Language Laboratory, and include individual oral examinations at the end of each term.

In Western languages, enrollments are limited to 15 to 18 students in the first three years of study; fourth-year courses use a seminar format, with a usual enrollment of four to eight students. Chinese, Japanese, Russian and Arabic are taught in a tutorial or "self-instructional" format, with enrollments limited to three to six students. Examinations in these languages are primarily oral and are administered by external examiners appointed by the University. All instructors in Chinese, Japanese, Russian, and Arabic and most instructors in Western languages are native speakers.

Language study is open to all students in the University, and validation of minimal language competence is required for co-operative education placement abroad in countries where English is not the national language. Study for two consecutive terms or through level 103 is the minimum requirement for the B.A. degree, but additional language course work is required by most departments offering this degree.

Students are placed in language courses in accordance with language placement testing administered during freshman orientation and at the beginning of the fall term. Students who do not take advantage of this option must comply with the department's enrollment guidelines.

Certification of Proficiency

The University offers an advanced-level Certification of Proficiency in Western language, based on successful completion of a series of written examinations and an "advanced" rating on the ACTFL oral examination.

Requirements, Western languages
	24 credits of language study above the 103 level		24.0
	Certification of Proficiency
	Minor thesis in the target language (3.0-4.0 credits possible)
	Oral defense of the minor thesis
Course options (subject to placement level)
201-203	Advanced Conversation and Composition
311-312; 411	Stylistics; Advanced Stylistics
332; 333	Literature; Advanced Studies in Literature
351	Business and the Professions
451	Advanced Topics in Business and Professions: European Union
371; 471	Civilization; Advanced Studies in Civilization
399; 499	Special Topics: Literature; Business and Civilization*
*Special topics courses may be repeated for credit.
Requirements, non-western languages
	24 credits of language study above the 103 level		24.0
	Minor thesis in the target language (3.0-4.0 credits possible)
	Oral defense of the minor thesis
Course options (subject to placement level)
201-203	Advanced reading, writing, and speaking, Levels IV-VI
301-303	Stylistics, Levels VII-IX
399	Advanced Independent Study
411	Introduction to Stylistics
431	Introduction to Literature
451	Introduction to Business
RUSS 499	Advanced Seminar in Russian Literature

Modern Languages Faculty


Daniela DePau, Ph.D., (University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign) Auxiliary Professor. Italian cinema, relationship between literature, cinema and other arts, traveling literature, women writers, the tradition of the Comic and the tradition of the Fantastic, autobiography, politics of immigration, cultural identity in contemporary Italy.

Brenda Dyer, (University of Pennsylvania) Auxiliary Professor. Language acquisition pedagogy, teaching writing, seventeenth and eighteenth century French literature, women writers, translation.

Mariadelaluz Matus-Mendoza, Ph.D., (Temple University) Assistant Professor. Language variation in Spanish, the relationship between language variation and mobility (social and geographical) among the Mexican communities in Mexico and the United States, first and second language acquisition, bilingualism, theater, baroque and contemporary literature.

Anne-Marie Obajtek-Kirkwood, Ph.D., (University of Pennsylvania) Associate Professor. French and francophone 20th and 21st century literature, culture and film. Representations of the Occupation (WWII); war; minorities in France; autobiography; feminist issues.

Simone Schlichting-Artur, (Drexel University) Senior Lecturer in German and Director of Modern Languages. International business communication (Germany and the U.S.), public health policy an languages, German post-war history through film and literature, development of writing assessment tools for German minor.