Undergraduate Bulletin > Languages, Literatures, and Cultures

Department of Languages, Literatures, and Cultures

including Chinese, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Portuguese, Russian, and Spanish

The mission of the Department is to impart an understanding of world languages, literatures, and cultures within the context of a liberal and humanistic education. We afford students experiences that highlight oral and written literacy, literary analysis, critical skills, and cultural and aesthetic appreciation through instruction in literature, culture, and linguistics in various languages, including Chinese, French, German, Japanese, Italian, Portuguese, Russian, and Spanish. We offer majors in French, German, and Spanish as well as K–12 licensure in French and Spanish. The Department contributes to various concentrations in the International and Global Studies program and the major in International Business Studies. We take very seriously our role in preparing students to apply their liberal arts education to future careers in areas such as education, business, health professions, and public service. We also offer Master’s and Master of Education degrees with concentrations in French and Spanish and a Post-Baccalaureate Certificate in Advanced Spanish Language and Hispanic Cultural Studies to provide further scholarly and professional training.

Through its courses, degree programs, and cocurricular activities, the Department contributes to the University’s goal of promoting diversity and internationalizing the curriculum. We foster students’ abilities to communicate within a global context and to reflect on their own heritage by supporting exchange and study abroad programs. The Department is also committed to promoting an atmosphere in which creativity and scholarly accomplishment may flourish for both students and faculty. Through our engaged teaching, innovative research and creative activity, and dedicated service, the faculty works to improve pedagogy, scholarship, and the community.

The Department promotes cocurricular activities through language clubs, honorary societies, film series, and other opportunities. Paid or unpaid internships requiring foreign language skills are increasingly available. Students may elect to live in UNCG’s International House and are encouraged to participate in study abroad opportunities through UNCG’s International Programs Center or through Summer Study Abroad sponsored by the Department.

German Studies and Russian Studies Consortia offer a broad array of German and Russian courses in language, literature, and culture taught by specialists in the UNC system through the N.C. Information Superhighway.

Students with special learning needs may qualify for the Modified Foreign Language Program in Spanish. Registration in the program requires written permission from the Department. Native or near-native speakers must consult with an appropriate departmental advisor before signing up for courses in the Department of Languages, Literatures, and Cultures. Students with one or more years of Chinese, Italian, Japanese, or Portuguese must contact the course instructor or a departmental advisor before registering for courses.

Intermediate proficiency (equivalent to 204 or 241 level) is expected for major-level work in French, German, or Spanish. Students cannot receive credit for lower-level courses after taking and receiving credit for higher level ones.

Language Placement Test in French, German, Russian, or Spanish

Students with one or more years of high school French, German, Russian, or Spanish who wish to continue the study of that same language at UNCG must take the Language Placement Test.

Incoming transfer students returning to the study of French, German, Russian, or Spanish begun in high school but not previously pursued at the college level, must also take the test. Transfer students with college-level foreign languages credit are encouraged to take the placement exam to determine their best starting point.

The Language Placement Test is administered at SOAR orientation sessions during the summer and before the beginning of each semester. The test may also be taken during the year on an individual basis, by appointment, in the Department’s office. Students should call the Department at 336/334-5655 to schedule their appointment.

Language Placement Test scores will be valid for one year after the test is taken. The test can be taken only twice within a year and with at least a six-month interval between attempts. After a student has registered for any of the courses in a language program, he or she cannot take the placement exam again. Once a student has begun the lower-level sequence (101–204/241), she or he cannot retake the placement exam in order to place out of any of the remaining courses in the sequence.

A student who scores at the interview-stage level and is planning to continue in the language at the 300 level should consult the Director of Undergraduate Study for the appropriate language or another designated faculty member before registering for any other course in the language. The advisor will interview the student in order to determine his or her placement at the 300 level or recommend courses at the intermediate level to reinforce the student’s background in language.

If a student who scores at the interview-stage level does not plan to continue study in the language, the Department of Languages, Literatures, and Cultures will confirm the student’s Language Placement Test scores with the University Registrar’s Office, and the student will be considered as having met the foreign language requirement at UNCG.

Students in need of additional advising or with concerns regarding the placement results are asked to make an appointment with a designated faculty member.