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The following are answers to some frequently asked questions about
undergraduate language study at Yale. If your question is not answered
here or elsewhere on the site, be sure to see our Getting Help page or
send e-mail to cls@yale.edu.
FAQs
Placement Testing
The Yale College Foreign Language Requirement
Learning a Foreign Language at Yale
FAQs: Placement Testing
Do I have to take a placement test?
If you are an incoming student, YES you have to take a placement test, unless . . .
- you are starting a language you have absolutely never studied, spoken, or lived with before (in which case, proceed as though you've placed into L1).
- you got a score of 5 on the Advanced Placement test or a
score of 6 or 7 on the International Baccalaureate Advanced-level exam
in your language (in which case, proceed as though you've placed into
L5).
- you can present a secondary school transcript showing that all
your secondary school courses were taught in a language other than
English (in which case, see the FAQ below--you won't have to take a
placement test, but you still have to take at least one course to
fulfill the Foreign Language Requirement).
- you are a native speaker of a language other than English
and you are not
a native speaker of English (in which case, see the FAQ below--you
won't have to take a placement test, but you still have to take at
least one course to fulfill the Foreign Language Requirement).
- you are a native speaker of both
English and of a language other than English (in which case, see the
FAQ below--you won't have to take a placement test, but you still have
to take at
least one course to fulfill the Foreign Language Requirement).
If none of these things is true for you, then we look forward to seeing you at the placement test!
When and where are placement tests administered?
You can find information on language placement exams on the CLS’s condensed placement testing schedule or in the Yale College Calendar of Opening Days. If you have additional questions, contact the
appropriate academic department.
Is it true there's no good reason to cheat on a placement test?
That's correct. You should always make an honest effort to do your
personal best on the placement test, since these tests are carefully
calibrated to determine the right level for you. If you were to cheat
and end up doing "too well" on the test, you could end up in a much
higher level than you can handle. (Even though placing into L3 when you
belong in L2 would mean taking one fewer semester, if you really belong
in L2, you're going to have a very hard time passing L3.) There is no
such thing as getting such a high score on a placement test that you
don't need to take any language at all. If you place into L5, you have
the option of taking two semesters of a language that's entirely new to
you. However, in some language programs, you may have to pass a brief
oral interview to confirm your L5 level before you are permitted to
choose this alternative.
Won't my life be easier if I intentionally do badly on the placement test and place into a lower level?
You should always make an honest effort to do your best on the
placement test. If you try to place lower than the level of which you
are capable, you could end up having to take more semesters of language
to fulfill the requirement (e.g. if you belong in L5 but try to place
into L4, you could end up in L2 or L3 and end up having to take a lot
of language classes you don't need). Research has shown that students
who needlessly sit through low-level courses fail to develop proper
study habits and actually end up doing worse in language courses later on.
Also, the higher-level classes
tend to be more interesting, because you're able to do more with the
language and discuss topics that are relevant and exciting to you.
While it is possible to take the easy (and boring) way out by placing
into a lower class than you can really handle, you'll be missing
out on what the higher levels have to offer. (Take a look at Eight
Reasons the Foreign Language Requirement Isn't Enough to get a few
ideas.)
What do placement test scores mean?
Your score on the placement test will indicate one of five levels: L1,
L2, L3, L4, or L5. This score tells you (a) in which level of course to enroll
and (b) what you will need to do to fulfill the Foreign Language
Requirement. To find information sheets specific to each possible
placement test score, take a look at our Foreign Language Requirement
page.
In addition, your placement test results may suggest a particular
track
of study, such as special courses for heritage learners or intensive
language courses. (Even if your placement test results don't provide
such suggestions, you can still choose to enroll in such courses. Talk
to the instructor if you have questions.)
Are placement test scores ever wrong?
Though placement tests are usually normed by considering many factors
and teacher experiences, it does sometimes happen that a
student is placed incorrectly. Language instructors are all on the
lookout for this during the first few weeks of class, and an instructor
may suggest that a student move
to a more appropriate level. If you are concerned that your placement
test results are not an appropriate reflection of your background and
ability, speak to your instructor or to the Language Program Director
for your language.
Back to top of page.
FAQs: The Yale College Foreign Language Requirement
What is the Foreign Language Requirement?
The Foreign Language Requirement is part of the Yale College
distributional requirements for all undergraduate students. These
requirements are in place to ensure that all students have a
broad exposure to important liberal arts disciplines. For specific
information, read the Foreign Language Requirement page of this Guide
or consult the Yale College Programs of Study for the complete
guidelines.
In which languages can I fulfill the Foreign Language Requirement? Can I fulfill it in a language not taught at Yale?
You can fulfill the foreign language requirement in any language
offered at Yale at the level you need. (Consult the information sheet
for your level
for more information on which courses you need to take.)
In perusing the course listing, you will see that most language
programs at Yale offer courses designated L1 through L4 and a variety
of L5 advanced level courses. However, there are a handful of language
programs that do not regularly offer L5 courses, such as Czech, Serbian
and
Croatian, Tamil, Turkish, and Vietnamese. Students who are at an L5
proficiency level in these languages will either have to find an
approved
study abroad program at the L5 level or take another language through
the L2 level. Some programs may be able to offer an independent
tutorial or L5-level course of study to students
demonstrating an L5 level of proficiency; consult the program's
instructor or Language Program Director for more information.
What happens if you have studied a language that Yale does not offer?
You must study a language taught at Yale at some point during your time
at the College. If you have proficiency in a language not taught at
Yale, you may contact the Director of Independent Language
Study at the Center for Language Study to arrange for a test of
your proficiency in speaking, reading, and writing. If you place below
the L5 level in that test, you must complete the Foreign Language
Requirement by studying a language taught at Yale through the L3 level.
If you place into the L5 level, you must complete the Foreign Language
Requirement by studying a language taught at Yale through the L2 level.
(If you are not a
native speaker of English and you place into the L5 level on this
specially-arranged placement test, you can fulfill the requirement by
taking ENGL 114 a or
b, 120 a or b, or 450b.) Consult Chapter III of the Yale College Programs of Study for specific regulations. (If you have further questions, contact the CLS. See our Getting Help page or send e-mail to cls@yale.edu.)
If I am a native speaker of a language other than English, do I have to fulfill the Foreign Language Requirement?
Yes: every student must study some foreign language while at Yale.
In
fact, if your secondary school work was not conducted entirely in
your native language, you might still be required to take a placement
exam to demonstrate your ability in the foreign language. Once you have
demonstrated your proficiency level, you could take two semesters of a
new language, or, if you are not a native speaker of English, you could
fulfill the requirement by taking ENGL 114 a or b, 120 a or b, or 450b.
Consult Chapter III of the Yale College Programs of Study for specific
regulations. (If you have further questions, contact the Center for
Language Study using the contact information on the Getting Help page,
or send e-mail to cls@yale.edu.)
If my secondary school education was in a language other than English, what more do I have to do to fulfill the requirement?
If your entire secondary school education was in a language other than
English, you must be prepared to produce a transcript from your school
that clearly indicates that this is the case. Once you have
demonstrated your proficiency level, you could take two semesters of a
new language, or, if you are not a native speaker of English, you could
fulfill the requirement by taking ENGL 114 a or b, 120 a or b, or 450b. Consult Chapter III of the Yale College Programs of Study for specific
regulations. (If you have further questions, contact the Center for
Language Study using the contact information on the Getting Help page,
or send e-mail to cls@yale.edu.)
What do I do if I took the Advanced Placement (AP) test or the International Baccalaureate Advanced-level exam?
If you received a 5 on an AP test in your language, or if you
received a score of 6 or 7 on the IB Advanced-level exam in your language,
proceed as though you have placed into L5. You do not need to take a
placement test. (Note: if you have concerns about whether you are able
to meet the requirements of an L5 course, you should speak to the
instructor or Language Program Director for your language. The Language Program Director may want you to take the
placement test anyway, to confirm your level of placement.)
If you received any other score on either test, you must still take the placement exam to confirm your level of placement.
How do I know which courses fulfill which parts of the requirement? How and where are the courses designated?
Consult Chapter IV of the Yale College Programs of Study. Each course that fulfills some part of the Foreign Language
Requirement is designated L1, L2, L3, L4, or L5,
telling you which part of the requirement that course fulfills. If a
course listing indicates "L1-L2" (or "L1, L2"), it means that course, if completed
successfully, fulfills both the L1 and L2 components of the
requirement. (This designation appears on year-long courses as well as
on one-semester intensive courses.) Likewise, a course designated "L3-L4" (or "L3,
L4") fulfills both L3 and L4, and "L1-L4" (or "L1, L2, L3, L4"), which appears on the
listings for some intensive courses, means the course fulfills all
four. Keep in mind that a designation of "L5" can appear on many
courses above the L4 level. Not all L5 courses are equivalent in
difficulty, however: some are designed for students with greater proficiency and may
have additional prerequisites.
These designations can also be found in the Online Course Information
(OCI) system. However, for your results to display the L1-L5
designations, you must click the "New" button in the distributional
requirements box on the search page.
Back to top of page.
FAQs: Learning A Foreign Language
Which languages can I study at Yale?
Yale affords its students an extraordinary range of language study opportunities. The language departments and area studies councils offer programs in over
fifty different languages. A list of languages offered at Yale can be
found on the Center for Language Study web site. Courses offered by
departments and councils can be taken for credit, and many of the
courses can be taken to fulfill Yale College's Foreign Language
Requirement.
If you are interested in acquiring proficiency in a
language that is not currently offered through traditional classroom
instruction at Yale, you may consider participating in Directed
Independent Language Study (DILS). This program, which is
application-driven and competitive, establishes a carefully structured
relationship among the student, a native-speaker Language Partner, and
an outside examiner. Students in the program are expected to adhere to
a daily schedule of work on their own, to meet with the Language
Partner for two sessions per week, and to be tested at least once a
semester by an examiner qualified in the target language. While DILS
courses do not earn course credit, they do provide a unique opportunity
to gain proficiency in a language for which a student may have a
particular interest or need.
To learn more about DILS and to read a list of languages that have been studied through DILS, please visit the DILS web site.
What is "shopping period" and how do I use it in relation to language?Shopping
period is roughly the first two weeks of classes every semester.
Shopping period ends when your course schedule is due, which varies
depending which class year you're in, with the Freshmen schedules due
the earliest. Shopping period allows you to sit in on a variety of
courses until you decide which selection best fits your plans to
explore the subjects you're most interested in and to fulfill the
distribution requirements.
If you're fairly certain you'll be taking a language class, try to
settle on it as early as possible in shopping period, well before you
finalize the rest of your schedule. There are four reasons for
this: (1) elementary and intermediate language classes meet five
days per week and therefore will to some extent determine what other
courses you can fit in; (2) language instruction at Yale
moves at a faster pace than you may have been used to in high-school,
and missing the first few days because you're shopping other courses
may make getting into the language work much harder for you;
(3) if you're building on previous language-learning experience
you want to minimize the gap between that and your Yale language
work; and (4) there are deadlines for fulfilling specified
parts of your distribution requirements so putting off language study
could make your course selection in later years more difficult.
Try not to second-guess the results of your placement test, at least
not for the first week; language programs have extensive
experience in placing students. If after that you feel you've
been inappropriately placed, talk to your instructor before you try to
switch courses. As for your specific language-course
section, there's little reason to change that unless the
scheduling of other courses necessitates it. All the sections of a
multiple-section language course follow the same syllabus and take the
same tests. And if you're concerned that your instructor's teaching
style doesn't match up with your learning style, talk with the teacher
about it. An important part of language study is learning to
articulate your own needs and goals and learning to understand why
language is taught as it is.
If at some later point you still aren't happy with the language course
you're in, you still have options. You can talk again with your
teacher, or with the course coordinator or language program director,
about moving to another section or another course; you can seek
tutoring through the Center for Language Study's Foreign Language Tutoring and Conversation Partner Program.
As a last resort you can drop the course and try again in another
semester; some courses are offered in the spring as well as the
fall. If you do that, you might want to inquire about getting
some help or doing some independent work to prepare yourself to do
better in the course later.
What is a "heritage learner"?The term "heritage learner"
refers to someone who has grown up hearing or speaking a language other
than English in the home. (It's not used for someone whose family
doesn't use the language but whose ancestry includes people who spoke
that language or came from that country.) Heritage learning
covers a very broad range of ability or proficiency: some
heritage learners can understand most or all of what's said to them in
the language, at least within the family, but don't speak it
themselves. Some can speak it a little, or well, or only for
certain contexts or topics, but can't read or write it; some can
read it, perhaps haltingly, but can't write it. For some heritage
learners the home language is a dialect or vernacular that's not the
same as--or even close to--the academic standard of the language.
Sometimes children have caregivers, whether family or non-family, who
routinely speak with them in another language--or they may have lived
abroad and gone to school in another language--and as a result of these
circumstances they have a "heritage"-like ability in the
language. (Sometimes heritage learners are referred to as
"bilinguals" but the term bilingual is more generally used to refer to
people who have a very high level of proficiency in two languages,
close to equal in both, and that's usually not the case for heritage
learners.)
Sometimes heritage learners want to take classes in their home language
in order to strengthen their understanding of their relatives, their
language and culture. It's very often the case, though, that such
learners quickly realize that their ability in and sensitivity to the
language gives them a wonderful extra strength in whatever discipline
they want to study. Yale graduates in every field have a very
strong tradition of international engagement, and that tradition is
underlined by our current emphasis on today's need for every graduate
to be prepared for the global community.
As you can imagine, it's often a waste of time for a heritage learner
to be in a language class with students who are starting from
scratch--and it can be extremely difficult both for the true beginners
and for the teacher who is trying to provide materials appropriate to
both levels! That's why language programs that attract many
heritage learners try to establish a separate track for them.
Sometimes the placement test is sensitive enough to let the language
program director recognize heritage capabilities so that the learner
will be advised to enroll in the special class, but if yours doesn't,
you should talk with the LPD or teacher to make your situation
clear. If the language in which you're interested doesn't have a
special track, you might find a way to work on your own or with the
teacher to boost your heritage ability to a point where you could
confidently enter a second- or third-semester course so that you can
proceed more efficiently to real mastery.
Can I study language in a Study Abroad program?
Yes. In fact, it makes very little sense to study in a country where a
foreign language is widely spoken and not take some type of language
course, regardless of your level of proficiency. (Learn more about
Study Abroad on the Study Abroad site of International Education
and Fellowship Programs.)
A number of language courses are offered through Yale Summer Session in a intensive format. In most cases, summer language courses are equivalent to courses offered in Yale College during the academic year, and Yale College students can receive credit for work completed in these courses. Many summer language and culture courses include an intensive preparatory component on the Yale campus (generally four weeks) followed by several weeks of study abroad. Others meet exclusively abroad. (Learn more about summer language programs on the Study Abroad site of Yale Summer Session.)
Students are permitted to
satisfy the Foreign Language Requirement by either completing or placing out of
a language course designated L2 and then completing an approved study abroad
program in a foreign-language-speaking setting. A student may seek permission
from the appropriate Director of Undergraduate Studies or the Director of the
Center for Language Study to substitute a term or a summer abroad in an approved
program for intermediate or advanced language study at Yale. Study abroad may be
used in place of L1 and L2 courses only if it is part of a Yale College program.
Study abroad opportunities are described in Chapter
I of the YCPS under the heading "International Study."
Where can I find a tutor?
The Center for Language Study offers a tutoring service, which is accessible through a web site at http://www.cls.yale.edu/tutoring. If
you are a Yale College student with a likely grade of C or lower in a language
course (as assessed by the instructor), you may qualify for up to ten hours per semester of free tutoring. If you are
not entitled to a free tutor, you can still seek a tutor on the
website with whom you will need to negotiate an appropriate compensation. The
website is also designed to help Yale and non-Yale students in search of
conversation partners or students seeking a one-to-one exchange of language
tutoring (i.e. "I will converse with you in Language X if you converse with me in Language
Y").
Back to top of page.
Links to More Information
Guide to Language Study for Undergraduates - Home Page
The Guide's Foreign Language Requirement Page
Yale College Programs of Study
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The Center for Language Study is open six days a week during the academic year, most evenings until 11pm. Hours...
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