Language courses to increase credit hours

By Jieya Wen     12/3/13 6:00pm

The current five-credit-hour introductory language courses are increasing to six credit hours, according to Dean of Humanities Nicolas Shumway.

Duncan College sophomore Chelsea Ward said she is currently enrolled in SPAN 101: Introduction to Spanish Language and Culture I and CHIN 201: Second Year Chinese I. After taking CHIN 102: First Year Chinese II last year, Ward said she believes the change in introductory language courses will be beneficial for those trying to learn new languages.

"Having a lot of exposure to a language definitely helps language acquisition early on," Ward said. "It will probably get a lot of backlash from students because it seems like a lot of homework. But in the end, it will be more advantageous because you are going to be able to acquire the language faster and, therefore, you will be on the track sooner and you will study abroad sooner."

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Martel College freshman Catherine Miller said she thinks the increase to six credit hours reflects the hard work students put in to learning a new language.

"Learning a new foreign language takes a lot of time and effort, both inside and outside of class," Miller said. "Adding an extra credit hour to those already time-intensive introductory language courses will probably better reflect the time one actually spends working to learn the language."

Miller, who is currently enrolled in GERM 101: Beginning German I, said the course not only teaches the language, but also history and cultural traditions.

"With each section of every chapter, we learn about different aspects of German culture ranging from family life to holidays to politics and compare what we learn to our own experiences in the United States," Miller said.

Jeffrey Piccirillo, a student who took ARAB 101: Introduction to Modern Arabic Language and Culture I last year and is currently enrolled in ARAB 301: Seminar in Arabic I, said that Rice introductory language courses lay a solid language foundation for students. He said he believes changing from five credit hours to six credit hours might not be necessary. 

"I think meeting two hours a day, three days in a week is too overwhelming for learning Arabic," Piccirillo, a Jones College sophomore, said. "Six credit hours will be hard for students with majors that require a lot of credit hours. Fitting in an introductory language course will be nearly impossible for them."

Michael Wu, a student in SPAN 101 and KORE 101: Introduction to Korean Language and Culture I, said he believes making six-credit-hour language courses that do not count toward distribution may dissuade students from learning a new language.

"It depends on students' interest in learning a new language," Wu, a freshman from Will Rice College, said. "I feel like it [will] stop students from wanting to learn a new language."

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