Requirements for the Major in French, German, and Spanish

A minimum of 34 hours is required for the undergraduate majors in German and Spanish. A minimum of 30 hours is required for the major in French. French, German, and Spanish offer two tracks for majors, the general and the applied language or business track.

A minimum of 30 credit hours is required for the French major.

Below is a sample plan of study. Consult your degree audit for your program requirements.

• PLO 1. Speaking outcomes. French majors and minors are able to initiate, sustain, and bring to closure a variety of communicative tasks including those required in university classes taught entirely in the target language. They are able to narrate events and to describe people, places, and things using paragraph-length connected discourse. They also possess the ability to express personal ideas and feelings and to discuss social and cultural matters relevant to their lives. They both understand and are understood by interlocutors, including native speakers of the target language not accustomed to dealing with foreign speakers.
• PLO 2. Writing outcomes. Majors and minors are able to write compositions that demonstrate mechanical and grammatical correctness and that show a precise and correct use of vocabulary. Their compositions are also well organized, clear, and have some intellectual or artistic interest. Students are able to write down everything they are able to say aloud, using an appropriate register in description, narratives, personal expression, etc. They are also able to write longer analytical texts on a variety of topics.
• PLO 3. Grammar outcomes. Majors and minors are able to communicate clearly and correctly in the target language. Clear communication is based on the accurate use and understanding of correct forms and structures. Majors are able to identify forms and structures that they have mastered.
• PLO 4. Critical reading. Majors are able to respond coherently and react critically to texts they have read, formulate relevant questions and problems, and show how these concerns may be clarified. They are able to identify, understand, and analyze the texts they have read.
• PLO 5. Culture Outcomes. Majors can identify a number of texts, artifacts, monuments, terms, names, places, concepts, behavior, dates, and other cultural facts from periods of the target culture s history, geography, and institutions. Majors can establish these concepts within relevant contexts and explain in the target language their meaning or importance.