outside work):

0/^Iu

— e

l^i 4-

-t

TO:

SENATE

PAPER 31

FROM:

AP.TS PACULTY

July 22, 1966

SUBJECT:

CREDIT

ALLOTMENT FOR LANGUAGE COURSES 100 & 101

File: 7-A--35

The Arts Faculty recommends to Senate chat the language courses

100 and 101 be changed from a credit allotment of 3 to 5. The Faculty

further recommends that this change be retroactive to the Fall Semester

1965.

The statement (prepared by a special committee of the Faculty)

approved by the Arcs Faculty is as follows:

"We believe that the total time commitment that a course de-

mands fron

tudn: must be taken into consideration in

determinin the

crcdic hours allotted to that course.

In vied oi

hac appcars to be

considerable total time

commitment for foreign

language courses 100 and 101, and in

view of the fact that the Department of Modern Languages

considers it essential that these courses., by the nature of

their subject matter, should be intensive in treatment, this

Committee accepts on

the recommendation of the DML an increase

to five

hours in the credit allotment for these courses.

"This recommendation is not

be taken as a precedent either

for other departments to intensify their courses and demand

more credit hours or for changing the idea of a liberal arts

education. (With regards to the latter it should be noted

that this program would require 16 semester hours credit in

the first two years.)"

The arguments for this recommendation are attached.

D. P. Robertson

Secretary

Arts Faculty

•;

c h&

Arguments for an increase in credit hours

for

language courses_00 and 101

1. FL 100 and 101 represent an anomaly in the class-credit

ouio

The number of credit hours given to foreign language courses 100

and 101 which have 8 sessions per week)

p:cesentc

an anomaly in

terms of the class-credit hour ratio use

at.

SFU

for

other courses

—no other courses at SF11 having more than 5 meetings per week

give only 3 hours' credit and the only other coursee having 8

meetings,

General Chemistry I

and II (with their labs, usually

taken

concurrently) , give a total

of 5 credits (see

the SFU

Catalogue).

2 The total_time commitment _for FL 100

and 101 is considerthly

I1Fn £FEherATE

-5

scsTncIicung

The small

number

of credit hours given to L 100 and 101 cannot

be justified by claiming that

these

courses requao leis outs.id-

of-.class work than other courses; since they demand considerable

outside memorization and grammatical drill study for classroom

performances [see, for example, the course rogra.mte for

Spanish 100] moreover, several

hundred tu&nts in FL 100 and

101 claimed, through a poll conducted by

ir0

Mynot last semester,

that these courses require an outside-of-class Lime comritment

from equal to double that demanded

by other courFJeJ (see SLudent-.

Brief of February

28 resented to the Faculty on march 3.0)

now let's look at three different ways of comparing total time ortiitmc

a) lf we accept the figures in the student pc.U., the total time corcatiitiiie;L

for, a student in, for example, Spanish 100 or

German

101 would cornjarc

as follows with the total time

commitment in other courses:

FL 100 or 101 £ C + 12

Other courses a 3

If we use the standard formula of two hours of outside-of-class

study per hour of class, the total time coinitment figures would

be as £o1iowi 'notice that

3 hours in

FL 100 and 101 don't require

outside work):

100 or

101: 8 + 5x2)

Other courses: 3

(3x2)

we have doubts about the reliability of the student poll and

assume instead that students

100

or 101 spend neither more

•

nor less time in outside-of-class study than in other courses, the

figures would be

as follows:

Fl 100 or

101: 8

-F

Other courses: 3 +

3. Students are

unha

wh the

resent credit a1iotmnt.

Last fall about 750 students in FL 100 or 101 signed a petition

asking that credit hours for these courses be increed to

five, while stating that their .discontent was not with the

courses. themselves but with their low credits. The students'

dissatisfaction with the low and misleading) credit allotment

for FL 100 and 101 can be

seen also in

the considerbie attrition

in some of these courses. The students discontent has continacd

•

be expressed through

inquiries and complain

the obudrtan

and to members of

the D

;

stronge

r expressions

of student

dissatisfaction can be expected

the future i.nothing is clone.

4. The present credit allotment..forFL_3.00 d 101

is out bi-

neI

prat'ces tt1

Tua

e_tei

,.....

sT6

•

a) Regardless of the method of language teaching

used: mOst

North American universiti offer more intensive FL courses:

usually

carrying more crelit hours than later courses,

during

the first year of FL study (see current university cata1ogue

b) At other universities where as in sru, an intensive audiolthgutL

• itothod is used, first-year FL courses receive 5 o:

6 c:cedit hottz;

while

other

FL courses and courses in other depa;:trnts get 3

(sorn even Z) credit hours

(see catalogues oi Cornell U 6 credit,

hours), San rrencisco S.C..

of Oklahoma .). U. of

Colorado (5) .;mericn U. 6) .

Louisiana S.U.

15fl., tAwong

othtw things this means that a student transering to or frorct

SF0 from or to such uriversities would lose several credit

•

hours

the process.)

a r eeeeeee

•

-3--

In view

those reacns and in view of the tact

that the Dapnrtinont of modexn Languages considers that

these cournes, by the nature of their subject matter, should

the

ema

ive

ent

, t

ncr

unde

ease

igne

f iv

l'i

our

f3h

the

credit allotment

for these courses.

urging such a vote,

with also to draw the attention of the'acu1ty to the

following

Since language courses are optional at SVU,

and

sinc

101

e m

oul

tude

ace

tha

d i

the

v e

opos

o far

200

ssigne

cour

d .

100

, this

nge

didet

ntal

slot,

durm

intng

one

oul

ude

our

only

bout

rs at

one

SFU

hrid

This change in credit allotments has a iz only

pur

co - runi

pos

the

-c

rZC

hour

UC'n

rati

houl

ing

not

(-.m a

5.1,1

Lks

the

n a

, a

precedent for other departments to intensify their courses

and dmnd more credits without: justifying

the

need for an

early

iraensjve treatment of the subject; matter it should

not be taken either as a precedent for changing the idea of a

liberal arts education

a resut of this change the DI, will not: be

attracting

Students

away

from courses in ct:her deparLen.

for its roquiretients

of 16 hours 5+5+3--3) duincj tho

first two years differs only slightly i

j quan,-ity, and

primarily in

tribution, from the requirements of 15 hou.rj

(3x5) made by other

departments.

H00

rIZfl1Tfl:r1y,

J)M

G.P.

IcalU

day

DLi.:

Ruzsm

B. D.

Kareen,.

DL.'L

S t

Newton,

Mitt

- French

and Acting HecI