Our Programs

Majors, Minors and Certificates ♦ General Education ♦  Language Placement Guidelines  ♦  Advance Placement Test  ♦  Retrocredit

Majors, Minors and Certificate Programs:

We offer the following academic degree programs, minors and certificates:

• B.A. in Spanish ♦ B.A. in Spanish Teaching;
• Minor in Spanish
• Certificates in French, German, Japanese, and Spanish

For detailed information regarding our degree programs and a complete course listing please refer to the University Catalog at http://catalogs.eku.edu.

 Program information:

1. Certain courses are inappropriate for students with native or near-native fluency in a particular language. Native speakers of a foreign language (i.e. a language other than English) are welcome to take our courses at an appropriate skill level but they cannot be given credit for introductory courses in their native language (100/200 level), either by enrolling in the course or by taking an exam for credit. Exceptions to this restriction, for example in the case of heritage speakers who need to take a lower level course to correct language deficiencies, must be approved by the relevant foreign language faculty in consultation with the chair. Other exceptions may apply, at the discretion of the coordinator and foreign language faculty in conjunction with the chair.
2. Students must earn 30 of the last 36 hours, exclusive of student teaching, through EKU.
3. Students who transfer credits must earn no fewer than 15 upper-division hours in the major and 9 upper-division hours in the minor at EKU, the exact minimum to be determined by the department chair in consultation with the faculty in the major area.
4. Eastern Kentucky University students are required to obtain the department chair's written prior approval of any course work they plan to transfer back to EKU for application to the major or minor.
5. A grade of "C" or higher is required in each course to be applied toward the major, minor, or certificate.
6. Students in teaching programs must attain a minimum of 2.75 GPA in their teaching major to be recommended for student teaching.
7. French and Spanish majors must pass a departmental proficiency exam which covers spoken and written language, culture, and literature. Teaching majors must pass the proficiency exam to be recommended for student teaching. Students will ordinarily take the exam no later than in the first semester of their senior year.

General Education:

General Education offerings includes courses in French (FRE), German (GER), Japanese (JPN), Spanish (SPA), Foreign Culture and Civilization (FCC), and Humanities (HUM). We also offer Latin (LAT) and other lesser known but vital languages under Foreign Language Studies (FLS) as interest grows.

Foreign Language Placement Guidelines:

• If you had 2 years of a High School language (or equivalent) with good grades, you should consider starting at the 102 level.
• If you had 3 or more years of a High School language (or equivalent) with good grades, you should consider starting at the 201 level.
• If you had 4 or more years of a High School language (or equivalent) with good grades you should consider starting at the 202 level.

Please see an advisor in your area of study for more details.

Advance Placement (AP) Credit:

For a score of three (3) on the AP Language Exam, students will be awarded nine (9) hour credit for 101, 102, and 201 of that language.

For a score of four (4) or five (5), students also receive an additional 3 hours credit for 202 level of that language.

For a score of three (3) or above on the Language Literature Exam, students will be awarded three (3) hours credit for 310 of that language.

Retrocredit:

Retrocredit recognizes successful previous study of a foreign language and encourages students to start their language study at Eastern at the highest level appropriate for them. Retrocredit is available for French, German, Japanese, and Spanish language studies.

• If you had 2 years of a HS language with good grades, you should consider starting at the 102 level.  Start at  the 102 level and make an "A", you get three (3) extra hours for 101.
• If you had 3 or more years of a HS language, you should consider starting at the 201 level.  Start at the 201 level, make an "A" or "B", you get six (6) extra hours for 101/102.
• If you had 4 or more years of a HS languages with good grades you should consider starting at the 202 level.  Start at the 202 level, make an "A" or "B", get six (9) extra hours for 101/102/201.

Please consult with your language advisor to clarify what level you should start at or if you have any additional questions.