Quality of College/University Courses (General discussion) Language Learning Forum

Quality of College/University Courses
Tags: Language Teaching \| College/University
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Language Learning Forum : General discussion

12 messages over 2 pages: 1 2

scott_c
Triglot
Newbie
United States
Joined 5677 days ago
4 posts - 4 votes
Speaks: English*, Spanish, French

Message 9 of 12

14 April 2010 at 3:34am | IP Logged

datsunking1 wrote:

I completely agree with Levi.

In many college courses, a lot of kids (well, young adults ;)) are there because they WANT to be. Which makes the atmosphere so much better.

Nope. You're romanticizing. This only happens in upper-level courses, or at schools where language learning is optional. If there are any requirements at all, speaking from a US perspective, expect a majority of grumpy students.

Fortunately, universities & liberal-arts colleges are getting much better at language teaching. You'll find more natives, sure, and a greater focus on oral production. Technology helps. Oral homework assignments, simultaneous oral quizzes via language labs, etc.

But you really can't generalize this way. Courses & faculty vary from department to department, and some schools are better than others. Quality of faculty is one thing, quality of fellow students is another; both matter.

It's still so-so versus what you can accomplish alone. At least until you enter the highest level courses.
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guesto
Groupie
Australia
Joined 5741 days ago
76 posts - 118 votes

Speaks: English*
Studies: Italian, Spanish

Message 10 of 12

14 April 2010 at 3:41am | IP Logged

I think the fact that many people with "language degrees" can hardly utter a sentence in the language they studied speaks for itself.
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OneEye
Diglot
Senior Member
Japan
Joined 6850 days ago
518 posts - 784 votes

Speaks: English*, Mandarin
Studies: Japanese, Taiwanese, German, French

Message 11 of 12

14 April 2010 at 5:33am | IP Logged

guesto wrote:

I think the fact that many people with "language degrees" can hardly utter a sentence in the language they studied speaks for itself.

I think it speaks more for the idiot with a degree and nothing to show for it than for the institution. It isn't their job to make you fluent. They provide the expertise, but it is up to the student to actually learn the material.

Plus, I'd like to see a citation for this so-called "fact." At the university where I live (a state university), they expect you to be able to handle modern literature in the original by the end of a language degree. In most cases, historical forms of the language are also learned (Literary Chinese, Classical Japanese, Medieval French, etc.). I find it hard to believe that someone reading Sartre, Camus, Montaigne and Rabelais in the original would have a hard time "uttering a sentence."
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Johntm
Senior Member
United StatesRegistered users can see my Skype Name
Joined 5422 days ago
616 posts - 725 votes

Speaks: English*
Studies: Spanish

Message 12 of 12

14 April 2010 at 8:54am | IP Logged

datsunking1 wrote:

I completely agree with Levi.

In many college courses, a lot of kids (well, young adults ;)) are there because they WANT to be. Which makes the atmosphere so much better. I honestly can't wait to attend a German or Russian class (MAYBE EVEN BOTH :D) I'll be attending Penn State in the fall, so I'll definitely let you know about the quality of university language teaching.

Also at college you have a TON of natives around.

I went to Pitt University on a field trip, and I heard probably 4 different languages just walking down the street.

At PSU, I think there are 44,000 people there. There is even a "Foreign Language House" for all foreign students. I applied to get in there for my dorm, hopefully I make the cut.

If anything else, natives > classes. I would much rather be around natives than have to take a course. I'm really hoping there will be a ton of native Spanish speakers at PSU, so I don't have to take more Spanish to improve my skill.

I know the Russian teacher is a native, and the Spanish teacher.

They offer :

German
Russian
Italian
Spanish
Portuguese
French
Arabic
Chinese
Japanese
Korean (I think)
Latin
Greek

Can't wait to hear about it. I'm hoping to go to Clemson, and unless I hear they have good language classes I won't take one.
I can't wait for college because there will be a lot of foreigners, but less Spanish speakers than I'm around currently (I guess I'll take advantage of them while I can).
That's awesome to hear about the "Foreign Language House"

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