Degree Requirements
Modern Language Studies
Modern Language Major. Students with a major in French, German or Spanish complete at least 26 semester hours above the 202 level with grades of C- or better. At least one course in the target language must be at the 400 level. French and German require one related history course. Spanish requires one course in Latin American history. All majors complete the capstone, a 400-level course in the language of study typically taken during their senior year. In addition, in their final semester they must pass a comprehensive examination (FRNC:599, GERM:599, SPAN:599), which is graded on a satisfactory/unsatisfactory basis.
Study abroad is required for one year or one semester. Study in business, education, political science, sociology, history or literature combines well with the modern language major. After returning from a year or semester of study abroad, majors must take at least one regularly scheduled 300- or 400-level language course at Susquehanna before graduating.
Minor in French, German or Spanish. Students minoring in French, German or Spanish complete, with grades of C- or better, 12 semester hours above 202. One of these must be a course in grammar, composition or conversation.
Teacher Certification. Students preparing for certification to teach French, German or Spanish in public schools must maintain a minimum 3.0 GPA in the major. Additional Department of Education requirements and procedures for certification are described in the departmental catalog section.
Departmental Honors. The departmental honors option recognizes outstanding work in a modern language. To graduate with honors, majoring students must do the following:
- receive an invitation to enter the program in the spring of the junior year,
- maintain a GPA of 3.5 in the department and 3.3 overall,
- declare an honors advisor by the end of the first week of the fall/spring semester of the senior year,
- develop and submit honors-quality senior research by April 15 (usually as part of a seminar, research or independent study course),
- present their papers for discussion with faculty or at Senior Scholars Day.
Work below required standards for departmental honors may be applied to the regular major.
Applied Second Language (ASL) Option. The ASL option has been developed for students interested in using language skills across the curriculum and receiving credit for their efforts. In the schedule of classes, which is published each semester, certain courses are designated as offering the ASL option. Faculty in these courses will extend to students the opportunity to earn 1 additional hour of credit by completing assignments in a language other than English. Typical assignments might include readings in journal or newspaper articles, book-length studies, essays, poetry or works of fiction, followed by oral and/or written summaries. A student who would like to pursue the ASL option registers for the course with the instructor's permission. Upon successful completion of the course, the student will receive 1 semester hour of interdisciplinary Applied Second Language study graded on an S/U basis.
Placement. Scores received on pre-enrollment language-proficiency examinations and nationally recognized achievement tests help determine placement level or exemption without credit from the university's Central Curriculum language requirement. Students who receive 4 or better on the National Advanced Placement examination are granted credit in recognition of their accomplishment.
The Department of Modern Languages encourages students who exempt the foreign language Central Curriculum requirement to continue their language study by enrolling in a course at the 202 level or above. Upon successful completion of that course with a grade of B- or above, such students will earn a total of 8 semester hours of credit: 4 semester hours for the upper-level course and 4 semester hours of (ungraded) advanced study credit in recognition of their advanced achievement. This option is not available to students who transfer with the equivalent of language course work from another college. Advanced study credit may not be used to satisfy the requirement for a major or minor program.
