Critical Languages Center

Professor Ronald R. Robel, Director
Offices: 200 B. B. Comer Hall,

The Critical Languages Center currently offers instruction in two foreign languages (Chinese and Japanese) in the traditional classroom-instruction format. In addition, the center provides instruction in a variety of other languages in a nontraditional format that involves self-instruction. Currently those languages are Arabic, Croatian, Czech, Dutch, Finnish, Hebrew, Hindi, Indonesian, Korean, modern Greek, Norwegian, Polish, Portuguese, Sanskrit, Swahili, Swedish, Thai, Turkish, Urdu, and Vietnamese. The University of Alabama is a member of the National Association of Self-Instructional Language Programs, and can thus provide the opportunity to study almost any major language spoken in the world today. There are two restrictions:

• The prospects for student enrollments must be sufficient to justify the offering of a language; minimum enrollment for a course is four.
• Native speakers must be available to serve as tutors.

The self-instructional approach to language learning relies on the use of tapes (to replace the classroom instructor), texts, and tutors. Tutors are primarily responsible for conducting regular drill sessions. For those languages that do not use the Roman alphabet, tutors are also responsible for introducing the written script. At the end of each semester, outside examiners are invited to the campus to administer final oral examinations for determining course grades. Each student has a private final oral examination.

The Critical Languages Center offers four years of classroom instruction in both Chinese and Japanese language. Students may minor in either of these languages.

Testing for language proficiency. The Critical Languages Center does not administer standardized examinations for testing language proficiency. However, the center may accommodate a student wishing to have his or her proficiency in a language tested, under the following conditions:

• The student must provide documented evidence of formal instruction in the language to be tested.
• The student must consult the director of the Critical Languages Center to arrange the proficiency examination.
• To test the student's proficiency in the Chinese and Japanese languages, the final examinations normally given in Elementary Chinese (CHI 101 and CHI 102) or in Elementary Japanese (JA 101 and JA 102) will be administered. Students who pass the final examination for the 101 level are awarded 4 semester hours of academic credit and are allowed to enroll in the 102 course. Students who pass the final examination for the 102 level are awarded 8 semester hours of academic credit and are allowed to enroll in the 201 course. Proficiency testing at the 200 level is also provided, for students who wish to enroll in 300- or 400-level courses.
• For the languages offered in the self-instructional format, proficiency tests are given only at the end of each semester when external examiners are on campus. Students must pass the locally prepared written examination and must make a grade of "C" or better on the oral examination given by the external examiner. Three semester hours of academic credit are awarded for a passing result for the 101 level; 6 semester hours are awarded for a passing result for the 102 level.
• All proficiency examinations are based on the standard texts (and the transcription systems used in these texts) used at The University of Alabama.

Fees are charged for proficiency examinations. Contact the director of the Critical Languages Center for current charges.