When you enroll at Susquehanna, you’ll be paired with an advisor and application tool to guide you in your course planning and scheduling. The following is an excerpt from the complete course catalog. Enrolled students follow the requirements of the course catalog for the academic year in which they declare each major and/or minor, consult with their advisor(s) and the Academic Planning Tool.
Language Fellows
A special feature of language study at Susquehanna is the opportunity for students to interact with visiting instructors from other countries. The fellows teach introductory language classes, act as teaching assistants in upper-level courses, and join students in weekly language tables and club activities.
Language, Literature & Culture Studies
Learning Goals
- Students will demonstrate a high level of communicative proficiency in the target language. This proficiency encompasses interpretive, presentational, and interpersonal modes.
- Students will be able to interpret target language texts in a variety of modes (written, spoken, and visual) and in a variety of genres (narrative, poetry, nonfiction, etc.).
- Students will be able to present orally and in writing about a range of cultural and literary topics and issues related to the target language for a variety of purposes (e.g., to inform, explain, persuade, etc.).
- Students will be able to interact and negotiate meaning in spoken and written conversations for a variety of purposes.
- Students will thus use their language proficiency to develop critical insight into the cultures in which their language of study is widely spoken.
Language, Literatures & Cultures Majors
24-28 All majors in French Studies, German Studies or Spanish Studies complete the following:
24–28 SH at the 200-, 300- and 400-levels
A related history course
A capstone
A semester of study abroad in a country where the language of study is spoken
Note: Independent Study (542) may also be counted toward the major and minor
Students must earn at least a C- in all major courses and have a minimum GPA of 2.00 in the major.
Major in German Studies
28 All majors in German Studies must complete the following:
GERM-201, GERM-202 and20 semester hours of German at the 300- and 400-level
A semester of study abroad in a German-speaking country
A course in European history
A capstone, which is comprised of
- A 400-level course in German to be taken after completing a semester abroad, and
- A language proficiency evaluation (GERM-599) evaluated on a satisfactory/ unsatisfactory basis that must be passed
Students must earn at least a C- in all major courses and have a minimum GPA of 2.00 in the major.
Teaching Certification
Secondary Teaching Certification Coursework required by the state of Pennsylvania for admission to the teacher certification program includes successful completion of FYSE-100 or equivalent course (having learning goals related to English composition), at least 3 semester hours in British or American literature, at least 6 semester hours of mathematics coursework (or other courses which satisfy the Central Curriculum Analytical Thought requirement) and at least one 40-hour externship. Education course requirements for secondary education are EDUC-101 Introduction to Education and Society, EDUC-250 Educational Psychology, EDUC-260 Introduction to Special Education, EDUC-270 Instruction of Exceptional Students, EDUC-330 Technology in Education, EDUC-350 English Language Learners, EDUC-380 Instructional Design, EDUC-422 Methods of Curriculum, Instruction, and Assessment in Teaching Foreign Languages, EDUC-479 Principles of Learning and Teaching in Secondary Education, EDUC-483 Differentiated Instruction and Classroom Management in Secondary Education, and the EDUC-500 Student Teaching package (EDUC-501, EDUC-502, EDUC-503 and EDUC-600). In addition, students pursuing certification in French, German or Spanish satisfy all of the usual requirements for those majors.
Departmental Honors
The departmental honors option recognizes outstanding work in language, literary, and cultural studies. To graduate with honors, majoring students must do the following:
- Receive an invitation to enter the program in the senior year,
- Maintain a GPA of 3.50 in the department and 3.30 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), and
- Present their papers for discussion with faculty or at Senior Scholars Day.
Work not meeting the standards for departmental honors may be applied to the regular major.
Placement
Please see the Academic Policies section of this catalog for information regarding language placement.
German 102 and Spanish 102
Students who do not complete the course in which they were placed within two years must retake the online language placement exam to determine their appropriate placement after the lapsed time.
Applied Language Credit
The Department of Languages, Literatures and Cultures encourages students who exempt the World Languages Central Curriculum requirement to continue their language study by enrolling in the course into which they have been placed at the 200-level or above. Upon successful completion of that course with a grade of B- or above, such students will earn a total of eight semester hours of credit: four semester hours for the upper-level course and four semester hours of (ungraded) applied language credit in recognition of their achievement. This policy does not apply to students who have previously earned college credit (whether at Susquehanna, through transfer course work or AP/ IB) in the language they are continuing to study. Applied language credit may not be used to satisfy the requirement for a major or minor program.