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The Rice Thresher
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by Elizabeth Jardina and Brian Stoler Thresher editorial staff New students who placed out of 200-level language classes by passing both a Rice written test and an oral proficiency interview don't have to do anything further to satisfy the language requirement. Confusion about the tests resulted from a discrepancy between the text of the language requirement and tests that were actually available. The language requirement says a student "achieve a score of intermediate-mid level or higher on a nationally accredited standardized test." Such tests were only available in German and Chinese at the beginning of this year. The Spanish and French tests new students took this year were not certified under the standards established by the American Council on Teaching Foreign Language. Students who took the test will not be penalized because those tests were not ready, interim Dean of Humanities Gale Stokes said. "You don't want to do harm to students," he said. "The student is taking these [tests] in good faith... and you can't say, 'Well, I'm sorry, you took this in good faith, but it wasn't ready yet so you have to take it again.' We don't want to say that." Technically, when a student had passed both the Rice placement test and an oral proficiency interview in French or Spanish, Rice's most popular languages, she had not fulfilled the language requirement because of the "nationally accredited standardized test" clause. The tests for French and Spanish were completed in December 1999, the same time as the tests for German and Chinese. However, the ACTFL specialists only approved the tests for German and Chinese. The tests should be certified relatively soon. "I hope that the French and Spanish ones will be probably certified by the end of this semester," Stokes said. While the lack of certification for French and Spanish tests has been the most pressing problem for Rice thus far, tests also have to be certified for other languages Rice offers. Fewer students know these languges, though need is less immediate. For example, only 36 new students took the placement tests offered during Orientation Week in Latin, Italian, Arabic, Russian, Japanese and Korean combined. Tests in Portuguese and modern Hebrew are still being developed by faculty in the language departments. "I hope to have at least a few of the other languages verified by the end of the school year," Stokes said. Languages offered by Rice through the fourth semester can be used to satisfy the requirement. Students who are proficient in a language other than those offered by Rice can petition the Committee on Examinations and Standing on an individual basis to request that the requirement be waived. Stokes wrote a letter to the Thresher this week to clarify confusing points in the requirement, but he doesn't think the faculty will have to be consulted to change the wording. "We could rewrite those six options so they were clearer - they were not written well when they were done," he said. "It's not the faculty's job really - as a whole - to micromanage programs. ... That's up to the provost and the deans and the departments," he said. Despite the confusion, Stokes said he believes the language requirement is benefiting Rice. "Lots of universities are establishing language requirements, but not many of them are taking it as seriously as we are," he said. The reason the faculty was careful to offer options on ways to fulfill the requirement was the feeling that students should be competent in a language, not just have credit for language classes. "We are actually trying to make it a competency requirement, not just a seat time requirement. ... Of course, a lot of people will just take the courses, that's true, but our goal is competency."
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