Depending on their AP or IB scores, undergraduates can claim course credit for the introductory sequences in most foreign language classes taught at UT. In fact, students who score a 5 on their AP language test can skip straight to upper-division courses in Chinese, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Latin and Spanish.
AP and IB exam course credit can save students thousands of dollars worth of tuition. However, “crediting out” of intro-level classes can often come at the cost of academic preparedness and success in higher-level courses.
UT must do more to support students who jump from high school straight into university upper-division foreign language classes.
Beyond course content, intro classes offer some students the experience necessary to successfully navigate upper-division classes. Providing students the opportunity to participate in a pre-semester, language-specific “boot camp” would ensure that students are set up for success. It would give students a sense of what to expect — and what will be expected of them.
“As an educator that has taught lots of levels of Spanish, I have never taught a Spanish class where everyone has been at the same level,” said Rose Potter, a lecturer in the Department of Spanish and Portuguese.
While Potter views managing students’ varied proficiency as an intrinsic aspect of teaching foreign languages, she said she sees the benefit of taking a more deliberate approach to level-setting in advance.
“I think it would be wonderful to have some sort of roundtable discussion with this group of students coming in with AP credit or who haven’t had Spanish for a while,” Potter said.
The idea of a language boot camp is not revolutionary.
UT’s biology department offers a “boot camp” for incoming biology students called “Biology Intensive Workshop.” The workshop, which students register for prior to the fall semester, is intended to give students a sense of what a college biology class feels like in terms of instructional style and pacing. It also gives students a head start on reviewing the course material for the semester to come.
Similarly, a language “boot camp” could demo college-level foreign language instruction. Not only would it provide students with a review of prerequisite knowledge, but it would also give them a preview of expectations for class participation, homework, testing formats and communication with professors.
Biochemistry senior Haydn Rich sees the value of a language boot camp. During her sophomore year, she decided to claim the credit (and collect the savings) associated with her solid AP Spanish exam score.
“If there was a boot camp that set people’s expectations, and they could match themselves against what they know is going to be expected of them in the upper-division classes, I think it could be helpful in terms of calibrating themselves as to where they’re at,” Rich said.
Heather Pelletier, a lecturer in the Department of French and Italian, said many students refrain from going into higher-level classes — even if they have the skills to do so — because they are unsure of their readiness and the efficacy of their high school preparation.
These students’ lack of confidence could lead them to unnecessarily relinquish both the tuition savings they’ve earned as well as the opportunity to deepen and advance their language studies.
“I can see a definite need in French for helping (new students) ease their anxiety,” Pelletier said.
Participating in a pre-semester boot camp would boost students’ confidence for advanced foreign language instruction and narrow the gap among enrolled students’ readiness for college-level coursework.
Strelitz-Block is a Plan II sophomore from Austin, Texas.
