Before registering for your first Foreign Language class, please stop by the Foreign Language Department for information on the placement test. After you have completed your first Foreign Language class at Radford University, you can enroll yourself in a sequel class during your permitted registration time. If you experience problems with registration, please contact the School of Writing, Language, and Literature by phone (540-831-5614) or email Andrea Simpkins. You may also stop by the office in Hemphill Hall, Room 4110.
Thank you for your interest in taking a foreign language! Please complete the Foreign Language Registration Form. When you have completed the form, please email it to Andrea Simpkins. Your placement will be emailed to you within 48 (business) hours of receiving your registration form and test results.
You can receive Radford University foreign language credits for studying a language in high school without taking the AP or CLEP tests.
Students who have taken a foreign language in high school and who begin their college level study of that language on the second year or above (above the first nine hours in Spanish) will receive an additional six semester hours of elementary language credit in that same language if the following conditions are met:
Students already receiving AP credit for a foreign language are ineligible to receive this additional credit in that same language.
CAP and CLEP Guidelines: The university accepts credit by examination for the College Level Examination Program
(CLEP) and AP subject exams for:
(Please note: You can reach out to the Higher Education Center in Roanoke, Virginia
to take any of the tests if desired.)
| CLEP | AP |
|---|---|
| College French | |
| Minimum score of 50= FREN 100 for 4 credit hours | Score of 3-4 = FREN 100, 200 for 8 credit hours |
| Minimum score of 59 = FREN 100, 200 & 210 for 12 Credit hours | Score of 5 = FREN 100, 200, 210 for 12 credit hours |
| College German | |
| Minimum score of 50= GRMN 100 for 4 credit hours | Score of 3-4 = GRMN 100, 200 for 8 credit hours |
| Minimum score of 59 = GRMN 100, 200 & 210 for 12 Credit hours | Score of 5 = GRMN 100, 200, 210 for 12 credit hours |
| College Spanish | |
| Minimum score of 50= SPAN 101,102 for 6 credit hours | Score of 3-4 = SPAN 100, 200 for 6 credit hours |
| Minimum score of 63 = SPAN 101, 102, 201, 202, for 12 Credit hours | Score of 5 = SPAN 100, 200, 301 for 9 credit hours |
Continue now; reconsider later.
If you discontinue your foreign language study now after only several years of high
school study, your loss in abilities will be great. After a couple of additional courses,
you will probably have abilities that you can keep for life.
You haven't seen anything yet.
College level foreign language study will often be very different from your past experiences
in high school. At Radford University, you will study the language both to learn about
the culture and to really become fluent.
Ask what foreign language study can do for you or your major.
The overwhelming majority of Radford University students studying foreign languages,
including majors and minors, have other majors that are supported through the study
of another language at Radford University and through the university's study abroad programs.
One size does not fit all.
If you have studied the language in high school, then you’ll place beyond the first
semester (101 in Mandarin, 100 in Spanish, French and German). The placement recommendation
must match the specific details of your abilities. There is no safe placement extreme,
either too high or too low.
The chart’s good; the test’s better.
You don’t have to take the placement test in order to get into a foreign language
course. Good placement recommendations can be made using the charts provided. The test just gives additional information for an even better placement.
Take 12 or two.
There are two ways to fulfill the B.A. foreign language requirement: if you’re a beginner,
take the first 12 hours, or if you’re a more advanced student, you only need to take
two courses beyond the first nine hours in Spanish, beyond the first eight in all
others.
Get six freebies.
If you have never taken a college foreign language class before and if you take two
courses on the advanced level as indicated in #6 and receive a B and a C (or better)
on these first two courses, then you will be awarded six additional gratis placement
credits on the beginning level.
Students continuing their study of a foreign language are placed in a course appropriate for their abilities based on the results of their foreign language placement test and/or based on placement advising by the department chair. First semester courses are for beginners. Typically students with three or more years of high school study are placed in second or third semester courses. Students must be placed by the department chair prior to registering for foreign language courses.
|
Numbers of Years of Study |
High School GPA Overall |
Placement |
|
0-2 |
N/A |
Spanish 100 |
|
3 years |
Below 3.3 GPA; Below 480 SAT Verbal |
Spanish 200 |
|
3 years |
Above 3.3 GPA; Above 480 SAT Verbal |
Spanish 301 |
|
4 years |
N/A |
Spanish 301 |
|
5 years |
N/A |
Spanish 302 |
|
5+ years |
Above 560 SAT Verbal |
Above Spanish 302 |
|
Numbers of Years of Study |
High School GPA Overall |
Placement |
|
0-2 |
N/A |
German 100 |
|
3 years |
Below 2.8 GPA; Below 550 SAT Verbal |
German 100 (fall semester) or 200 (200 spring semester) |
|
3 years |
Above 2.8 GPA; Above 550 SAT Verbal |
German 210 |
|
4+ years |
N/A |
German 210 |
|
Numbers of Years of Study |
High School GPA Overall |
Placement |
|
0-2 |
N/A |
French 100 |
|
3 years |
N/A |
French 200 |
|
4 years |
N/A |
French 210 |
|
5+ years |
N/A |
French 210 or 300 level |