Credit By Examination

All undergraduate students who are able to speak, read, and write a language other than English at the intermediate or advanced level of proficiency should initiate and complete the procedures outlined below. Obtaining credit by examination (CBE) in modern foreign languages (MFL) can save students thousands of dollars in tuition and can shorten the time it normally takes to complete the degrees they are pursuing.

Definition of Terms and Clarification of MFL Degree Requirements

Modern foreign languages are non-English languages with a spoken and written form that evolves as the world changes. Ancient Greek, Latin, and Biblical Hebrew are not modern, and American Sign Language is not foreign, and therefore they belong to other categories of languages.

Placement exams measure the progress students have made in their prior study of a particular foreign language, and the score obtained indicates the level and the number of the language course they should take at Baylor. Without getting into causes or explanations, most students admitted to Baylor are minimally prepared in MFL and place into one of the elementary courses, 1401 or 1412. MFL placement exams are administered free of charge at Baylor. Examinations for credit, on the other hand, assume that students are capable of functioning in a foreign language, and on the basis of the score obtained on the exam they take, Baylor awards them either six semester hours of intermediate MFL credit (courses 2310 and 2320), three hours of MFL credit (2310), or zero hours of credit. Depending on the particular language and the kind of exam they take, the fees charged will be either in the $100 range or between $300 and $400. Baylor policy precludes the granting of CBE for 1000-level MFL courses.

With the exception of some bachelor's degree programs offered by the Department of Health, Human Performance, and Recreation in the School of Education, all undergraduate degree programs at Baylor University stipulate that MFL is a degree requirement or a recommended option within a broader degree requirement. Most degree plans in the College of Arts and Sciences, the Honors College, and the School of Social Work require that students complete the fourth course (2320) in the MFL basic sequence of courses. This does not mean that students must earn the credit for each of the four courses in the sequence. Only the least prepared students will have to take 1401, 1402, 2310, and 2320. Slightly better prepared students will take 1412, 2310, and 2320. Some students who go the CBE route will receive credit for only 2310 and then will take the 2320 course to complete the requirement; others will receive CBE for both 2310 and 2320, and thereby satisfy the requirement without taking any courses. The MFL requirement/option for most undergraduate degree programs in the School of Business is completion of the third course (2310). In the Schools of Education, Music, Nursing, and Engineering and Computer Science most students must complete either 1402 or 1412. Since CBE in MFL is not possible at the 1000 level, these schools will accept CBE at the 2000 level as satisfying the degree requirement.

Procedures for Obtaining CBE in MFL

• Students who are proficient in French, German, or Spanish should go to the Office of the Department of Modern Foreign Languages, 204 Old Main, and obtain a CBE permission slip from Heather Turner, MFL Administrative Associate. The completed permission slip will indicate that the student is to take a College-Level Examination Program (CLEP) test in one of the three above languages. The slip also gives specific instructions regarding the next steps in the process, including payment of fees and the scheduling of a testing date through the Office of Institutional Research and Testing, 540 Robinson Tower. If a student feels that his/her foreign language proficiency is borderline-intermediate, then before deciding to take the test, he/she should consult a recently published CLEP Study Guide which provides sample test questions.
• Examinations for credit in a number of less commonly taught languages are composed, administered and evaluated by Baylor professors of those languages. In addition, there are some MFL professors who know languages other than the ones they teach, and they too will compose, administer and evaluate examinations for credit in those less commonly taught languages. Students who are proficient in a language that appears below should email the professor whose name follows the language and request an appointment in order to obtain a CBE permission slip and to set a testing date. The completed permission slip will indicate that the student is to take a Baylor exam in the language in which he/she is proficient. The slip also gives specific instructions regarding the next steps in the process, including the payment of fees and the submission of the permission slip to the Office of Institutional Research and Testing, 540 Robinson Tower.
  
  

  Arabic	Abjar Bahkou, Lecturer in Arabic	Abjar_Bahkou@baylor.edu
  Chinese	Xin Wang, Assoc. Prof. of Chinese	Xin_Wang@baylor.edu
  Czech	Michael Long, Prof. of Russian	Michael_Long@baylor.edu
  Hungarian	Marian Ortuņo, Assoc. Prof. of Spanish	Marian_Ortuno@baylor.edu
  Italian	Julia Kisacky, Senior Lecturer in Italian	Julia_Kisacky@baylor.edu
  Japanese	Yuko Prefume, Lecturer in Japanese	Yuko_Prefume@baylor.edu
  Korean	Kim Uber, Lecturer in Korean	Sonia_Uber@baylor.edu
  Polish	Eva Hruska, Lecturer in Russian	Eva_Hruska@baylor.edu
  Portuguese	Lizbeth Souza-Fuertes, Assoc. Prof. of Port.	Lilly_Fuertes@baylor.edu
  Rumanian	Cristian Bratu, Asst. Prof. of French	Cristian_Bratu@baylor.edu
  Russian	Michael Long, Prof. of Russian	Michael_Long@baylor.edu
  Swahili	James Houser, Lecturer in Swahili	James_Houser@baylor.edu
  Vietnamese	Marie Level, Senior Lecturer in French	Marie_Losonsky@baylor.edu

  
  
  
• Students who have proficiency in languages not listed above should email Manuel Ortuņo, Prof. of Spanish, at Manuel_Ortuno@baylor.edu and request an appointment in order to obtain a CBE permission slip. Prof. Ortuņo will make every effort to have these students tested by qualified individuals from other universities.