CUNY Council on World Language Study
Statement on 4 hour/3 Credit Courses in Foreign Languages
 
​CUNY Council on World Language Study supports the preservation of 4 contact hour/3 credit courses in foreign language classes that are currently offered on several CUNY college campuses and supports the inclusion of such courses in the Flexible Common Core on campuses where this practice has been the rule. Such a policy respects both the spirit of the Pathways initiative and the tradition of faculty stewardship over curricular matters.
​Pathways’ intended increase in academic rigor across CUNY goes hand in hand with our profession’s increasing expectations in foreign language learning. Linguistic proficiency is only one of the goals established by our professional organization; substantial cultural and interdisciplinary content and critical thinking are integrated into language courses at all levels. CUNY FL faculty has been on the cutting edge of these developments and is aware of the amount of student engagement necessary to meet these complex, interrelated goals; furthermore, CUNY FL faculty is keenly aware of the constraints on students -–both personal and institutional— that cause a critical amount of learning to take place in the classroom. It is, therefore, essential that each college’s faculty determine how best to meet the goals of foreign language study in the Pathways structure given the specific circumstances on individual campuses.
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CUNY Council on World Language Study
Statement on 4 hour/3 Credit Courses in Foreign Languages
 
​CUNY Council on World Language Study supports the preservation of 4 contact hour/3 credit courses in foreign language classes that are currently offered on several CUNY college campuses and supports the inclusion of such courses in the Flexible Common Core on campuses where this practice has been the rule. Such a policy respects both the spirit of the Pathways initiative and the tradition of faculty stewardship over curricular matters.
​Pathways’ intended increase in academic rigor across CUNY goes hand in hand with our profession’s increasing expectations in foreign language learning. Linguistic proficiency is only one of the goals established by our professional organization; substantial cultural and interdisciplinary content and critical thinking are integrated into language courses at all levels. CUNY FL faculty has been on the cutting edge of these developments and is aware of the amount of student engagement necessary to meet these complex, interrelated goals; furthermore, CUNY FL faculty is keenly aware of the constraints on students -–both personal and institutional— that cause a critical amount of learning to take place in the classroom. It is, therefore, essential that each college’s faculty determine how best to meet the goals of foreign language study in the Pathways structure given the specific circumstances on individual campuses.
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