Department of World Languages and Cultures
Academic Unit Head: Cynthia Chalupa
Email: chalupcs@jmu.edu
Phone: (540) 568-6128
Location: Keezell Hall, Room 301
Department of World Languages and Cultures Website
Mission
The Department of World Languages and Cultures (WLC) is a central site on campus for the implementation of James Madison University's internationalization efforts. Through its course offerings, study abroad programs, organizations and clubs, and faculty with research areas in diverse languages and cultures, the department serves as a gateway to global learning.
The department offers students and the community a broad range of courses and programs that help develop language and intercultural competence, important skills for the job market, as well as a global perspective and a nuanced understanding of worldwide cultures, both ancient and modern.
The department's mission is to ensure that all graduates who have taken languages have sufficient proficiency to communicate in the target culture and use the language in the workplace. WLC prepares language majors and minors for success as professionals in a wide variety of career fields and enhances the education of students by providing them with basic to advanced language proficiency and intercultural skills that complement their chosen major. Language study also helps develop written, spoken, and interpersonal skills in English, that supports students’ learning in other fields and in their first language. By teaching an understanding and appreciation of global cultures and broadening students' perspectives to global communities both in and outside of the United States, the department plays a leading role in internationalizing JMU's curriculum.
The department also plays an important role in International Business and International Affairs majors and in the university cross-disciplinary minors by offering courses for the Asian Studies Minor, Medieval and Renaissance Studies Minor, Middle Eastern Communities and Migrations Minor, Modern European Studies Minor, Russian, Eurasian and Slavic Studies Minor, Latin American, Latinx and Caribbean Studies Minor, World Literature Minor, Classical Studies Minor and Linguistics Minor.
Goals and Objectives
The department strives to fulfill this mission by pursuing the following goals. Within each area, students will be able to:
Knowledge
- Demonstrate a familiarity with a variety of linguistic principles in both the target language and their own;
- Describe the creative works of the target culture and be familiar with the historical and cultural contexts in which they were created;
- Discuss humanistic ideas, both within the target cultures and beyond;
- Describe the cultural foundations and history of the languages studied and the target cultures in which they are spoken;
- Identify similarities and differences between the target culture and their own.
Skills
- Demonstrate interpretive (reading and listening), interpersonal (speaking and writing spontaneously), and presentational (speaking and writing in planned speech) skills in both English and the target language;
- Link their language skills to other disciplines they are studying and their use at the workplace;
- Think critically, analytically, and objectively;
- Research a topic thoroughly, identify the pros and cons of AI use, and incorporate a wide variety of resources when presenting and writing in the target language;
- Analyze the pros and cons of translation tools and explain their shortcomings in language learning.
Experiences
- Describe the importance of language to human experience and individual and cultural identities;
- Engage in meaningful conversations about cultures other than their own and the products created by those cultures;
- Describe their own cultural and linguistic competencies and develop realistic goals regarding their progress toward language proficiency;
- See the world through the perspectives of cultures beyond their own.
Attitudes
- Embrace life-long learning;
- Approach issues from cross-disciplinary, global and historical perspectives;
- Recognize and acknowledge diversity among cultures;
- Respect the opinions and beliefs of other people(s) while defining and advancing their own;
- Recognize the contingent nature of knowledge.
Program
The department offerings address student needs and interests. Our program:
- Offers majors and minors in a variety of languages;
- Links language learning to other disciplines to help students develop job-ready skills and improve their opportunities at home and globally;
- Encourages and supports the pursuit of a second major and/or minor in a language and another discipline;
- Offers advanced courses for cross-disciplinary programs;
- Offers courses that fulfill the B.A. language requirement;
- Contributes to the Honors program and the success of its students;
- Provides General Education courses and reinforces Madison Foundations goals.
Faculty
The faculty members of the department strive to:
- Meet the ever-evolving needs of the students;
- Develop innovative teaching techniques, courses, and programs that incorporate student inquiry and job-readiness;
- Engage consistently in scholarship;
- Provide dutiful service to the college, the university and the profession;
- Be a role model for students as educators and as human beings.
Student Objectives
Language majors will be able to:
- Apply critical thinking skills in a variety of settings;
- Demonstrate digital and media literacy and apply AI responsibly to their study of languages and cultures;
- Demonstrate an understanding and appreciation of of global cultures and their products, practices and perspectives.
Department Objectives
The Department of World Languages and Cultures offers programs designed to:
- Promote the development of linguistic and cultural proficiency among students;
- Develop written, spoken, and interpersonal skills in English, that support their learning in other fields and in their first language;
- Develop an appreciation of global cultures and languages;
- Prepare students for the workplace through the development of spoken and written presentational and research skills both in the target language and their first language;
- Cultivate job candidates for positions in a wide variety of professional fields including technology, business and government, education, medicine and nursing, tourism, and the arts.
Career Opportunities
- Banking
- Criminal Justice
- Education
- Diplomacy
- Foreign Service
- Imports/Exports
- Interpretations
- Law
- Management
- Marketing
- Medicine (including Nursing, Occupational and Phsyical Therapy, and Public Health)
- Ministry
- Museum work
- Non-governmental Organizations
- Public Relations
- Social work
- Translation
Co-curricular Organizations
The department supports the following organizations:
- Le Cercle Francophone
- Chinese Tea Club
- Dobro Slovo
- German Club
- Il Circolo Culturale Italiano
- Phi Sigma Iota
- Russian Club
- El Club de Español
- Sigma Delta Pi
International Education and Study Abroad
The department plays an important role in the university's study abroad mission. Majors are strongly encouraged to spend time abroad in the target culture. Teaching licensure candidates must demonstrate an advanced-low level of language proficiency; study abroad can help candidates achieve this goal. Students are urged to check with their language advisors to see which courses taken abroad count toward the language major. Language majors/double majors must take 33 credit hours of language and culture courses specified by the department. Students are required to take 18 credits on JMU’s main campus.
Language minors must take 18 credits of language courses specified by the department. Students are required to take 9 credits on JMU’s main campus.
Placement in the Language Curriculum
The score a student receives from the online placement test will be valid for registering in a language class that takes place up to and including the second semester of the sophomore year at JMU. A student who waits until their junior year to begin language study will be required to repeat the online placement test. Students will be placed in a class according to the new score, even if this means starting in a lower-level class than was indicated by the first placement test.
Students who receive the Seal of Biliteracy from their high school, will automatically place into 232 in the language. If they have a high score on the test taken for the Seal, they should contact the WLC Academic Unit Head for additional placement options.
Students who receive AP/IB credit should contact the Academic Unit Head for accurate placement based on their test scores.
The WLC faculty strongly recommend that students begin their required language classes no later than the second semester of the sophomore year and ideally as soon as possible after taking the online placement exam.
| Semester Registering | Accepted Placement Score |
|---|---|
| Fall, first year | First year test |
| Spring, first year | First year test |
| Fall, sophomore year | First year test |
| Spring, sophomore year | First year test |
| Fall, junior year (and all later semesters) | Must retake test in spring of sophomore year or later in order to register for language classes for this semester and all later semesters |
Heritage speakers who would like to pursue a language major or minor may be placed through the language placement test or through other methods demonstrating education in the target culture. Check the department website for procedures relating to placement.
For placement in languages not offered by the department, contact the WLC Academic Unit Head.