Develop the skills you’ll need for success.

Take formative experiences courses at any time during your undergraduate years. You’ll take 21 credits, including at least one in each area and additional credits from any area.

Critical Thinking Through Writing (CTW)

Learn to write effectively and draw appropriate conclusions based on evidence. Improve your understanding of where and how to find appropriate resources and develop your abilities to assess, analyze, and evaluate information. We teach writing as a process and will engage you in periodic conferences to discuss your work.

Intercultural Competence (IC)

Develop your knowledge and understanding of your own culture as well as other cultures, and enhance your understanding of the limits inherent in any cultural framework. Apply your knowledge to cultural frames of reference to critically analyze issues and solve problems. IC courses will address your curiosity about, and openness to, diverse people.

Quantitative Reasoning (QR)

Reason about and solve quantitative problems from a wide array of contexts. Read, understand, and create arguments supported by quantitative evidence and clearly communicate those arguments using a variety of formats. Learn to make judgments and draw appropriate conclusions based on the quantitative analysis of data.

 

Language and Culture (LAC)

Develop your intercultural competence and immerse yourself in a second language and culture, communicating and accessing resources in that language.

Language Placement

All students with prior study or significant experience (such as with the language of the home or having lived in a context where the language is used) of French, German, and/or Spanish must take a placement test before they can enroll in a language course. Students will be placed at the appropriate level based on placement test score and the amount and timing of prior language study. If students elect to take a class at a level below where they were placed, they cannot use such courses to satisfy the Language and Culture requirement.

• 101 placement (includes no language study/experience): FRN, GMN, or SPA 101 Elementary Spanish Level I/102.  Students place at this level if 1) they have not previously studied or do not possess significant experience in the language, or 2) scored at the 101 level based on their placement and either previously studied the language for two years or less, or did so more than two years before enrolling at LVC.
• 102 placement: FRN, GMN, or SPA 102 Language and Culture in the Spanish—Speaking World—Elementary Level II/201.
• 201 placement: FRN, GMN, or SPA 201 Language and Culture in the Spanish-Speaking World—Intermediate Level I*.
• 202 placement: FRN, GMN, or SPA 202 Language and Culture in the Spanish-Speaking World—Intermediate Level II*.
• 300 placement: FRN, GMN, or SPA at the 300 level or higher*.

*Students who place at the 201 level or above and earn a B- at that level will automatically be granted credit for the preceding level and be considered to have satisfied the LAC requirement. Students who pass but do not earn at least a B- must either complete a course at the subsequent language level or complete an additional Intercultural Competence course.

Exceptions

Transfer and high school dual enrollment students who have completed a two-semester (six-credit minimum) language sequence at another institution prior to enrolling at LVC may count such courses, subject to LVC's transfer policy, toward the Language and Culture requirement regardless of placement or high school language study. Students who transfer one semester of French, German, or Spanish may satisfy the LAC requirement by completing the subsequent course at LVC.  Students who transfer one semester of another language may either request to transfer the second semester of that language from another institution or complete LAC courses at LVC, subject to the policy stated above.

A foreign national (typically one who holds a student visa) who has grown up in a non-English speaking culture and successfully completed secondary school work taught in a language other than English may substitute another Formative Experience course in place of a Language and Culture course. Official certification from the school of the language of instruction and completion of the TOEFL exam for entry into LVC is required. Students who have competence in a language other than English and do not meet these requirements are encouraged to take the Foreign Language Proficiency test of the New York University School of Continuing and Professional Studies or another appropriate test as approved in advance by the chair of the Languages Department and the registrar. Students who take the NYU test and earn a minimum score of 13 on the 16-point exam will earn six credits toward the Language and Culture requirement. The College will provide a proctor and test facility for the NYU test to be administered at LVC. Alternatively, students may take the test at NYU.

Students with significant language-based learning disabilities or auditory disabilities (e.g., auditory processing deficits or deaf/hard of hearing), as verified by the Center for Disability Resources, will be permitted to substitute two additional Intercultural Competence courses in place of the required Language and Culture courses.