FOREIGN LANGUAGE SUMMER INSTITUTES

It is important for people wishing to pursue graduate work in a foreign language to understand that Millersville’s graduate program in languages functions almost exclusively during the summer term. Graduate courses are offered from time to time during the academic year.

To meet the growing need on the part of foreign-language teachers and certain other professionals for an intensive exposure to the spoken language and to the culture of the country, Millersville University created the Foreign Language Summer Institutes for graduate students in 1967. Graduate programs leading to the Master of Arts or Master of Education degree are offered in French, German and Spanish. A five-day workshop in each of the languages is also available.

The residential character of these schools does not rest on considerations of practicality or convenience, but rather on two principles: that fluency and correctness are essential elements in the mastery of a foreign language and can be achieved only by intensive exposure to the spoken language through the exclusion of English, and that although graduate credits can be awarded only for work in the classroom, much of the professional value in terms of information, knowledge, skills and attitudes are acquired in out-of-class associations and activities.

The Foreign Language Summer Institutes are staffed with native instructors and others who speak with near-native fluency. All courses and lectures are given in the language of each Institute and social life is carried on entirely in that language. Students live in a campus residence assigned to the Institute and take their meals together in the Institute’s dining room. (Exceptions are made for nondegree students, and certain hardship cases.) The program is open only to students who are willing to observe the no-English principle at all times.

For complete details, including the courses to be offered in the summer and information about workshops, the prospective student should request a copy of the summer Language Institutes and Workshops booklet, which is available every March from the Department of Foreign Languages.

Admission Requirements

The bachelor’s degree and at least 24 undergraduate credits in the appropriate language area are required for admission to the graduate program. Applicants must meet established University admission criteria, including a satisfactory score on either the Miller Analogies Test or the general Graduate Record Exam. Other qualified students willing to observe the no-English principle may be admitted on a probationary basis.

Graduate Study in Germany

Students of German who wish to obtain their degree in a program involving two summer sessions at Millersville and an academic year at the University of Marburg in Germany should contact the chairperson of the foreign languages department.

Back to Foreign Languages Program Overview

Revised: June 14, 2001