Foreign Language Requirement
Newcomb-Tulane College’s general education curriculum is designed to develop information literacy, critical thinking, and personal and social responsibility in our students. Part of these requirements is the successful demonstration of proficiency in a foreign language at or above the 2030 level. The foreign language proficiency requirement can be achieved in any of the ways detailed by the School of Liberal Arts.
For students with disabilities, the foreign language proficiency requirement may pose a challenge or invoke stress when planning for success in the academic environment. Prospective and current students should note that all NTC students, regardless of disability status, are expected to complete this requirement as written. This includes students who have traditionally been waved from foreign language requirements in middle school, high school, or prior higher education institutions.
Because foreign language is a component of the Core Curriculum of every undergraduate student in Newcomb-Tulane College, the Goldman Center does not have the authority to waive students from this requirement. In alignment with requests for waivers in all other Core Curriculum requirements, requests for a foreign language course waiver must be submitted through the NTC Committee on Academic Requirements. Students who submit a request for a foreign language course waiver through the Committee for Curriculum Requirements on the basis of a disability should know that, as part of their review, the Committee for Academic Requirements will assess the role and impact of approved accommodations in a student's request for a waiver. Therefore, students with disabilities impacting language functioning and acquisition are encouraged to request accommodations to facilitate access as they embark on the foreign language requirement.
Only the Committee on Academic Requirements can approve a waiver for a Core Curriculum component for a student. No medical provider, evaluator, or Goldman Center staff member can singularly waive a student from this requirement. In our central mission to include and support students in all aspects of learning, the Goldman Center uses evaluations and associated recommendations from students and providers in our analysis of what accommodations are necessary for access in this requirement. In this process, we may make specific recommendations to the Committee on Academic Requirements.
Continue reading through the information available on this page to learn more about the interactive process and the NTC Committee for Academic Requirements.
How does the Goldman Center support and facilitate equitable access in a foreign language classroom?
The Interactive Process
Through the interactive process, the Goldman Center assesses a student's reported accessibility barrier and documentation verifying the nature and impact of the reported disability in language learning and acquisition. In the interactive process, the Goldman Center, student, and foreign language department may be working collaboratively to determine appropriate and necessary accommodations to include students in this learning.
Student narrative and experience
Students share information about their prior history with language learning, the supports they're required in a language-based classroom, utilization of tutoring and other language-based supports, and identified accessibility barriers in a language learning environment.
Placement information from the Tulane Language Placement test is useful information for the student to know and provide in their narrative.
Medical documentation
This documentation is typically a comprehensive neuropsychological or psychoeducational evaluation, conducted by a licensed psychologist, with assessments around memory, learning, and linguistic functioning (including hearing or auditory processing concerns). Due to the legal shift from success-oriented accommodations in lower education to access-oriented accommodations in higher education, a history of learning supports/waivers in foreign language is useful supplemental information for this request, but may not be sufficient for a comprehensive determination on what accommodative supports are necessary in the foreign language requirement.
Other forms of documentation that the Goldman Center may use for consideration of appropriate foreign language-based accommodations (in addition to medical information from a qualified evaluator) include:
- Accommodation plan in high school for foreign language learning specifically
- Grades in high school while learning a foreign language
- Narrative and historical information from the student's Access Interview
The Domains of Language Proficiency
In a foreign language classroom, there are four core domains of language that students are expected to be able to demonstrate at a proficient level:
- Speaking
- Writing
- Listening
- Reading
When a student's documented disability intersects with one or more of these core domains, accommodations may be put in place to address the impact of the accessibility barrier. Note: The requirement is for proficiency, not fluency or total competency, in achieving this metrics.
In non-spoken alternatives, such as American Sign Language or ancient languages, these domain expectations are different. Consultations with faculty and departments, facilitated by the Goldman Center, can help inform accommodation determinations.
Accommodations
Testing and classroom accommodations will be prioritized as supports for students with concerns in completing this foreign language component. Examples of this support can include, but are not limited to:
- Test-taking support
- Notetaking support
- Classroom support
- Communication and visual access support
- Individual, case-by-case accommodations discussed in consultation with the Goldman Center, the Department, and the course professor
Through the interactive process, the Goldman Center may provide additional advising, such as
- Recommendations to students to take languages students have not considered or taken in the past, such as American Sign Language or Latin. Visit the Language Learning Center for comprehensive information on Tulane's language offerings.
- Recommendations on support to the Committee for Academic Requirements when indicated as necessary.
- Ongoing consultation with the Goldman Center around the efficacy of approved accommodations.
NTC Policy Exemptions and the Committee on Academic Requirements
All students are eligible to petition to the Committee on Academic Requirements. In rare circumstances where providing access to accommodations may not be sufficient for student learning, the Committee may consider waiving the foreign language requirement.
Please keep the following in mind during your request for accommodations. The University generally does not consider a waiver of any core curriculum requirements for any of the following:
- Requests centered in attentional or executive functioning concerns
- Requests centered in psychiatric concerns, such as anxiety, regarding the completion of degree requirements
- Non-chronic, non-permanent health conditions that impact students in the classroom
- Requests that do not have sufficient supportive medical documentation, such as requests centered in suspected diagnoses.
- Requests centered in timing of graduation (i.e., requests for accommodation because a student needs to graduate and has yet to complete a core curriculum component).
- Requests supported by a recommendation from a provider that is otherwise not supported by the supporting information, such as successful prior language acquisition or appropriate campus-based resources.
Review this page in its entirety before submitting a request for accommodation support in completing your core curriculum. After reviewing this page, you may submit a request for accommodations or submit an "Additional Accommodation Request" through your Goldman Center Portal.
For content-based support in language learning, students should consider the following
- The Tulane Language Learning Center, with language tutoring and language meetups
- Consultations with your Academic Advisor and your course professor for learning supports such as communicating your concerns and attending office hours
- Success Coaching for working towards academic success goals
- Using the resources found in the NTC Learning Toolkit course on Canvas, along with additional resources housed in the Wave of Support
- Working with your trusted mental health provider for mitigating stress and anxiety during learning or managing medication regiments impacting attention, executive functioning, and/or anxiety management while learning a foreign language
- Aforementioned in-class and testing accommodation support through the Goldman Center
If you have questions or concerns regarding these considerations, please contact our office at goldman@tualne.edu or (504) 862-8433.
What is the philosophy behind this format?
This arrangement is in compliance and accordance with Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act:
- No otherwise qualified individual with a disability in the United States, as defined in section 705 (2) of this title, shall, solely by reason of his or her disability, be excluded from the participation in, be denied the benefits of, or be subjected to discrimination under any program or activity receiving Federal financial assistance.
- In its course examinations or other procedures for evaluating students' academic achievement, a recipient...shall provide such methods for evaluating the achievement of students who have a handicap that impairs sensory, manual, or speaking skills as will best ensure that the results of the evaluation represents the student's achievement in the course, rather than reflecting the student's impaired sensory, manual, or speaking skills (except where such skills are the factors that the test purports to measure).
