Course Catalog 2008-2009
Professor J. Eduardo Jaramillo, Chair
Visiting Instructor Sadika A.W. Ramahi; Academic Secretary Liz Barringer-Smith
Educated people spend their lives trying to grow in political, social and intellectual freedom. One kind of intellectual freedom requires us to break away from the notion that our native language is the most natural and apt means of expressing the full range of human experience. An education can start with the discovery that all words are purely conventional devices. They are nonetheless tools that stir emotions, articulate ideas, and establish relationships with others. Learning a foreign language contributes to our education by providing an intimate exercise in cultural and linguistic concepts that open up new vistas on what it can mean to be human. Furthermore, foreign-language courses allow entry into the subjectivity of the target language on its own cultural and linguistic grounds, thus making possible a different and more profound redefinition of our own culture.
Our basic courses offer the opportunity to start acquiring the skills and knowledge necessary for the eventual mastery of a foreign language. When students take full advantage of that opportunity, they can use the target language in subsequent courses dealing with the foreign culture. The Department emphasizes the use of a foreign language in most of its courses because it believes that students can best appreciate a foreign culture from within its own mode of expression.
With a view toward career opportunities, the Department encourages integrating foreign language study with a variety of other academic areas, such as history, philosophy, international studies, environmental studies, biology, economics, political science, and English. Courses in cultural studies and literature, aside from their intrinsic worth, also present multiple perspectives on other cultures and areas of intellectual experience.
A student wishing to spend a summer, a semester, or a year abroad with programs approved by Denison should consult members of the Department and the Office of Off-Campus Studies (see Off-Campus Programs). On-campus opportunities to improve their command of the language are provided by language tables, foreign films, club meetings, field trips, and similar activities sponsored by the Department.
General Departmental Regulations. Students wishing to fulfill the basic requirement in language by continuing the one begun in secondary school will find it advantageous to begin their course work in the first year. The Department of Modern Languages strongly recommends that students complete their language requirement by the end of their sophomore year.
Multimedia Language Learning Center. An important asset of the Department is the Multimedia Language Learning Center with its 27 Macs, zone-free DVD player and a multi-standard VCR. The MLLC provides support for learning activities outside and inside the classroom, ranging from grammar drills to research, as well as discussions on authentic materials published on the web. The area is designed not only for individualized instruction but also for group work and small seminars that use multimedia materials for class discussion.
Cultural Enrichment. Each semester the Department offers students exceptional opportunities for cultural enrichment in foreign languages. These opportunities include, for example, off-campus trips to target-culture plays, movies and performances, as well as campus visits by native scholars and performers. In that way, experiences in target cultures become more readily available to our students. These opportunities are made possible through a most generous endowment bestowed on the Department of Modern Languages by the Patty Foresman Fund.
Fellows 103. The Modern Languages Virtual Lounge in Fellows 103 offers the Denison community a wide range of technological devices with which to enrich their learning experiences. This room is equipped with a 52 inch flat screen TV which is connected to three satellite dishes. One dish allows us to receive French TV5, and one to receive Chinese TV9. The third dish provides us with SCOLA television services from around the world. The TV is also connected to a multi-standard VCR and a zone-free DVD player. The lounge has a ceiling-mounted data projector which connects to a networked Apple computer, the DVD player and the VCR. This area also has a Polycom videoconferencing unit which allows us to connect with students at other universities and chat with them about their perspectives on various issues.
Although the Department of Modern Languages offers majors in French, German and Spanish, they also offer courses in other languages for the purpose of general education and support of other college programs. Courses in Arabic are listed below.
Beginning Arabic I (ARAB-111). A comprehensive introductory course in Arabic develops the four basic skills: aural comprehension, speaking, reading and writing. 4
Beginning Arabic II (ARAB-112). A comprehensive introductory course in Arabic develops the four basic skills: aural comprehensive, speaking, reading and writing. 4
Introductory Topics in Arabic (ARAB-199). A general category used only in the evaluation of transfer credit. 1-4
Intermediate Arabic I (ARAB-211). 4
Intermediate Topics in Arabic (ARAB-299). A general category used only in the evaluation of transfer credit. 1-4