English and Modern Languages

Return to: Departments and Programs

Joyce E. Boss, Chair; Thomas K. Boerigter; Rachel E. Clark; Vanessa K. Doriott Anderson; Lizabeth A. Gehring; Erik M. Grayson; Yvonne E. Losch; Sonja C. Lynch; Zak K. Montgomery; Amy L. Nolan

English

Wartburg’s English program—including majors in English, Writing, and English teaching—offers students the flexibility to prepare for a wide range of careers. Wartburg English graduates are employed by companies, organizations, and institutions that seek people who communicate well. Graduates work in human services, mass media, publishing, technical writing, and business; teach in the secondary schools here and abroad; or continue their education in business, law, English, and other graduate and professional degree programs. To give students the appropriate preparation, the English program focuses upon three curricular goals:

• To engage students in a variety of creative responses to human experience through encounters with ideas, values, and artistic achievements in written, spoken, and visual media.
• To assist students in understanding their own writing processes and in using writing as a tool for thinking, learning, and communicating.
• To prepare students to teach English, to become members of the business community, to work in human services, or to enter graduate and professional school.

Department Recommendation

Students considering applying to graduate school should consult with their advisers about the most appropriate preparatory undergraduate course selections.

Programs

• English, B.A. 
• Writing, B.A. 

• Film Studies Minor 
• Literature Minor 
• Writing Minor 

Major in English Teaching

For additional information on teaching majors and endorsements, see Education  Department listings.

• English, Language Arts Teaching (5-12), B.A. 
• Language Arts Endorsement (K-8) 
• English, Language Arts Endorsement (5-12) 

Modern Languages

Modern language programs prepare students for participation in the global village by developing mastery of a non-English language, multicultural awareness, and the professional versatility necessary to adapt to change.

A variety of degree programs provides a unique balance of course work on campus and abroad. Campus language courses bring students to a high level of proficiency, making use of multimedia resources and peer-taught tutorials. Culture courses survey a broad spectrum of human activity past and present, from political,  economic, and social developments to artistic expression in literature and film. Students study abroad four to eight weeks at the end of the first year and one to two semesters in the third year. They also can participate in off-campus internships and practica sponsored by the college.

The overall goals of the program in its French, German, and Spanish curricula are to prepare students to become:

• Effective communicators in both their own and other languages by developing proficiency in another language and by comparative study of that language with their own.
• Astute analysts of other cultures by studying another culture in depth.
• Insightful about themselves and their knowledge by constant reconsideration and correction of their understanding of and positions on other cultures.
• Informed and knowledgeable across the academic disciplines by studying interdisciplinary cultural materials in the target language.
• Participants in multilingual communities and global society by being directly involved in another culture through total immersion experiences.

Modern Language Major Requirements

260, 261 May Term Abroad

(1½ course credits) During May of the first or second year, students study for four weeks at a French, German, or Spanish language institute and visit sites of interest. They may remain for a second four-week term and receive additional credit for 265 Term Abroad: Culture II (½) and 266 May Term Abroad: Intensive II (1 course credit).

304 Tutoring

(½ course credit each) Under faculty supervision, students develop language skills by tutoring groups of French, German, or Spanish students. Students tutor at the beginning level (104 Elementary I, 106 Elementary II) or at the intermediate level (204 Intermediate I) after Third-Year Study Abroad.

Third-Year Study Abroad

(One or two terms) To perfect language knowledge and gain insight into the life and culture of other countries, majors spend one or two terms at an Austrian, French, German, Spanish, or Latin American university. Students complete at least five courses in German, five courses in French, or four courses in Spanish each semester (minimum of 12 course hours weekly). Within these five courses German majors spending one year abroad must complete one advanced language course and one advanced literature course per semester. German majors spending one semester abroad must complete two advanced language courses and at least one advanced literature/culture course. German studies majors must complete one advanced language course and one advanced literature/culture course. Within these five courses students studying French or Spanish must take one advanced language course and one advanced literature course each semester.

Department Recommendation

For French, German, and Spanish majors and minors who choose a second language minor, 260 May Term Abroad: Culture I (½) and 261 May Term Abroad: Intensive I in the second minor are recommended.

Programs

• French and Francophone Studies, B.A. 
• German, B.A. 
• German Studies, B.A. 
• Spanish, B.A. 

• French and Francophone Studies Minor 
• German Minor 
• German Studies Minor 
• Spanish Minor 

Modern Language Teaching

For additional information on teaching majors and endorsements, see Education  Department listings.

• French Teaching (5-12), B.A. 
• French Endorsement (K-8) 
• French Endorsement (5-12) 

• German Teaching (5-12), B.A. 
• German Endorsement (K-8) 
• German Endorsement (5-12) 

• Spanish Teaching (5-12), B.A. 
• Spanish Endorsement (K-8) 
• Spanish Endorsement (5-12) 

Return to: Departments and Programs