Five types of LAC course options are currently offered at UNC:
- Seminars are independent three-credit courses taught entirely in the target language, usually by faculty members. Past examples are POLI 127: Latin American Politics and ANTH 199: Introducción al Pensamiento Crítico Latinoamericano, both offered in Spanish.
- Discussion Sections are weekly recitation sections connected to a base course, and are generally led by graduate TAs. Discussions, readings, assignments are all conducted in the target language and students can receive one optional hour of foreign language credit for participating. Common examples include: French and German discussion sections for HIST 159: 20th-Century Europe; French and German discussion sections for POLI 239: Introduction to European Government; Spanish discussion sections for POLI 238: Contemporary Latin American Politics and HIST 143: Latin America since Independence.
- Combined Discussion Sections are weekly recitation sections connected to two or more base courses that cover related themes or issues. These LAC sections are open to students who are enrolled in at least one of these base courses and who wish to conduct interdisciplinary discussions, readings, and assignments in the target language. Students who register for these optional sections can earn one hour of language credit. Past examples are: an Arabic discussion section offered for students enrolled in ARAB 452: Imagining Palestine, ASIA 455: Arabs in America, or RELI 181: Later Islamic Civ. & Mod. Muslim Culture; a French discussion section open to students in ASIA 455: Arabs in America or FREN 398: The Francophone World.
- Research Components provide students with the opportunity to complete research projects or papers in the target language and receive a certificate of completion. A faculty member or TA assists students with this research during the course of the semester. Past examples include: a French research option for ECON 160: European Economic Integration; French, German, Italian, and Dutch research options for POLI 430: European Politics.
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Who benefits from LAC?
LAC programs are a creative and practical way to integrate the linguistic expertise of language faculty, the international experiences of social science and humanities faculty, the diverse cultural and linguistic heritages of international students, and the energy and enthusiasm of students preparing for or returning from study abroad.
- Faculty. Many UNC-CH faculty members are native or proficient speakers of other languages and use them extensively in their research. Until LAC was developed, there were only limited ways in which faculty could integrate their knowledge of other languages into their undergraduate classes without a great deal of individual effort.
- Graduate students. LAC teaching assistants at UNC-CH benefit from the new interdisciplinary perspectives the LAC program opens up to them through unique teaching opportunities and by attending pedagogy workshops taught by experienced language instructors from around the country. Teaching in LAC courses helps graduate students to develop a broader range of teaching experiences, often interdisciplinary in nature, which in turn strengthens their portfolios and gives them an edge in the competitive job market.
- Undergraduate students. LAC courses offer undergraduates the chance to apply their language skills and knowledge in a variety of disciplinary contexts, thus giving students added value for the required language courses they take. Students not planning a language major are also able to develop greater functional proficiency in the languages and are better able to compete in the new workplace, where second language proficiency is a real asset. Students enrolled in LAC courses earn a LAC Certificate that recognizes their participation in the program.
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Who teaches LAC?
LAC courses are taught by UNC-CH faculty and advanced graduate students. Faculty members most often teach LAC seminars, while advanced graduate students work with faculty to develop LAC discussion sections and assist undergraduates in courses with LAC research components. Prospective Teaching assistants for LAC courses submit applications each semester to the LAC coordinator and are selected by faculty instructors. Teaching slots in the LAC sections are filled with advanced graduate students who have attended LAC training workshops. These students come from many departments, including the History, Anthropology, Political Science, Romance Languages and Literatures and Germanic Languages and Literatures departments. To date, the French LAC program alone has funded approximatley ten graduate students from Romance Languages and five from other Departments. LAC courses in Spanish and German are also becoming more numerous, thus increasing the teaching opportunities for advanced graduate students. The program is a valuable asset to the departments in helping to fund advanced PhD students in their final years of study. Likewise, the LAC program enables TAs to enter the job market with the competitive edge of a valuable interdisciplinary teaching experience in their portfolios.
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Who Sponsors LAC?
UNC's LAC program is funded primarily by the Center for European Studies and the Center for Global Initiatives, with additional contributions from the Institute for the Study of the Americas, the African Studies Center, and the College of Arts and Sciences. The Center for European Studies serves as the administrative home of the LAC program.
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The Future of LAC
We are on the way to meeting our first-stage goal for LAC, namely to institutionalize the program on campus and to integrate it into the teaching and learning of foreign languages. We anticipate developing at least two courses per year in French, German, and Spanish. One type of course is at the 100-200 level (former 10-40) -- ideally a large lecture section of an introductory course -- targeted at freshmen/sophomores prior to their study abroad experience to get them accustomed to using the language in an applied setting. The second major goal in this phase consists of recruiting higher proficiency speakers and returning study abroad students for LAC courses at the 400 level (former 100), the second type of course we aim to develop.
The next phase of LAC involves increasing the number of courses offered per semester. Other immediate goals of the program include linking LAC to pre and post study abroad experiences with specific programs abroad and solidifying the institutional importance of LAC.
The new undergraduate curriculum at Carolina, implemented in fall 2006, recognizes the institutional significance of LAC. According to the Foundations Across the Curriculum component in the new undergraduate curriculum proposal (approved April 2003), "All students must successfully complete a Language enhancement requirement ..." (p. 13). LAC provides one rewarding way to fulfill this interdisciplinary requirement, thus illustrating the importance of the program to a university curriculum focused on preparing students for responsible lives in an increasingly interconnected world and workplace.
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How do I register for a LAC course?
Registration instructions differ according to the type of LAC course option (for an overview of the different LAC options, see How does LAC work?):
A. FOR LAC DISCUSSION SECTIONS, you need to register for three separate course sections in order to receive the additional hour of foreign language credit:
1. Enroll in the main course the discussion section is connected with
(ex: POLI 238 sec 001).2. Under the listings for the main course, register for the discussion section designated as the LAC or foreign language section (ex: POLI 238 sec 600 "Spanish LAC Recitation").
3. To receive one hour of foreign language credit in addition to the three credits of the main course, you must also enroll in the appropriate language section that applies to the main course you are taking. Arabic, French, and Spanish LAC sections will be listed under the course #308 (ARAB 308, FREN 308, SPAN 308); German LAC sections will be listed as either GERM 389 (if the main course is offered outside the German department or GERM 388 (if the main course is a GERM course). Make sure to select the section number that corresponds with the correct main course (ex: SPAN 308 sec 001 "Cont Latin American Poli").
B. FOR LAC COMBINED DISCUSSION SECTIONS:
1. Enroll in one of the main courses the discussion section is connected with (Ex: if an Arabic discussion section is offered for students in ARAB 452, ASIA 455, and RELI 181, you will need to register for one of those three courses).
2. To receive one hour of foreign language credit in addition to the three credits of the main course, you must also enroll in the appropriate language section that applies to the main course you are taking. Arabic, French, and Spanish LAC sections will be listed under the course #308 (ARAB 308, FREN 308, SPAN 308); German LAC sections will be listed as either GERM 389 (if the main course is offered outside the German department or GERM 388 (if the main course is a GERM course). Make sure to select the section number that corresponds with the correct main course (Ex: for the LAC section offered to students in ARAB 452, ASIA 455, and RELI 181, you would need to also register for ARAB 308 sec 001 "Arabic LAC").
C. FOR LAC SEMINARS:
1. Enroll in the LAC seminar (ex: POLI 127 sec 001).
2. To receive one hour of foreign language credit in addition to the three credits of the main course, you must also enroll in the appropriate language section that applies to the main course you are taking. Arabic, French, and Spanish LAC sections will be listed under the course #308 (ARAB 308, FREN 308, SPAN 308); German LAC sections will be listed as either GERM 389 (if the main course is offered outside the German department or GERM 388 (if the main course is a GERM course). Make sure to select the section number that corresponds with the correct main course (Ex: SPAN 308 sec 002).
D. FOR LAC RESEARCH COMPONENTS:
Enroll in the main course that offers the research component (ECON 461, POLI 239H, POLI 430, etc.). Inform the course professor on or before the first day of class that you are interested in completing a LAC research option.
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