What are LTLs?

The Lesser Taught Languages (LTLs) Program offers courses in American Sign Language (ASL), Arabic, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Modern Greek and Portuguese. The goal of this program is the development of basic interpersonal communication skills in the respective language. All four skills (reading, writing, speaking, and listening) will be taught, but the emphasis in this program is on the development of speaking and listening competency. By the end of the 2-semester language sequence, students should be able to demonstrate basic survival skills in the target language appropriate to the level. More detailed information about the individual languages can be found on the LTLs homepage.

Courses within the LTLs Program offer students the opportunity to study a second language in a unique classroom environment, in which the University of South Alabama will not provide a trained linguist to offer instruction. The session leaders who conduct the class meetings are native speakers of the target language and class time is reserved for practice of material that has been studied and learned independently by the students. It is important to use the resources made available for the course in order to be prepared for each class session.

The language coaches do not determine the grade on the midterm and final exams. The determination of the grade on these exams will be based on the evaluation of a professional external examiner (their names are listed in PAWS next to the class). For each LTLs course, the students' overall course grade is based solely on the exams administered at the midterm (which account for 40% of the overall course grade) and again at the final (which accounts for the remaining 60% of the overall course grade). 

Students should work to acquire and improve all four-language skills: comprehension, speaking, reading, and writing. A new language is learned most effectively by using it. Therefore, it is necessary to attend class regularly to take advantage of the opportunities for practicing it. Attendance in the LTLs courses is mandatory and students are only permitted a limited number of unexcused absences. Absences in excess of the number permitted will result in deductions from the overall course grade at the end of the semester. If you have questions or concerns about this policy, please email the LTLs Program Director at the email below.

Classes will be conducted predominantly using the target language, and even though you will not understand every word, especially at first, regular participation will ensure progress in comprehension skills. In the formal and informal practice activities you should not be afraid to make mistakes -- your goal is to communicate with native speakers of the language, and it is understandable that you will make errors at first. Read the grammar explanations at home so that as much class time as possible can be spent on oral practice. However, do not be afraid to ask questions about matters that you do not understand. Since people learn at different paces it is important that everyone feel comfortable using the language in class. Please be respectful of your fellow students! As you come to class each day, please keep in mind the following things:

• Focus on regular use of the target language in order to learn and improve and be willing to actively participate in each class session
• Always come prepared and ready, having studied and worked with the assigned material at home
• Pay attention to your attitude in the classroom, be encouraging and kind with others, including yourself!

Please note the statement in the University Bulletin, “Each hour of lecture usually requires two hours of outside preparation.” Success in the LTLs Program will depend on the students' willingness to study and work with the material outside of class.

A successful LTLs student:

• is highly motivated to pursue language study under a self-instructional format
• makes a sincere effort to learn as much as possible from the various resources provided for each course
• attends the class sessions regularly and punctually to practice and reinforce the concepts that s/he has independently studied at home
• comes to the class sessions prepared to practice the target language and does not expect the tutors to teach what can be easily learned from the provided resources
• comes prepared to hear the language coach conduct the class using the target language
• understands that the language coach will only resort to English to address genuine questions when the textbook in not clear