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Policy on AP German and those with prior knowledge of German

Recognizing that students who come to UO with advanced German are among the ones we most want to attract to our degree programs, the department will invite any incoming student who places out of the BA language requirement in German (or is otherwise known to us to have advanced proficiency) for a placement interview with the Director of Undergraduate Studies (DUS) for German. The interview will assess oral skills, writing skills, and grammatical knowledge. The DUS should also use the chance to familiarize students with our degree programs with an aim toward recruiting them as majors or minors.

Based on the interview and other relevant information, such as AP or STAMP test scores, the DUS may waive up to 8 of the 16 language credits required for the major. Typically, an AP score of 4 will exempt a student from 8 credits of GER 311-312. A score of 5 will, additionally, place a student out of GER 313, but such a student must still take two 400-level language courses.

Grading Policy

What follows is meant to help students understand the departmental consensus, to the degree that there is one, regarding the grading of individual assignments. Each faculty member in the Department of German and Scandinavian, however, will have her or his own interpretation of this consensus. The student should attend closely to the course syllabus, assignment descriptions, oral indications in class and in conference, and written comments on graded assignments in order to gain a more precise understanding of the interpretation that guides a given course.

1. Language: Grading policy for assignments in language classes is based on national standards, on ACTFL Proficiency guidelines and the CEFR Can-Do descriptors

A = superior command of expected proficiency levels

B = capable use of expected proficiency levels

C= sufficient use of expected proficiency levels

D= inadequate use of expected proficiency levels

F= inability to reach expected proficiency levels

2. Literature and culture: In general, essay assignments and presentations in literature and culture courses are graded according to the following criteria: organization, argumentative structure (including adequate transitions and meaningful articulations), internal organization of paragraphs, level of historical, philosophical, and/or theoretical reflection and insight, interpretive creativity and precision, definition of terms, clarity of style, correctness and bibliographic references. For essay assignments and presentations in such courses:

A — Work that, in addition to being well executed and reasonably free of errors, distinguishes itself through its originality and unusual accomplishment.

B — Work that satisfies main criteria of the assignment but lacks the element of distinction that carries the work into the realm of excellence.

C — Work that demonstrates a rudimentary grasp of the material and satisfies at least some of the assigned criteria reasonably well.

D — Work that demonstrates a poor grasp of the material and/or is executed with little regard for college standards, but which exhibits some engagement with the material.

F — Work that is weak in every aspect; satisfies none of the assigned criteria.