To graduate with a BA degree, University of Oregon students need to demonstrate competency in one language other than English. As specified in the UO catalog, students may meet this graduation requirement for the BA degree through coursework or in other ways, with or without UO credits.

Click the button below to follow a few guided questions or read the full document here.

For this option, students must pass the final course of the intermediate level, as defined in each language program, with a C- or higher (graded) or Pass. In general, this level corresponds to the sixth term of study (e.g., FREN 203, CHN 203, SPAN 203 or 228.) Students receive the credit associated with the course(s) passed. Your successful completion of the course will automatically mark the BA requirement as satisfied in your academic record.

Students may fulfill the UO second-language requirement by taking all three courses in the year-long sequence in Old English (ENG 428, ENG 429, ENG 430) and by achieving a B- or higher in ENG 430. The sequence must be taken in order, since ENG 428 is a prerequisite for ENG 429, which is a prerequisite for ENG 430.

Acceptable Documents:

The ACTFL Assessment of Performance toward Proficiency in Languages (AAPPL) is offered by the American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages (ACTFL). The AAPPL exam is not offered at the UO. It is most often administered in high school but can also be used as a placement test for incoming university students. The following levels in the four skill areas satisfy the BA L2 requirement (I = Intermediate):

A student may fulfill the BA second language requirement if they have graduated from a high school that is not in the United States where the language of instruction is not English. An official copy of the high-school transcript should be sent to the Office of the Registrar as evidence of formal training in the language. Such students must also complete WR 121 and either WR 122 or 123.

In this case, a student should transfer the courses to the UO for credit. There is an established process for equivalencies for transfer courses (sometimes governed by agreements between UO and other institutions) which will determine whether or not the BA requirement is satisfied. For further information, contact the Divisional Dean for Humanities in care of the College of Arts and Sciences, 1245 University of Oregon, Eugene, OR 97403.

If you have acquired proficiency in a language other than English through family or community, living abroad, self study, or other extracurricular means, you are eligible to meet the BA L2 requirement by taking a proficiency test. You will need to demonstrate proficiency in reading, writing, listening, and speaking. Take the steps listed below to demonstrate your proficiency.

NOTE: If you have previously taken one of these tests, you may submit scores to the Divisional Dean for Humanities the Divisional Dean for Humanities in care of the College of Arts and Sciences, 1245 University of Oregon, Eugene, OR 97403. Tests must have been taken within one year prior to your date of submission.

Prefered testing companies:

The STAMP test (Avant Assessment) is available for Arabic, French, German, Hebrew, Hindi, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Mandarin (simplified and full form), Polish, Portuguese, Russian, and Spanish. Information for taking the STAMP can be found at https://avantassessment.com/stamp4s . Each UO language program specifies the level required to meet the BA requirement as indicated in the tables below. Required proficiency is listed in this table by language and skill level. An external STAMP score cannot be more than one year old at the time the student submits it to satisfy the BA requirement.

For other languages, learners should take an Oral Proficiency Interview (OPI, see below) or contact Avant Assessment to see if a test is available in their preferred language.

If you are looking to take the test, this table shows what is needed in order to pass the Bachelor's minimum requirements.

Language Testing Institute (RPT, WPT, LPT, and OPIc / OPI) [https://www.languagetesting.com]. The Oral Proficiency Interview (OPI) is also administered by LTI. Since the OPI only measures oral proficiency, it should be combined with other documentation that demonstrate literacy, e.g., previous coursework in reading and writing or a portfolio of past work, or the Reading or Writing Proficiency tests administered by LTI.

OPIs can be administered in the following languages: Afrikaans, Akan-Twi, Albanian, Amharic, Arabic, Armenian, Azerbaijani, Baluchi, Bengali, Bosnian, Bulgarian, Burmese, Cambodian, Cantonese, Cebuano, Chavacano, Czech, Dari, Dutch, Egyptian, English, French, Georgian, German, Greek (Modern), Gujarati, Haitian Creole, Hausa, Hebrew, Hindi, Hmong/Mong, Hungarian, Igbo, Ilocano, Indonesian, Iraqi, Italian, Japanese, Javanese, Kazakh, Kashmiri, Korean, Kurdish, Lao, Levantine, Malay, Malayalam, Mandarin, Marshallese, Nepali, Norwegian, Pashto, Persian Farsi, Polish, Portuguese Punjabi, Romanian, Russian, Serbian Croatian, Sindhi, Sinhalese, Slovak, Somali, Spanish, Swahili, Swedish, Tagalog, Tajik, Tamil, Tausug, Telugu, Thai, Tigrinya, Turkish, Turkmen, Uighur, Urdu, Uzbek, Vietnamese, Wolof, Wu, and Yoruba.

Learners are expected to meet an Intermediate-Mid level on the OPI when combined with a literacy measure. If only an OPI is available, additional documentation is required. Please contact the Divisional Dean for Humanities.

For questions about the non-credit OPI, students should contact the University of Oregon Testing Center office, Room 270 University Health, Counseling, and Testing, Agate Street at 13th Avenue ( http://testing.uoregon.edu; 541-346-3230), to order the exam and to set up a time when it can be administered. The student is responsible for all costs associated with the exam and its administration. Information about the costs involved can be found on the LTI website and at the UO Testing Center.

If you are looking to take the test, this table shows what is needed in order to pass the Bachelor's minimum requirements.

CLEP (French, German, or Spanish)

Exams prepared by the College Level Exam Program (CLEP) of the College Board, a national organization, are available for French, German, and Spanish. A student who scoresat the equivalent of completion of the final course of the second year of language study on a CLEP proficiency exam would complete the University of Oregon BA requirement.

Students should register for the test on the University of Oregon Testing Center website: http://testing.uoregon.edu. The Testing Center has CLEP appointments available on a regular basis throughout the year. Students with questions can contact the Testing Center by phone at 541-346-3230, by email at testing@uoregon.edu, or in person at 1590 East 13th Avenue, room 270, Eugene, OR 97403. The student is responsible for all costs associated with the exam and its administration. Information about the costs are available at the Testing Center website and the CLEP website (https://clep.collegeboard.org)

If you are looking to take the test, this table shows what is needed in order to pass the Bachelor's minimum requirements.

ALTA offers language proficiency tests in 100+ different languages. For more specific details on the ALTA tests, visit their website for a list of details.

If you are looking to take the test, this table shows what is needed in order to pass the Bachelor's minimum requirements.

Note: Passing scores are automatically sent to the registrar.
The following are the required passing scores for each test by UO standards for BA (based on common language proficiency scales)

Students who wish to demonstrate proficiency may present results from the Sign Communication Proficiency Interview (SCPI). A score of Intermediate Plus or above on the SCPI will satisfy the BA L2 requirement.

Further information is available on the SCPI website: https://www.rit.edu/ntid/slpi/. Students may also contact appropriate faculty in Special Education in the College of Education to inquire if local evaluation is available.

These credits may allow you to meet the BA requirement. You must check with the Divisional Dean for Humanities the Divisional Dean for Humanities in care of the College of Arts and Sciences, 1245 University of Oregon, Eugene, OR 97403, to determine if they is sufficient.

Original transcripts from a language school that specify hours in class, materials, performance or grade, and proficiency. These should be sent directly from the language school to the Divisional Dean for Humanities in care of the College of Arts and Sciences, 1245 University of Oregon, Eugene, OR 97403.

Letters from qualified and approved faculty (from the UO or any other regionally accredited institution) who are able to specify in some detail the proficiency level of the student. This can be accomplished by discussing proficiency in conversation (including aural and oral), reading, and writing. Faculty must write a letter to the Divisional Dean for Humanities the Divisional Dean for Humanities in care of the College of Arts and Sciences, 1245 University of Oregon, Eugene, OR 97403, specifying their own proficiency and how it was obtained, and describing how they determined that the student’s competency is equivalent to completion of the second-year of language instruction. Faculty unfamiliar with the UO protocols may call the Divisional Dean at 541-346-3902 to discuss the student’s level and to obtain guidelines for evaluation. Faculty should address their relationship to the student; letters from parents or other relatives are not considered.

Students may petition a language department to provide ad hoc assessments of proficiency, which should include the same types of evaluation and expectation for level as the assessments administered in the equivalent UO courses. For example, if FR 203 requires written essays, oral exams, and grammar tests, the departmental exam should include components that measure the same skill areas and require the same level of performance.

For languages that have no written form, evaluation is often difficult, especially if the language is spoken only by a small number of people. Nonetheless, it may be possible to arrange an evaluation that would satisfy the BA requirement. Students in this situation should contact the Divisional Dean for Humanities, College of Arts and Sciences (541-346-3902), to determine how best to locate a qualified evaluator.