Block schedule is an obstacle for more language class time

While Tufts is not following the national trend of increasing the number of foreign language courses, demand for more class and conversation time has led to scheduling conflicts.

The latest Foreign Language Enrollment in United States Institutions of Higher Education, which was released in October, showed a sharp spike in enrollment in language classes, which has increased 17.8 percent in the past four years, to over .1.35 million people.

At Tufts, the number of grades issued in the foreign language departments has remained relatively constant over the last ten years. In the 1993-94 academic year, there were 4,317 grades given, compared to 4,370 in the 2002-03 academic year.

The difference from previous years is that professors in language programs have been trying to increase class time in the form of longer sessions and conversation groups. These desires have put the language departments at odds with the new block schedule, which disallows classes to meet more than three times a week.

Dean of Undergraduate Education James Glaser said that although he has not heard any specific complaints, it does not mean the language departments have not expressed concern

"I don't think the administration has thought about whether this is a problem or whether it can be fixed," Glaser said.

Professors say that there does not seem to be a solution in sight.

The French language department has desired more class time for years, French professor Emese Soos said.

French levels 1 through 22 meet three times a week for 50 minutes, which Soos said was the preferred class length, but she would like to see classes meet four times a week -- an impossibility due to Tufts' block schedule.

"The logistics of doing so, for as many sections as we have, were deemed too complicated by the chair of our department, so we never even broached the topic with the administration," Soos said.

Instead of additional class time, the French department has run weekly 40 minute conversation groups. These groups were first required only for French 21 and 22 but have now expanded to include French 4.

Italian language professor Patricia DiSilvio said although she would welcome more class time, she recognizes the drawbacks.

Part-time lecturers who receive a fixed stipend per course may object to the additional work.

Also, since language classes also receive one credit, DiSilvio said students might be more inclined to instead take a class with less time.

"I wish we could teach 50 minute classes four to five times a week, but we can't do this because of the block schedule," Japanese language Professor Kiyomi Kagawa said.

In an effort for more contact time and practice, Kagawa attempted a conversation group for beginning and intermediate Japanese students in the past, but the block schedule and a lack of staff available to instruct the conversation groups made it a challenging commitment. Conversation groups are no longer part of the Japanese language curriculum.

The Chinese program uses the 75-minute "plus" blocks twice a week, and a regular 50-minute session for the first and second year classes, Chinese Professor Dr. Mingquan Wang said.

"I think the plus block is too long. We always end up with 15 minutes or so at the end of class that are unnecessary," sophomore Chinese language student Gabe Barenberg said.

Japanese and Chinese classes are scheduled three times a week for 75 minutes each. In contrast, romance language classes meet for 150 minutes a week total, a typical amount of hours for a Tufts class.

"One of the reasons for the extended sessions is that Chinese is considered one of the most difficult languages, along with Arabic and Japanese, for American students. Thus, the time required to achieve the same level of proficiency in Chinese is significantly longer than other languages, such as French or Spanish," Wang said.

Some students disagree with the Chinese Department's schedule. "I think that part of learning Chinese is grasping the grammar, and the professor's presentation can indeed help with that," Barenberg said. "As much as I dislike class on Friday, I think shortening the plus block would do more good for the curriculum than eliminating the third class."

Conversation groups are also held for Chinese language students but are student organized. The Chinese House, which opens next fall, hopes to make a Chinese conversation group part of the weekly regimen.

"Most teachers want to have more time with their students. But we have done studies comparing what we do at Tufts with other German programs and find that in terms of student progress, we are doing very well, and in terms of contact hours, we are comparable with many area schools," German professor Christiane Zehl-Romero said.

Additional German practice is offered at Kaffeestunde (coffee hour) at the German Haus, where students may speak with faculty and German foreign exchange students.

Some students question whether additional class time is necessary or warranted.

"Sometimes, I think it might be more productive to meet in two longer blocks since we already have additional time speaking on our Konversationstunde [conversation group]," sophomore German student Amie Kuttruff said.

"I prefer the 75 minute blocks. Over the course of a week, we have the same amount of class time as with shorter blocks, but we have more time to prepare between classes. The longer classes allow us to better focus on the material and have more in-depth discussions," sophomore Italian student Jordan Levie said.