Language Proficiency Exams

Graduate Language Proficiency Examination for courses taught by MLCS

Students are reminded that in accordance with regulations outlined in the Calendar of the Faculty of Graduate Studies and Research, section 203.7, they may have to meet a language requirement.  This requirement may be met in one of the following ways.

1.  A student may have taken and obtained a grade of C+ or better in one of the following courses or their equivalent:
FREN 211/212; FREN 155 and 156; GERM 211/212; GERM 265 (Spring Session); ITAL 211/212;
RUSS 211/212; SPAN 211/212; UKR 211/212.  The course(s) must not have been taken more than three years prior to admission as a provisional PhD or MA candidate.

2. Procedure
Students may take the appropriate undergraduate course(s) [see (1.) above] but with a graduate course number and must receive a minimum grade of C+.
b. Please contact the graduate administrator in MLCS to request an upgrade to a graduate course number.
c. The student will continue to attend the undergraduate course section and complete all course requirements.  The grade received will show as CR or NC.
                                                                       
3. If students have a reading knowledge of the language, they may take a Language Proficiency Examination given by MLCS.

For the Graduate Language Proficiency Examination, students will demonstrate their ability to comprehend written material in the target language at the Intermediate level. Students will be provided with a written passage (approximately 1200-1500 words in length) and a series of reading comprehension questions. With the help of a dictionary, the student must read the text and provide written answers in English. These should be as clear and precise as possible. The time allowed for the examination is two hours. If the student does not pass the GLPE, he or she may attempt writing it a second time. 

Upon completion of the examination, notification will be sent to the Graduate Contact of the student’s Department.  Students who are not successful in the examination may present themselves at any subsequent date listed below or consider taking the courses as indicated in (1).
Students who speak one of the above languages fluently should contact their own Department about waiving the requirement.

STUDENTS SHOULD BE AWARE THAT, IF THEY DO NOT SATISFACTORILY COMPLETE THE LANGUAGE PROFICIENCY EXAMINATION WELL IN ADVANCE OF THEIR CANDIDACY EXAMINATION, THEY RUN THE RISK OF HAVING INSUFFICIENT TIME TO MEET THE LANGUAGE REQUIREMENT.

N.B.  The Proficiency Examinations for any of the above languages will be given on the following dates:

        Wednesday, November 30, 2011        Wednesday, March 28, 2012

Students must make an appointment and arrange a time for the examination at least two weeks before the examination.

Please call 780-492-4926 or email mlcs@ualberta.ca to make an appointment to write an examination.