Appendix D: Reading Proficiency in Foreign Languages
In that the Graduate School Foreign Language Tests (GSFLT) are no longer licensed for administration, proficiency in foreign languages will be assessed by the cognate Columbia University foreign language department. Examples below are as follows:
French:
Administered five times a year in February, April, July, October and December. Please visit http://french.columbia.edu/content/french-proficiency-exam for more information.
German:
Administered in the beginning of September and the weeks of the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences’ final examinations in December and May. Contact Professor Schmiers-Heller or Peg Quisenberry, Assistant, Department of Germanic Languages, (212) 854-3202, 414 Hamilton Hall, to make arrangements. You can also E-mail Ms. Quisenberry (pq2@columbia.edu) for a sample examination.
Russian:
Administered, upon request to the Department Chair’s office. (Slavic Languages) Contact Mr. John Lacqua, (212) 854-3941, Room 708 Hamilton Hall, Columbia University.
Spanish:
Contact the Department of Spanish and Portuguese, 401 Casa Hispanica, (212) 854-4187 or E-mail Kosmas Pissakos at kp124@columbia.edu to make arrangements.
Chinese:
Contact Dr. Lingjun Hu at lingjun.hu@columbia.edu in the Department of East Asian Languages to make arrangements.
For those languages that do not have a cognizant foreign language department at Columbia University, Ph.D. students should visit the Columbia Language Resource Center. Their website is: www.lrc.columbia.edu.
If the foreign language is not offered by any department or the Language Resource Center, Ph.D. students can formally petition the Office of Doctoral Studies to take their foreign language exam elsewhere. A signed letter from the student stating what school and faculty member will be performing the exam is required.
Foreign language proficiency can also be met with a B+ or higher grade in a Columbia University undergraduate course called Rapid Reading and Translation which is offered by a few language departments. Please check with the cognate language department to see if that course is offered. Credits received from this course MAY NOT be used on the Program Plan towards graduation for the Ph.D. degree.
Teachers College authorizes students to use the CUNY Language Reading Program to meet foreign language proficiency. ( https://www.gc.cuny.edu/Page-Elements/Academics-Research-Centers-Initiatives/Special-Programs/Language-Reading-Program). Passing a Level II Class with an A- or better will meet a foreign language requirement.
NOTE: Ph.D. students in the Mathematics Education program can pass their foreign language requirement at the CUNY Language Reading Program with an A- or better in a Level I Class.