Students will no longer be able to put off fulfilling their foreign language requirements until their junior or senior year. The Foreign Language and Literature Department is considering a new policy which, if approved, would go into effect for the Fall 2001. “It has been long overdue,” said Madeleine Henry, associate professor and chairwoman of foreign languages and literatures.Currently more than half of the students in 101 and 102 language courses are juniors and seniors attempting to fulfill a language requirement late in their university career. Students enrolled in the beginning courses have already completed two years of language in high school, said Nelle Hutter, adjunct instructor of foreign languages and literatures. “This should help students not wait until they are seniors to take foreign language requirements,” she said.The department wants to use their resources in a way that better fits students, Hutter said. “We would like to devote more resources to students who are either truly beginning their study of a language or who are pursuing higher skill levels of study,” she said. “We have a need to teach more classes at the 200 and 300 level.”According to the plan, students who have studied a language for three years in high school or two semesters at another college or university may not enroll in beginning language courses at Iowa State. Students with only one year of language in high school will be permitted to enroll in the first year of language.Under the new policy, ISU students who have studied language for two years in high school and wish to take beginning French, German, Latin, Russian or Spanish will be required to take the first year test-out exam. Students who pass the 101 and 102 level will be awarded eight credits.Students passing only the 101 level will be allowed to enroll in 102 courses. These students will be invited to take an additional four-week intensive-review module before taking 102, or concurrently with 102. If students pass the 102 final exam and complete the review module, they will also receive eight credits.”This doesn’t affect a great many people overall,” Hutter said. Only LAS degrees and some College of Education degrees have a foreign language requirement.Students with prior language study who do not pass the 101 level of test-out exams will be required to take the review module and the 102 class if they want to attempt fulfilling the LAS exit requirement.Before the new policy goes into effect, it must be approved by the college and university curriculum committees. Both Henry and Hutter hope this will be beneficial to students at Iowa State as well as high school students and high school foreign language programs.”This should be really advantageous for everyone, high schools, the department and students,” Hutter said.