This article is from the EMU News Archive. The approximate date of publication was in June 2003. Current EMU news is available at www.emu.edu/news

TO EMU HEADLINE NEWS | EMU CROSS-CULTURAL PROGRAM

EMU Students Cited for Test Achievement

Three Eastern Mennonite University students who are doing independent study assignments in Austria this spring and early summer have been cited for academic achievement.

Lindsay M. Dale, M.J. Sharp and Amanda J. Stauffer took the Zertifikat Deutsch exam at the ActiLingua Academy in Vienna, Austria, on May 22-23. All three passed the exam with the highest possible rating: "Ausgezeichnet" (excellent).

According to Ervie L. Glick, professor of German at EMU, the ZD Exam, developed by the Goethe Institute, "is an internationally recognized measure of a student's facility and competence in the German language and serves as the minimum standard for study at any German or Austrian university. It has similar purpose as that served by the TOEFL exam for non-native speakers of English."

Administered over two days, the exam consists of three hours of written testing (grammar, reading, vocabulary) and one hour of oral testing (pronunciation, fluency, breadth of vocabulary and appropriateness).

"These results constitute a significant element in the assessment plan of foreign languages at EMU, and we can be very proud of our students," Dr. Glick said.

Dale is a rising sophomore German and Spanish education major from Willow Street, Pa.; Sharp is a rising junior history major from Goshen, Ind.; and Stauffer is a rising sophomore elementary education major from Ephrata, Pa. Sharp and Stauffer will be in Vienna through July 25 completing their coursework for a minor in German. All three students will receive upper-level credits required for a language major or minor.

Glick noted that this German language program is being developed as a collaborative effort between EMU's language and literature department and ActiLingua Academy, a language institute, and the University of Vienna in Austria. The three students were the first to enroll as a "pilot project."

 

Posted: June 24, 2003