Language Evaluation: Department of Spanish & Portuguese

Language Evaluation

The Department faculty is happy to provide language evaluations or letters of recommendation for students wishing to study abroad. Students should make sure they are aware of the Global Learning Office's deadlines for applications.

For obtaining a language evaluation or letter of recommendation

Students should seek a language evaluation from their current Spanish or Portuguese language instructor, as he/she has the opportunity to most accurately assess the student's skills.
If you are not currently taken a course in the Spanish and Portuguese department, you should consult with your most recent instructor. If a significant amount of time has passed (ie more than a quarter) since you were in a class, instructors may want to briefly interview you or give you a written assignment to evaluate your current skills. However, this step is up to the instructor's discretion. Indeed, instructors may remark on the language evaluation that their assessment is based on the student performance in class several quarters prior to the completion of the form.
If you are not currently taken a course in the Spanish and Portuguese department and your former Spanish or Portuguese instructor(s) is no longer at NU, then you should contact the chair of the Language Proficiency Evaluation Committee. The chair will deal directly with the student and will arrange for his/her language skills to be assessed accordingly to the committee's procedures.

Deadlines

Faculty will make every effort to complete the language evaluation or letter of recommendation by the deadline requested; however, students should approach instructors at least two weeks before the deadline and provide them with the necessary materials. Students who wait until the last minute to request language evaluations or letter of recommendation should be aware that instructors will still need sufficient time (ie. two weeks) to complete it.