Are all students required to study a foreign language at RWU?

No.  There is no university-wide foreign language requirement at Roger Williams University.

However, students in some majors are required to take a foreign language placement test to determine their placement level in a language. Foreign language placement testing is recommended for students in some other majors. 

The remaining majors do not require such testing.  To review the testing requirements by major, please review the information at the link titled Placement Testing Requirements, by Major at this site

How is placement in a foreign language sequence determined?

Placement is determined based on the results of the on-line placement tests that are offered by RUW.  Tests are available for placement into the sequences for French, German, Italian, Latin, Portuguese and Spanish.  Students who wish to take one of the other languages offered by RWU (Ancient Greek, Arabic, Chinese, Farsi, Hebrew, Greek and American Sign Language) should contact Dr. Anthony Hollingsworth, Chairman of the Department of Modern Languages, Philosophy and Classics at ahollingsworth@rwu.edu for those placement guidelines.

When are students informed of their language placement?

Students are given their placement results at Orientation.  At Orientation, students will have an opportunity to select some of their fall semester courses.  Students in some majors will be pre-registered for all of their fall semester courses because their majors have a fixed outline for the freshman year.  Students in other majors will be pre-registered for only a few of their fall semester courses and thus will have room to select a language course, if they wish.  Dr. Anthony Hollingsworth, Chairman of the Department of Modern Languages, Philosophy and Classics, will be available at Orientation to advise new students about selecting a language course during their freshman year.  

What if students feel that the result of their spring placement testing is not an accurate assessment of their knowledge in that foreign language?

Such students will be given an opportunity to retake the language placement tests in July, before they return for the fall semester.  If their results improve, their fall schedules will be changed so that they can be enrolled into the appropriate courses. This takes place by August 1 so that they can buy their books for their new courses. 
 
Students who tested in May, but would like to take a test for a different language can also do that during the July retest period.