ANY non-English language can be tested for college credit, even if English is your second language. For those starting early enough and developing fluency, foreign language exams as a whole offer the largest return on investment of ANY college credit exam option! A high score earns up to 16 credits (NYU-Foreign Language Proficiency) and costs as less than $6 per college credit (ACTFL written).
If a student completes French 101 and French 201 for college credit through dual enrollment, the French CLEP or AP exams would probably not provide any new or higher credit since they duplicate the effort. Check with your dual enrollment college for clarity.
ADVANCED PLACEMENT: Languages – Chinese, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Latin, and Spanish. Tested on – reading, writing, listening and speaking (this is the only exam that tests ALL 4 AREAS, making it the hardest exam of the bunch). Credit awarded: 0-16 based on language and score (only Chinese is worth 16, most max out at 8). Some colleges award zero credit, but award “advanced standing” in the language. The score is reported on an official College Board transcript. Cost $92 AP Exams
ACTFL WRITTEN: Languages- Albanian, Arabic, English, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Russian, and Spanish. Tested on- reading and writing only (no listening or speaking). Credit awarded 2-12 based on the score. The score must be recorded on your ACE transcript. Cost $105 Written exam
ACTFL ORAL: 50+ languages. Tested on- listening and speaking only (no reading or writing). Credit awarded 2-12 based on the score. The score must be recorded on your ACE transcript. Cost $$50-159 Oral Exam
CLEP: Languages- French, German, and Spanish. Tested on- reading, listening, and speaking only (no writing). Credit awarded 6-9 based on the score. Note – students who took this exam before October of 2015 may be eligible for more credit since that version was worth 6-12 credits at the time. The score is reported on an official College Board transcript. Cost $80 CLEP Exam
NYU-FLP: 50+ languages (see list below). Tested on – reading, writing, and listening (no speaking). Credit awarded 12-16 depending on the score. The score is reported by letter to your designated recipient. This exam is not ACE evaluated, but many colleges will still award college credit. In cases where no college credit is granted, the score report can still verify proficiency with employers/resume. Cost $300-$400 NYU Exam
American Sign Language is frequently used by parents as their teen’s high school foreign language, however, at this time I know of no way to roll that into college credit without taking it through a college. If you’re looking for an ASL course, I have been told that the Rocket Sign Language course is an affordable option.
| NYU-FLP |
CLEP |
ACTFL oral |
ACTFL written |
Advanced Placement |
|
| Yes |
Yes |
No |
Yes |
Yes |
Reading |
| Yes |
No |
No |
Yes |
Yes |
Writing |
| Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
No |
Yes |
Listening |
| No |
No |
Yes |
No |
Yes |
Speaking |
| 12-16 |
6-9 |
2-12 |
2-12 |
0-8 |
Number of credits possible |
| $300-$400 |
$80 |
$139 |
$70 |
$92 |
Cost |
| $25.00 |
$8.88 |
$11.58 |
$5.83 |
$11.50 |
Cost per Credit Max Score |
NYU-FLP language list:
Afrikaans, Albanian,Arabic, Armenian, Bengali, Bosnian, Bulgarian, Cantonese, Catalan, Chinese, Croatian, Czech, Danish, Dutch, Finnish, French, German, Greek(Modern), Gujarat, HaitianCreole, Hebrew, Hindi, Hungarian, Ibo, Icelandic, Indonesian, Irish, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Latin, Lithuanian, Malay, Mandarin, Norwegian, Persian, Polish, Portuguese(Brazilian), Punjabi, Romanian, Russian, Serbian, Spanish, Swahili, Swedish, Tagalog, Thai, Turkish, Ukrainian, Urdu, Vietnamese, Yiddish, Yoruba
Curriculum
These curriculum options would fulfill the homeschool high school language requirement/credit, and you could choose to follow the year(s) with a credit by exam option above. Remember, that you cannot duplicate credit, so dual enrollment already awards college credit, these resources would either supplement a dual enrollment program, provide strictly high school credit, or be used for an entirely different language.
- FREE ONLINE: A free product you can use in your homeschool and is super easy is Duolingo. I did an experiment on Facebook using Duolingo every day for a year. While I didn’t become fluent, it was easy to use and my teens enjoyed it too. Duolingo It is very much like Rosetta Stone in my opinion. They currently offer about 20 languages.
- DVD & STREAMING: Many DVD course options, as well as streaming options, are available through The Great Courses (DVD) and The Great Courses Plus (streaming). I’ve recently learned that you can even stream your Great Courses through your Roku. The Great Courses offer many courses, but through the (cheaper) streaming option you can access: Latin 101, Greek 101, and Spanish101.
- ONLINE COURSES: A large company that provides many online foreign language courses (including sign language) is Rocket Language. They have monthly plans as well as one-time purchase options. Specializing in Spanish is Synergy Spanish which seems to have a really good feedback rating as well.
- SKYPE LESSONS: In March 2017, I shared contact information for a college student teaching foreign language instruction in Spanish, Russian, and Arabic via Skype. You can reach out to him if you’d like to investigate his services. Russian, Arabic, and Spanish for College Credit
- UDEMY: An open online marketplace for people to teach classes. You can find a ton of very inexpensive courses taught by many instructors. Read about Udemy
Military Career Tip (extra pay!): According to Defense Pay Regulation, Volume 7A, Chapter 19, Military members who have received training in a foreign language and are assigned to a job requiring foreign language skills receive a monthly Foreign Language Proficiency Pay. It depends on upon the level of proficiency maintained. Additionally, other military members who are proficient in a language that the Department of Defense considers to be critical may also receive this monthly pay, as long as they maintain proficiency in the language.
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