Our READING program includes courses (for both native and non-native English-speaking students) designed to develop reading and critical thinking skills essential for success in all college level courses. We also offer transferable, college credit reading classes (RD 120) as well as courses (RD 238, RD 239) that fulfill the Maryland State Department of Education teacher certification requirements for secondary reading courses.

Our ENGLISH AS A SECOND LANGUAGE program (the AMERICAN ENGLISH LANGUAGE PROGRAM, or AELP) is a comprehensive and flexible program addressing reading, speaking/listening, and grammar/writing English skills from high beginner through the advanced levels necessary for success in higher education. Students can do one course a semester or tackle several courses. Careful placement and progress checks ensure that students are in classes appropriate to their level of American English.

Experience the world through our WORLD LANGUAGES program. Discover some of the world's greatest languages and their cultures in both traditional and online, full-semester and intensive offerings. We offer American Sign Language (designated as SL in the Catalog and Schedule of Classes), Arabic (AB), Chinese (CN), French (FR), German (GR), Italian (IT), Japanese (JN), Korean (KR), Latin (LT), Russian (RU), and Spanish (SN), including Spanish for native speakers emphasizing reading, grammar, and writing. We also offer advanced conversation and literature as well as Honors (HP) courses in French and Spanish.

In our PHILOSOPHY program, hone your critical thinking and reasoning skills, explore the large questions, and discover how men and women have wrestled with these same questions at different times, from various cultural perspectives, and within different religious and ethical traditions.

We have approximately 40 full-time and 89 part-time faculty to help guide you in your exploration. We offer day, evening, and Saturday classes; full semester (15-week) as well as intensive (7-week) classes during the Academic Year and shorter courses during two summer sessions; in traditional classroom as well as distance learning formats.

A new course, Introduction to Linguistics, offers a comprehensive background to language study. In this course, questions such as the following are proposed: "What is correctness in a language?" " How can languages be described and compared?" "How do children and adults learn language?" "How do languages change?"

Thank you for visiting our home page. Please continue to explore and discover what the Department of Reading, English as a Second Language, World Languages, and Philosophy has to offer!

Mary E. Owens
Chair

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Overview of RD Courses: The Rockville Campus offers a series of reading courses designed to develop reading skills and prepare students for independent, critical reading at the college level. Reading Assessment and the Reading Program at Montgomery College for Native Speakers of English explains how students are directed into RD 095 (RD 089 prior to Fall Semester 2005) and RD 099.  Another reading course, RD120, is also offered and provides an opportunity for students to improve their reading and study skills and earn three transferable elective credits. RD 101, RD 102, and RD 103 are reading courses designed specifically for non-native speakers of English.  This sequence of courses focuses on study skills, dictionary use, context clues, vocabulary expansion, and other reading skills necessary to be a successful college student. RD 238 and RD 239, which are offered in a Distance Learning format, are undergraduate reading courses that may fulfill certification requirements for Maryland secondary public school teachers.

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Overview of EL Courses:  Six EL (American English Language) courses are offered for students seeking to improve their skills in English.  Four of the courses (El 101 - EL 104) focus on writing and grammar, with specific emphasis on the academic writing of American English.  Two courses, EL 110 and EL 111, emphasize the development, practice, and use of functional language skills necessary for understanding others and for expressing oneself orally in American English in academic, professional, and social contexts.  The topics for discussion center around American culture (e.g. family, education, business).
In addition to the six EL courses, the American English Language Program (AELP) at the Rockville Campus includes SP 102 and SP 109.  These courses focus on voice quality, pronunciation, and enunciation through prescribed drills and exercises.

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Overview of WL Courses:  The study of languages involves not only an exploration of another language but of another culture as well. Such study engages one in a comparison of cultures, languages, and communities.  Students in the languages and literature classroom make meaningful comparisons and connections between their own language and culture and the target language and culture.  Content and methodology are interwoven to provide students with both the strategies and the understanding to develop positive attitudes for and appreciation of the target culture.  The connection between language, literature, and culture is inseparable, and cognitive psychologists as well as experts in intercultural communication point to the fact that language and culture interact to shape thought and construct knowledge.  Courses in languages and literature generally fulfill Humanities requirements.

Montgomery College/Rockville offers courses in language and culture in American Sign Language, Arabic, Chinese, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Latin, Russian, and Spanish.  Advanced study of language and literature and the opportunity to pursue honors-level work are available in French and Spanish.  Some sections of French and Spanish are now offered through Distance Learning.

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Overview of PL Courses: Classes in philosophy are useful for exploring the large questions, developing orderly thinking and preparing for many professions.  These courses also fulfill humanities requirements and the HUMANITIES distribution requirement of Montgomery college.  PL 203 also fulfills the MULTICULTURAL requirement.

PL 180, 201, 202, 203, 205 all fulfill a CORE requirement in the Maryland University System.  Most other PL courses fulfill USP requirements and transfer almost anywhere.  A transfer advisor should be consulted for further discussion and clarification.

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HP 251 - Independent Study - Tutorial in the Humanities is offered by the Dept. of RD/EL/WL/PL in French (Français HP 251) and Spanish (Español HP 251).  The purpose of HP 251 is to improve composition skills in general and to develop conversational fluency in French or Spanish with regard to cultural matters, current events, and subjects of special interest to the students.  No specific textbook will be used.  Instead, instructional materials will consist of videos on current events and articles from current issues of El Pais and El Tiempo (for Español HP 251) , and articles from current issues of Le Monde, Le Nouvel Observateur, L'Express (for Français HP 251).  English language periodicals may be used as well.

Some of the topics for discussion and translation may include environmental issues, population growth, economics, immigrations and the assimilation of immigrants, ethnic conflicts, education, fashion, food, and public transportation.  A minimum of five papers of at least three pages on any of the approved topics will be required.  Students will also make oral presentations.  More specific information on course requirements and grading will be provided by the professor in the form of a course outline.

HP 251 - Comparative Literature: Spanish, French, and English is offered on the Rockville campus.  This course will consist of the comparative study of selected examples of  literature in the Spanish, French, and English languages.  Various critical approaches (sociological, philosophical, psychological, cultural, etc.) will be used in the examination and comparative analysis of the literary works under study.  Each successive semester will focus on different authors or different literary forms.  The course will be taught in English and class discussions and study assignments will be in that language.  Students will be free to do the reading assignments in any of the three languages they wish to use; those who are studying Spanish or French, however, will be required to do the written course work in the language they are studying.  Specific information regarding course requirements and grading will be provided by the professor in the form of a course outline.

HP 251 - Contemporary African Literaure is offered on the Rockville campus.  Selected readings  from West, East, Southern, and Northern Africa, dealing with  themes of African Literature, centering on the African encounter with Europe and treating such issues as Colonialism, Neocolonialism, Imperialism, Postcoloniality, Apartheid, Culture Conflict, Ethnicity & Nationalism, and Individualism & Collectivism. This course will also deal with the Woman Question as the women have seen and written about themselves, have examined and articulated their place and role and destiny in their different milieux, and have discussed and discoursed such issues as Womanhood, Marriage, Polygyny, Motherhood, and Patriarchy.

HP 251 - Prose Fiction is offered in the Fall Semester on the Rockville Campus.  The course will begin with the examination of the oral tradition -- covering one or two each of the major genres of Orature: Folktales, -- which preceded and provided a backdrop for the contemporary African Prose Fiction.  The course will also expose students to the works of Wole Soyinka, Chinua Achebe, Ayi Kwei Armah Ngugi Wa Thiong’ o, Alan Paton, Yambo Ouloguem, Sembene Ousmane, Buchi Emecheta, Nwapa, Flora and so many others.

HP 251 - Drama & Poetry is offered in the Spring Semester on the Rockville Campus.  The course will begin with the examination of the oral tradition -- covering one or two each of the major genres of Orature:sagas, epic poems, -- which preceded and provided a backdrop for the contemporary African Drama and Poetry.  The course will expose students to the works of Wole Soyinka, John Pepper Clark, Ama Ata Aidoo, Athol Fugard, Tewfik AL-Hakim, Christopher Okigbo, Dennis Brutus, Okot p’Bitek, Lenrie Peters, Leopold Senghor, and many others.

HP 251 - The History of English traces the development of the English language from its origins in the Indo-European family of languages through the stages recognized as Old English, Middle English, and Modern English.  It also surveys dialects of Modern English and the "World Englishes" on the international scene.  Students who take this course will become informed about how the world's most popular language has gotten to its present form, and, more generally, about how languages communicate and change through time.

HP 251 - Linguistic Theory exposes students to theory and practice in analyzing and comparing languages. Students will also survey the many issues related to language,such as correctness and language varieties, language origins and relations,language acquisition, and language processing.

NOTE: The prerequisites for all HP courses are completion of at least 12 college credits, at least a 3.2 grade point average, and EN 101 or EN 101A with a grade of A or B. Some HP courses have additional prerequisites, which are noted in the course descriptions. (MC Catalog, 2006-2007)

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