Students work with a native-speaker language partner who functions as a model and a resource person.

DULAP Drake University's Language Acquisition Program provides Directed Independent Language Studies that are unlike any other language program in the country. There is no class with more than four students. Students work with a native-speaker language partner who functions as a model and a resource person. Students also work with their Language Coordinator, a professional linguist who mentors their progress. Students follow a detailled syllabus and much of their study involves working with web-based multimedia or other technology-rich resources in the Jane Evans Language Center.

In addition, students take a language learning strategies course which includes learning to observe cross-cultural differences. Each student develops an electronic portfolio documenting their language learning process and progress. Included in this are students' target-language sound bites, video clips, videos of their oral exams, writing samples, and reflective writing. An outside examiner who is accredited in the target language administers midsemester and final evaluations.

Contact Jan Marston (jan.marston@drake.edu)