The Department of World Languages & Literatures offers courses in, Arabic, Chinese, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Latin, Portuguese, Russian, Spanish, and American Sign Language. Instruction focuses on the acquisition of proficiency in the language and on the development of knowledge of the culture, traditions, and literature of the communities. The department also offers several faculty-led and independent education abroad programs as well as experiential learning opportunities including professional internships and service learning. Students who major in French, German, or Spanish complete 24 hours of upper division coursework and may simultaneously earn teacher certification. Students who minor in French, German, or Spanish complete 15 hours of upper division coursework, and students who minor in Arabic, Italian, Japanese, or Chinese complete 12 hours of upper division coursework. Students are offered courses focusing on literature, culture, linguistics, and professional contexts. For language coursework that is not offered at Texas State, the “MODL” course prefix is used as a transcript placeholder to allow students to receive transfer credit for successful completion of the language coursework from other universities. “MODL” is also used for students who receive the requisite score on the ACTFL-OPI exam in a language for which no prefix exists. The “MODL” course is not an academic credit bearing course.