Guidelines for General Education Language and Culture Petitions

Students who grew up in a multilingual environment and/or have extensive experience with a non-English language and culture may be able to meet the Language and Culture General Education Requirement through testing, transcripts, a Petition of Exception (POE), or a combination thereof.

Speakers of Spanish, French, or German should take the relevant CLEP exam and have the results reported to OU’s Registrar. 

For speakers of other languages, a POE with supporting documentation should be submitted at least two semesters prior to graduation to ensure timely evaluation and allow the student to make adjustments to their schedule if necessary. Once the committee has the POE and appropriate documentation, it will review and finalize a decision within eight weeks.

• The preferred documentation is a score at, or equivalent to, the Intermediate-Mid level on the ACTFL (American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages) scale on one of the following standardized tests:
  • The Avant Stamps 4S exam
  • Both the Oral Proficiency Interview (OPI) and Writing Proficiency Test (WPT) offered by Language Testing International
• Students who attended school abroad in a non-English language can submit transcripts instead of a test.
• Students should include the following documentation with the POE:
  • Proof of their test scores or transcripts
  • A short explanation of their experience with the language and culture

Speakers of languages including Arabic, Hebrew, Hindi, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Mandarin, Polish, Portuguese, and Russian will be able to use Avant’s STAMP 4S exam or Language Testing International’s OPI and WPT. Speakers of languages not tested by the CLEP, Avant’s STAMP 4S exam, or Language Testing International’s OPI and WPT should contact the General Education coordinator ([email protected]) for testing guidance.

Students with the Seal of Biliteracy are welcome to submit, for consideration, a POE with a copy of the Seal and the results of the test taken to achieve it. AAPPL test results are not accepted because the test is not endorsed for college-level use by the ACTFL.

For additional guidance on the Language and Culture Petition of Exception process, please contact the General Education Program Coordinator ([email protected]).