The Language Enhancement Course (LEC) is a five-week intensive program of professional-level (ILR Levels 2 and higher) language study at the Partner Language Training Center Europe (PLTCE) in which learners can discover, integrate, and apply culture-specific knowledge, skills, and abilities to enhance target-language listening, speaking, reading, and writing proficiency.

Resident Language Enhancement (LEC) Courses

PLTCE is currently conducting LEC sessions only. If there is any change and PLTCE is unable to host resident students due to COVID-19 restrictions a month prior to a scheduled date, the subject course will follow an online format and enrolled students will be notified and given the option to keep their seats or to attend a different session.

FY '24

Aim

The aim of the Language Enhancement Course is to help military language professionals achieve higher levels of foreign-language proficiency. 

Training Strategy

As more and more work centers set Interagency Language Roundtable (ILR) Level 3 in Listening and Reading as the minimally acceptable level of proficiency, PLTCE places a great deal of emphasis on the higher ILR skill levels. PLTCE’s open architecture allows instructors to tailor lessons according to the strengths, weaknesses, needs, and interests of individual language learners. Learners and instructors create an atmosphere of empathy and respect resulting in an anxiety-free and supportive environment for language learning.  All instructors are native speakers of the target language/dialect with academic credentials and relevant experience in the sphere of second/foreign-language learning.

Final Learning Outcomes

Students show greater competence and confidence in understanding and producing target languages in accordance with the content, task, and accuracy requirements of ILR Levels 3 and higher. Students demonstrate proficiency solidification/gains on a post-course Defense Language Proficiency Test (DLPT) in Listening and Reading.

Learning Objectives

Students will

• Understand and critically evaluate domain-specific topics such as Military-Security, Economics, Politics, Science/Technology, Culture/Society, and Geography.
• Read within a normal range of speed and with almost complete comprehension a variety of authentic prose material on unfamiliar subjects.
• Demonstrate the ability to learn through reading in the target language, regardless of the subject matter.
• Follow accurately the essentials of conversations between educated native speakers, reasonably clear telephone calls, radio broadcasts, news stories, and oral reports on non-technical subjects.
• Effectively combine structure and vocabulary to convey meaning accurately.
• Reliably elicit information and informed opinion from native speakers.
• Use the language effectively in most formal and informal written exchanges on practical, social and professional topics.