Honors Program

The following directives had been approved by the Academic Affairs Meeting on December 19, 2025. Applications are expected to open in October, 2026. 

Purpose of Establishment

Department of Foreign Languages and Literatures (DFLL or “the Department”) formulates the DFLL Directives for Establishing Undergraduate Honor Program (“the Directives”) in accordance with Article 2 of the National Taiwan University Guidelines for the Establishment of Undergraduate Honors Programs in order to encourage undergraduate students in their second year (or above) who are interested in academic research to engage in advanced courses that are challenging, in-depth, and rigorously assessed, and to introduce them to research in the field of foreign languages and literatures at an early stage, thus cultivating research talents with innovative capabilities and international competitiveness.

Organization and Responsibilities  

The program is directed by the Department Chair, who serves as the program director, and is jointly organized by four other faculty members of the department who are recommended by the Department Chair, forming the Honor Program Committee (hereinafter referred to as “the Committee”).
The Committee is responsible for the overall planning of the program, the review of eligibility for enrollment in the program, approval of the program review, and all other related matters.
The Committee is convened by the program director, who also serves as the chairperson during meetings.
A meeting of the Committee can only be held if at least half of the members are present. Decisions can only be made with the approval of more than half of the members in attendance.
Online meetings may be held with the consent of the program director.

Qualifications and Application Procedures

Students in the second year (or above) of the Department’s undergraduate program (including double majors) who meet the following qualifications may enroll in the program after receiving approval from the program committee:
1. Students who have a semester GPA of 4.0 or above.
2. Students who have completed at least two out of “Introduction to Western Literature (I)/(II),” “Approaches to Literature (1)/(2),” and “Introduction to Linguistics (1)/(2),” and received an average GPA of 4.0 or above.
The application form, along with the original transcripts, should be submitted to the Department Office before the deadline at the end of October each year, as announced by the program.
Honors Program Application Form [ DOCX ] [ PDF ]

Students who apply for this program may enroll after receiving approval from the program committee. The enrollment limit for each semester is five students, and there may be cases where fewer students are admitted. If the number of applicants exceeds five, selection will be based on the applicants’ academic performance, with the best candidates chosen.

Curriculum

The courses required by this Program are all offered by the Department.

Students in this Program must complete the following courses and credits, with a total of at least 12 credits:
(1)    To allow students to specialize in a certain field, students must take two to three elective courses from the Department’s offerings in literature and culture, linguistics, and language teaching, for a total of 6 credits. Taking cross-field courses is not allowed. A course list will be provided by the DFLL Office.
(2) “Advanced Writing – Style and Composition” and “Advanced Writing – Research Papers” (or English Composition (III) (1)/(2)) offered by the Department, 4 credits in total.
(3) “Thesis (B. A.) (1)” and “Thesis (B. A.) (2),” 2 credits in total, are supervised by full-time faculty members of the Department.

Supervisor for a B.A. Thesis

Supervisors should be the full-time faculty members of the Department. Professors offering “Thesis (B. A.) (1)” and “Thesis (B. A.) (2)” will get one teaching hour for each course. Before taking the courses “Thesis (B. A.) (1)” and “Thesis (B. A.) (2),” students must submit a consent form signed by the supervisor to the Department Office for record-keeping.

[Notes and Procefures for taking the courses “Thesis (B. A.) (1)” and “Thesis (B. A.) (2)”]

Application Form for taking “Thesis (B. A.) (1)” and “Thesis (B. A.) (2)” [ DOCX ] [ PDF ]

[Thesis Supervision Termination Statement]

Criteria for Completing the Program

During the period of enrollment in this Program, the semester GPA on the student’s transcript must reach 4.0. Additionally, for the courses within the required 12 credits of the program, “Thesis (B. A.) (1)” and “Thesis (B. A.) (2)” must be graded “Pass” and the other courses must have a GPA of 4.0.
The thesis proposed by the student while taking “Thesis (B. A.) (2)” must be written in English and follow the general academic writing standards of each field. The format includes the bibliography, with double line spacing, and the main text in Times New Roman, font size 12. The total word count should be no less than 7,500 words.
The thesis must be approved by the oral examination committee. The final grade for “Thesis (B. A.) (2)” will be based on the average score from the oral defense committee, and the oral defense must be completed before the University’s designated deadline for grade submission.

[Oral Defense Procefures]

Reviewing Procedures

  1. Students who have completed the courses in this Program and meet the standards specified in the previous section may submit their transcripts and bachelor thesis to the Committee for review and approval.

  2. The deadline for submission of the application is as follows: for the first semester, the application must be submitted by October 15; for the second semester, it must be submitted by March 15. The application must be submitted no later than the academic year of graduation.

  3. After the Committee approves the review and it is subsequently approved by the Office of Academic Affairs, the phrase “Department of Foreign Languages and Literatures Bachelor Honors Program” will be added to the degree certificate, transcript, and relevant documentation.

[Review Form]