NORA0110 – Elementary Norwegian Level I
Course description
Schedule, syllabus and examination date
Course content
NORA0110 is the first of a total of three courses that foreigners (or Norwegian citizens who do not master the Norwegian language) can take in order to meet the Norwegian language requirement for university studies in Norway.
Students work with texts and exercises relating to daily life (family, home, work, shopping, food etc.). Extensive practice in communicative speech functions, such as greetings, asking for and providing information, and expressing opinions and feelings. Work with the main features of Norwegian phonetics and grammar is also central to this course.
Learning outcome
Students will learn: to understand clearly spoken Norwegian; to read textbooks and similar texts and to talk about subjects relating to everyday life; to pronounce Norwegian in a way that does not interfere with communication; to write about topics dealt with in the course and to express thoughts and opinions, albeit simply; and to know the basic rules of Norwegian grammar.
Admission
Application period
The application portal is open from May 1st until June 1st for NORA courses for the Autumn semester.
Deadlines for uploading documents:
- June 10th: Education and tests already passed/taken.
- July 10th: Transcripts sent to us directly from issuing institutions.
- July 10th: Education and tests to be completed in the Spring semester.
See application instructions for NORA courses: Norwegian language courses on basic, intermediate and advanced level.
Prerequisites
Formal prerequisite knowledge
Applicants must meet basic requirements for entrance to higher education in Norway, except in Norwegian, and to be admitted you must submit required supporting documents.
Recommended previous knowledge
No previous knowledge of Norwegian language is necessary for this beginner's course.
Overlapping courses
- 15 credits overlap with NORA0110IN – Intensive Elementary Norwegian, Level I
- 15 credits overlap with ISSN0110 – Intensive Elementary Norwegian, Level I (discontinued)
- 15 credits overlap with NORINT0110 – Norwegian for International Students, Level 1
- 15 credits overlap with NORINT0110BK – Betalingskurs i norsk språk, trinn 1 (continued)
- 5 credits overlap with NORINT0105M
- 10 credits overlap with NORINT0114 – Norwegian for International Students, 60 hour Introductory Course
This course is equivalent to the courses listed above, and is also equivalent to Folkeuniversitetet's Levels 0-A2 and European levels A1-A2, but it does not automatically qualify you for a residence permit.
Norwegian courses up to a maximum of 40 credits can be used as part of a degree at the University of Oslo. Contact your department for more information.
Teaching
Classroom sessions include instruction, language laboratory and group work for a total of 84 classroom hours. One classroom hour lasts for 45 minutes.
Regular attendance is expected of all participants, but mandatory attendance is not required.
For spring 2024 we offer daytime and evening classes. This course will run from week 3 to week 17 (subject to change). Please note the course may be run digitally for one or several weeks. The schedule for spring 2024 will be published in late autumn, and group choice will open in January 2024 on StudentWeb.
For autumn 2024, we offer daytime and evening classes. Autumn term courses will begin in August 2024. Please note the course may be run digitally for one or several weeks.
Books: Elisabeth Ellingsen & Kirsti MacDonald (2018): På vei. Norsk og samfunnskunnskap for voksne innvandrere. Tekstbok og Arbeidsbok. Oslo: Cappelen Damm.
Examination
Regular exams
The final exam consists of an oral and a written examination. The oral exam counts for 50% of the total grade and includes two parts: listening comprehension and spoken production. The oral exam lasts for 30 minutes. The written exam counts for 50% of the total grade and includes two parts: written production and reading comprehension. The written exam lasts for 2.5 hours. Your teacher will inform you when your oral exam will take place. There will also be information about the time and place of the written exam in Studentweb.
The guidance for examiners for the exam is published here (NORWEGIAN ONLY).
Exams spring and autumn 2020-2021 and autumn 2021
Due to the Covid-19 pandemic, there was a change to the examination format for the spring and autumn semesters in 2020 and 2021.
The exam consisted of a written and an oral examination. The written examination counted for 25% of the total grade and lasted for 1,5 hours. The oral examination counted for 75% of the total grade and lasted for 45 minutes. The written examination was a take-home exam i Inspera and the oral exam was held on Zoom.
Grades spring and autumn 2020-2021
The exam was graded on pass/fail scale. All parts of both the oral and the written exam had to be passed to receive a passing grade.
The guideance for examiners for the exam is published here (NORWEGIAN ONLY).
Exams until Autumn semester 2019
The exam consisted of a written and an oral examination. The written examination counted for 50% of the total grade and lasted for 3 hours. Part of the written exam includeed a dictation. The oral examination counted for 50% of the total grade and lasted for 10-15 minutes.
The oral exam was arranged before the written exam, and the teacher informed the students when their oral exams would take place. Information about the time and place of the written exam would also be found in StudentWeb.
Previous exams
Previous exams are available for download as a study aid.
Digital examination
The written examination is conducted in the digital examination system Inspera. You will need to familiarize yourself with the digital examination arrangements in Inspera.
Read more about written examinations using Inspera.
Examination support material
No examination support material is allowed.
Language of examination
Norwegian
Grading scale
Grades are awarded on a pass/fail scale. Read more about the grading system.
Examination results are available three weeks after the exam at the latest. Grades and transcripts will be available via StudentWeb.
Explanations and appeals
Resit an examination
Candidates may re-sit an exam free of charge if they: a) have a valid absence (doctor’s note), or b) failed the examination. A valid doctor's note must be given to the ISS office 3 days after the exam at the latest.
Candidates who did not show up for the scheduled exam must pay a fee of NOK 2 500 to re-sit the exam.
You can take the exam up to three times. You cannot re-sit an examination if you have used the maximum number of examination attempts. Candidates who re-sit the exam must take all parts of the exam again (both written and oral exams).
Candidates who re-sit the exam may take the exam in April/May, July/August and November/December when regular exams are arranged. Candidates who are re-sitting NORA exams can also re-sit the exam in the summer semester.
To re-sit the exam, contact the ISS office by email (nora-admin@iss.uio.no) during these dates:
- To re-sit in the spring semester: Contact us between January 1st – January 31st
- To re-sit in the summer semester: Contact us between June 1st – June 30th
- To re-sit in the autumn semester: Contact us between August 1st – August 31st
Please note that there are limited number of seats for the re-sit exams. You are therefore not guaranteed a seat if you register for a re-sit exam; registrations are treated on a first-come, first-serve basis. We therefore encourage you to sign up for a re-sit exam early in the registration period.
Withdrawal from an examination
It is possible to take the exam up to 3 times. If you withdraw from the exam after the deadline or during the exam, this will be counted as an examination attempt.
Special examination arrangements
Application form, deadline and requirements for special examination arrangements.
Students who need special accommodations for their exam must submit a Request for Special Examination Form along with medical documentation to NORA by September 1 for the autumn semester and February 1 for the spring semester.
Evaluation
The course is subject to continuous evaluation. At regular intervals we also ask students to participate in a more comprehensive evaluation.