Spanish Learning Outcomes

Program goals

Students in the Spanish program develop in-depth content knowledge about Hispanic cultures, literatures, and linguistics, as well as advanced skills in the areas of intercultural competence, critical thinking, collaborative problem-solving, and language proficiency (speaking, listening, reading, and writing). The Spanish curriculum provides ample opportunity for students to develop into confident and cross-culturally savvy users of Spanish, through our wide variety of courses in the areas of language, conversation, film, cultural and literary studies, linguistics, teaching, and Spanish for specific purposes (i.e., business, technology, and health professions), and also through exciting experiential learning opportunities – both in the United States and across the globe.

Learning outcomes

1. Speaking

Students will:

  • be able to satisfy the requirements of everyday situations and routine school and work requirements,
  • be able to handle –at times with confidence and in some cases with facility– complicated tasks and social situations (e. g., elaborating, complaining and apologizing),
  • be able to narrate and describe in past, present and future time, linking sentences smoothly
  • be able to talk casually about topics of current public and personal interest,
  • use communication strategies, e. g., circumlocution, paraphrasing, pauses and fillers, to smooth over linguistic shortcomings,
  • show signs of an emerging ability to support opinions, explain in detail and hypothesize, and
  • be understood when communicating with native speakers.

2. Listening comprehension

Students will:

  • be able to understand most speech on familiar topics, and
  • show an emerging ability to understand the main idea and some details of complex discourse.

3. Reading

Students will be able to:

  • read and understand written texts in areas of the their special interest,
  • be able to understand the main idea and some detailed aspects of complex or unfamiliar texts,
  • identify and analyze some of the aesthetic functions of language and of literary styles,
  • recognize the significance of cultural knowledge in comprehending a written text.

4. Writing

Students will be able to:

  • write about a variety of topics with accuracy and in some detail,
  • state their opinions and provide support for their points of view in written discourse,
  • narrate and communicate personal experiences with a reasonable degree of clarity and sophistication, and
  • do basic analysis and research on a literary or cultural topic and present their findings in a research paper.

5. Culture, literature and linguistics

Students will:

  • demonstrate knowledge of Hispanic literatures, cultures and/or linguistics (e.g., through analysis of historical events, linguistic phenomena, or literary texts from different regions and literary periods of the Hispanic world),
  • recognize the cultural diversity of the Hispanic world,
  • be able to compare the cultural diversity of the Hispanic world to that of their own culture,
  • be able to compare and contrast cultural practices and perspectives as they relate to diverse Hispanic cultures and their own native cultures, and
  • be able to identify and discuss the importance of appreciating and respecting cultural differences.

6. Critical thinking and collaboration

Students will:

  • demonstrate critical thinking and collaborative problem-solving abilities through advanced task-based language activities (i.e., creative skits, videos, websites, curriculum vitae, summaries, research paper, internship reports, student-led classes, oral presentations, etc.).