This course provides an introduction to the Spanish language and to Hispanic cultures. Your work in the course will help you to develop all four language skills: reading, writing, listening, and speaking in Spanish. The class is conducted almost completely in Spanish in order to provide ample opportunity for you to build your communicative abilities to reach a Novice Mid-level, as defined in the NCSSFL-ACTFL Global Can-Do Benchmarks. What does this mean?
By the end of this course, you will be able to:
Give and receive directions and give recommendations, including making travel arrangements.
Make formal and informal requests.
Talk about the future and discuss the environment and the animal world.
Talk about what you have done.
Express opinions, doubt and certainty, and desires and discuss emotional reactions to events, relationships, etc.
Discuss personal relationships and popular culture.
Describe health and medical issues.
Discuss hypothetical situations.
Examine, analyze, summarize, and discuss issues and/or cultural topics related to travel, the environment, celebrations, TV & entertainment, health, and diversity within Hispanic cultures around the world, among others.
The primary objective of this course is to introduce the scientific study of language through the description of general concepts as well as the various levels of linguistic analysis in Spanish. In particular, we will study the sound system of Spanish (phonetics and phonology), the formation of words (morphology), sentence structure (syntax), linguistic meaning (semantics and pragmatics), linguistic variation (sociolinguistics and dialectology), and the acquisition of Spanish as a second language.
This course offers a panoramic view of Hispanic linguistics so students may know which areas are of interest for continued study at the 400 level.
A second goal of this course is the application of the above stated knowledge to the understanding of our experience as learners or native speakers of Spanish. We will see how linguistics surrounds us and informs our experiences through discussion and practical application both in and out of the classroom.
This course provides a survey of current issues of bilingualism in the Spanish-speaking world with a special focus on bilingualism in the U.S. Using the tools of sociolinguistics, the course examines patterns of language use, acquisition, and attrition, regional characteristics of U.S. Spanish, contact phenomena with English, as well as contact between varieties of Spanish. In our discussion of the social aspects of U.S. Spanish we also study attitudes, identity, and phenomena related to the use of Spanish in public spaces, and in the education system.
In this course we explore a variety of research approaches and methodologies, namely: quantitative, qualitative and mixed methods. Throughout the semester we will learn about these research approaches and methods, and we will also focus on multiple phases of applied linguistics research, from the formulation of research questions to the interpretation of results. We will discuss why and how we conduct applied linguistics research, and we will also explore key issues in empirical research, including study design, critical literature review, sample selection, data collection, data analysis methods, and interpretation of results, among others.
In terms of language development, we aim to explore, develop and enhance appropriate communicative abilities in Spanish for specific purposes, namely, interpreting published applied linguistic research and sharing this research with specific audiences, both orally and in writing. In addition, the course will focus on the acquisition of specialized vocabulary related to all stages of the research process. The course is designed as a workshop, where you will have multiple opportunities to use Spanish in interpersonal and presentational communicative situations, as well as to develop your interpretive communication skills.