Applied Spanish 3: Language and Culture in Context module (PS30002)

Develop comprehensive linguistic knowledge, cultural insight and intercultural competence, and transferable cognitive and advanced communication skills which will be of use in your personal and professional lives. You will develop an understanding of the wider historical, geographical, and socio-political contexts of relevant countries. You will work within the level of B2 (all areas) and C1 (selected areas) of the Common European Framework for Languages.

Through recognising, understanding, and applying the main vocabulary and complex grammatical structures of Spanish, you will communicate very competently across the four language skills of listening, speaking, reading, and writing. Skills will be developed in: critical reading and analysis of short literary texts (listening, note-taking, and contextualised summary of current affairs topics), advanced oral presentation skills (cultural topics), advanced skills of argument and debate in Spanish (current affairs topics), and analysis and comparison of the vision of society presented through Spanish-language films of the 20th and 21st Century.

What you will learn

In this module, you will:

• understand and apply accurately most grammatical structures and a rich range of vocabulary and idioms in Spanish, showing extensive awareness of complex features of the Spanish language system
• listen to, read, speak, and write Spanish critically, coherently, sensitively, and effectively, with appropriate attention to detail, in a wide range of complex and sometimes unpredictable social and work-related contexts
• research, analyse, and evaluate Hispanic material from a wide range of printed, web-based, and audio-visual resources, including films both in Spanish and in English
• engage in informed critical debate in Spanish and in English about contemporary socio-political, ethical, and cultural issues from an intercultural perspective

By the end of this module, you will be able to:

• demonstrate accuracy and high levels of competence in most of the complex features of the Spanish language across the skills of listening, speaking, reading, and writing
• demonstrate extensive knowledge of the Spanish-speaking cultures and societies studied
• demonstrate the ability to use metalanguage to describe aspects of Spanish in relation to your first language
• communicate very competently and sensitively in Spanish in a wide range of complex and sometimes unpredictable formal and informal situations

Assignments / assessment

• oral assessment (10%)
• written coursework 1 (10%)
• culture coursework 1 (15%)
• written coursework 2 (10%)
• culture coursework 2 (15%)
• oral exam (20%)
• written exam (20%)

To pass the module, both aggregate written and aggregate oral components of the coursework must be passed.

Teaching methods / timetable

• in-person lectures and workshops
  • 40 hours of specialised Spanish language tutorial teaching (2 hours per week), normally delivered in part by a native speaker
  • approximately 10 hours of lectures/seminars on Spanish film, culture, and society delivered normally in the target language
• regular film screenings
• independent study