 |
Learning Goals for All Students
The
Department of Spanish and Portuguese Studies is committed to four primary
educational goals: (1) to provide students with in-depth knowledge of the
literatures, languages, and cultures of Latin
America, the Hispanic Caribbean, and the Iberian Peninsula, as well as Latina/o and
Lusophone populations in the United States; (2) to provide rigorous
liberal arts training to all of our students, by honing critical thinking and
writing skills; (3) to develop our students' academic proficiency in Spanish
and Portuguese, a particular need for our many students who are heritage
speakers of these languages; (4) to provide students with training in
preparation for careers as teachers, professors, or a myriad of other
professional roles that require superior proficiency in Portuguese and
Spanish. In each of these areas, the
faculty of the department is committed to providing students with a high level
of mentorship and support.
In
addition to these more general abilities, literature and linguistics classes
introduce students to the methods and modes of inquiry of their respective disciplines.
Goals
for Student Learning in Literature and Cultural Studies Classes
Literature, and expressive and material culture
is something that can be enjoyed by anyone, without any special training. Literary, cinematic, and performative analysis,
however, are activities for which skills, knowledge, and preparation are
needed. Students of literature and culture should not only to be able to "read"
texts, images, and performances in Spanish or Portuguese, but to read
critically: in essence, they need to become professional readers. Becoming
proficient in analyzing literature and culture includes the following
abilities:
- Reading
and comprehending theoretical material about literature, cultural production,
identity development, politics, and cultural criticism
- Applying
the theoretical material in the course to any cultural artifact about which one
is reading
- Gaining
the tools for analyzing the social, cultural, and political issues that shape
communities
- Grappling
with historical and social dilemmas that require sensitive, careful, critical
commentary
- Learning
to express one's analysis through cogent arguments and clear writing
Goals
for Student Learning in Linguistics Classes
Linguistic
analysis allows us to understand how people use and acquire languages, the
quintessentially human abilities that set us apart from other species. It also
provides us with tools for studying language in a rigorous, precise way that uncovers
its structure and hidden patterns. In linguistics classes, students will learn
how to:
- Understand
basic characteristics of human languages including linguistic universals, how languages
change, the formal structure of language, and the importance of considering
social factors in language use
- Learn to
analyze language scientifically, including collecting data and testing hypotheses,
theoretical approaches to language analysis, and research methods for studying
languages
- Recognize
fundamental units of linguistic structure, including phonemes, morphemes, and
syntactic phrases
- Understand
how language is acquired by child and adult learners, including theories
regarding the role of nature versus nurture in language acquisition, the
effects of age, multilingualism, and input on acquisition
Goals for Student Learning in Language Classes
The learning goals for language students take
as benchmarks the 2012 Proficiency Guidelines established by the
American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages (ACTFL) for speaking, reading, writing,
and listening in a language, as well as gaining knowledge of the target
language culture.
Introductory or Elementary Language Instruction
- At the
end of one year of studying Portuguese or Spanish, students should demonstrate novice-high
proficiency on the ACTFL rating scale
- Students
should be able to enunciate simple opinions with clarity, begin to use informal
versus formal address, be able to provide basic descriptions
- Demonstrate
beginning knowledge of the culture of the target language
Intermediate Language Instruction
- Students
at the end of the intermediate sequence (131-132) should demonstrate an intermediate-low
to intermediate-mid level proficiency on the ACTFL rating scale
- Students
should be able to understand simple literary and cultural texts
- Demonstrate
more awareness of cultural conventions of address, daily routines, cultural, and
linguistic differences between regions where the target language is spoken
Advanced Language Instruction (Spanish 203,
204, 307, Portuguese 204)
- Students
must demonstrate proficiency at the intermediate-high level by the end of
Spanish 204 and Portuguese 204, and advanced-low level proficiency according to
the ACTFL scale by the end of Spanish 307
- Students
should demonstrate an understanding of the concept of linguistic register, and
are expected show evidence of a formal written and spoken register at this
stage, abilities which are developed further in upper-level courses in
literature, culture, and linguistics
|
|
