SPANISH LANGUAGE

Course on Spanish language (LM0041) is a core educational activity for the Iberian Studies Curriculum of the Master's Degree Programme in European, American and Postcolonial Language and Literature and consists of a half-year learning module and of an annual coursework. The overall objective of this course is to develop a sociolinguistic competence in Spanish and Latin American language and to achieve linguistic competence at C2 level - Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (CEFR). Learning outcomes are assessed through a structured test.

1. Knowledge and understanding
Geographical, social and register varieties of Spanish language and their relationship with current standard.
Linguistic competence in Spanish and Latin American language at C2 CEFR level.

2. Applying knowledge and understanding
Ability to describe the main greographical and social varieties of Spanish; abitity to value multilingual and multicultural situations in the Spanish speaking world; ability to evaluate the language policies in the Spanish speaking world, both in Spain and in America; ability to interact in communicative situations on a C2 CEFR level; ability to understand and produce oral and written texts at C2 CEFR level; develop writing skills; ability to value translation choices from Spanish to Italian.

3. Making judgments
Ability to develop a plurilectal competence; ability to retrieve bibliographical sources suggested by the lecturer or independently, in order to analyse it in a critical way; ability to use electronic resources for the understanding of Spanish language varieties (such as Varilex, electronic database, www.corpusrural.es or www.alpi.csic.es); ability to appreciate multilingualism, geographical and social varieties, as well as language contact situations in the Spanish speaking world; ability to apply current sociolinguistic theories in order to evaluate the language policies in the Spanish speaking world and to value different language varieties.

4. Communication skills
Ability to put into practice linguistic knowledge, as well as sociolinguistic terminology, in order to descrive the contents of the course; ability to deal with the conflicts of multilingualism or contact language situations in the Spanish speaking world, to discuss about them and present the own ideas; ability to convey estimation of linguistic varieties to specialists and to non specialists; ability to look for research topics and explore their relevance in the Spanish speaking world; ability to accommodate speaking to the communicative situation; ability to interact in Spanish and Latin American language in communicative situations at a C2 CEFR level.

5. Lifelong learning skills
Ability to develop an original research about Spanish language varieties; ability to collect data about the sociolinguistic situation in the Spanish speaking world and examine them in a critical and scientific way; ability to select references and electronic resources in order to update knowledge.

A C1 CEFR level is suggested. The module deals with Spanish language varieties and their relationship to standard language. A wide knowledge of grammar and text analysis of Spanish language is assumed (knowledge acquired through the core educational activities of Spanish Language 1, 2 and 3 in the common curriculum of Languages, Civilisation and the Science of Language programme).

Half-year module:

1. General concepts: language, dialect, variety.
2. Teaching of Spanish as Foreign Language.
3. Historical variation of Spanish.
4. Geographical varieties of Spanish (Spain)
5. Geographical varieties of Spanish (America).
6. Geographical varieties of Spanish (contact language situations in Spain and America).
7. Social varieties of Spanish (normativism and standard).
8. Stylistic variation in Spanish.

Coursework:
Grammatical, phonetic-graphic, lexical, textual contents; functional exponents in Spanish at C2 level CEFR.
Activities to develop proficiency in writing and translation exercises from Spanish to Italian.

Required text:
Francisco MORENO FERNÁNDEZ, Las variedades de la lengua española y su enseñanza, Madrid, Arco/Libros, 2010 [IBERIS Cons. E 665]

Linguistic training:
Esercitazioni:
VV.AA, El Ventilador. Curso de español de nivel superior, Madrid, Difusión.
Translation:
Sessanta racconti, Dino Buzzati

Students’ learning is assessed via a two-part exam:

1) a written part (A) consisting of a critical analysis about a piece of the required text (30 points). This written part aims at assessing knowledge of Spanish varieties and the language conflicts in the Spanish speaking world, as well as the ability to apply this knowledge to make judgments (worh 60% of the final mark). Duration: 60 minutes.
2) Assessment of linguistic competence (40% final mark):
- Grammatical test (20% final mark), translation Italian - Spanish (material given during the lessons) (20% final mark). Deadline of translations (before march 31st).

In order to get an overall pass in Lingua Spagnola – Lingua e traduzione (LM0041) course, students are required to get a pass on both parts. Written parts take place on the same day; the oral part takes place during the academic year (II semester).
Students holding a DELE certificate of C2 level are not required to take the written part (B) and oral part on linguistic competence, on the conditions that i) the date of the exam is at the latest two years prior to the date in which the certificate was obtained ii) they provide the lecturer with a paper or electronic copy (both sides) of the certificate. No other certificates shall be accepted.
It will be possible to take the written parts in advance.

Frontal lectures; practical exercising.
Seminars. Professor will provide essays and journal articles to read and discuss during the lessons.

Module lectures will take place during the second semester. Coursework will take place during the whole academic year. There are two types of courseworks: language training about grammar contents (E1) and training activities to develop writing and translations skills (E2).
Non-attending students are required to contact the lecturer at the beginning of the academic year and at the beginning of the second semester.

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