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BA English Language and Spanish

Year of entry: 2021

Course unit details:
Spanish Language 2

Unit code SPLA51022
Credit rating 20
Unit level Level 1
Teaching period(s) Semester 2
Offered by Spanish, Portuguese and Latin
Available as a free choice unit? No

Overview

This is an intensive course unit for post-beginners in Spanish, which follows on from, and complements, the SPLA51011 Spanish language unit taught in semester 1.

Focussing on a variety of topics (including culture, society, current affairs, etc.) and using a range of teaching methods and audio-visual as well as printed media, this course aims to continue giving students sound foundations in the language and to develop intermediate writing and reading skills, and pre-intermediate speaking and aural skills.

Pre/co-requisites

Unit title Unit code Requirement type Description
Spanish Language 1 SPLA51011 Pre-Requisite Compulsory

Aims

  • to provide students with thorough grounding in Spanish grammar and syntax, and expand it further;
  • to enable students to become independent users of the target language and to communicate with some confidence on familiar routine matters related to their interests and professional field through a range of written, oral and comprehension exercises, including translation.

Knowledge and understanding

  • Passive and active knowledge of a range of grammatical structures of the Spanish language.
  • An awareness of the nature and extent of cultural diversity within the Hispanic world.

Intellectual skills

  • Use of the target language with the skills acquired at a basic level.
  • Extract and synthesise basic key information from written and spoken sources.
  • Organise and present ideas within the framework of a structured argument at levels of appropriate difficulty.
  • Develop deductive reasoning.

Practical skills

  • Communicate in written and oral Spanish.
  • Manage time and work to deadlines.
  • Work creatively and flexibly with others as part of a team.

Transferable skills and personal qualities

  • Communication and presentation skills: oral, written and IT.
  • Self-management and study skills, including learning how to learn through self-reflection activities and self-evaluation.
  • Self-confidence, empathy and understanding others.
  • Intercultural awareness.

Employability skills

Other
¿ Communication and presentation skills developed through frequent presentations and teamwork. ¿ Self-management skills which are promoted through independent work. ¿ Problem-solving, decision making and creative skills, fostered through a variety of tasks such as creative writing, simulations, translations, etc. ¿ IT skills through web and computer assisted language learning.

Assessment methods

Exam 60%
Grammar & Essay Writing 15%
Oral exam 25%

 

Feedback methods

Feedback method

Formative or Summative

Students will regularly receive individual written feedback on completed and marked assignments and oral presentations plus face-to-face discussion if desired. The tutor will also provide in-class comments on homework, presentations and other exercises.

Additionally, global feedback (delivered orally in class/posted to Blackboard/as a hand-out) on frequent errors or omissions will be provided to the whole class to indicate problem areas and allow questions and discussion.

Finally, the collaborative group/pair work used in class to practice presented language also facilitates peer feedback.

Formative

Written feedback on the in-class test and on oral exam performance.

One-to-one feedback by request on written exam during office hours or by appointment during the School’s allocated feedback period.

Summative

 

Recommended reading

Set texts:        

·       F. Rosales et al., Campus Sur, Libro del Alumno (Barcelona: Difusión)

·       P. Muñoz and M. Thacker, A Spanish Learning Grammar (London: Arnold)

·       Diccionario Oxford español-inglés, inglés-español (O.U.P.)

·       Diccionario Clave (SM): http://www.smdiccionarios.com/home.php

Recommended texts:

·       E. Spinelli, English Grammar for Students of Spanish (Arnold)

·       R. E. Batchelor & M. A. San José, Using Spanish Vocabulary (Cambridge University Press) 

Study hours

Scheduled activity hours
Seminars 55
Independent study hours
Independent study 145

Teaching staff

Staff member Role
Susana Lorenzo-Zamorano Unit coordinator

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