OVERVIEW

Spanish Language II (LM) is an annual Spanish Language Course and a Theoretical Module in the first semester.

The theoretical module aims to make students more aware of the economic value of the language of the Spanish language, the political role of institutions that deal with the language standard and the differences that exist between the normative and descriptive approach in the policy of international promotion of a language.

AIMS AND CONTENT

LEARNING OUTCOMES

Spanish 2 aims at encouraging reflection on the economic and political role of Spanish in international relations and research using Web resources to develop C2 CEFR skills. 

AIMS AND LEARNING OUTCOMES

Theoretical Module

In the theoretical module, special attention will be paid to the econometrics of the Spanish language and its international role. In addition, you will learn to analyse the political-linguistic discourse of the institutions responsible for the normative care of the Spanish language in the world. The training objectives are to

1. Make students aware of the fact that the history of the Spanish language in the world has always been conditioned by politics, world powers and balances and the economic interests of the countries that manage all trade in or towards the Spanish language;
2. make students autonomous and capable in consulting information sources and accessible linguistic resources created by institutions that safeguard the interests of the Spanish language, such as corpora;
3. make students capable of analysing and interpreting the language policy discourse of the institutions called upon to disseminate the Spanish language throughout the world;
4. make students capable of searching and selecting sources of information in order to gain a better understanding of the political history of the Spanish language and also to make them capable of expounding it concisely.

In order to achieve these objectives, students will choose from the topics in the course syllabus the one of most interest to each one of them, they will delve into all its aspects by consulting the appropriate sources to talk about it in class and to participate in class debates.

Lettorato:

C2 CEFR level descriptors:

Can understand with ease virtually everything heard or read. Can summarise information from different spoken and written sources, reconstructing arguments and accounts in a coherent presentation. Can express him/herself spontaneously, very fluently and precisely, differentiating finer shades of meaning even in more complex situations.

TEACHING METHODS

The lectures take place in the classroom, with face-to-face teaching.

The course of the theoretical module implies a commitment on the part of the students to autonomous but also group work. The presentation of the topic to be prepared by each student presupposes a search among the sources of information known at the beginning of the course, a demonstration of functional literacy skills and mastery in the transmission of knowledge (also in digital format) and a good willingness to engage in group discussion and peer evaluation (which will be taken into account for the final presentation of each course content).

Non-attending students are required to contact the lecturers to advise of their absence and to agree on any different course programmes, additional bibliography, etc.

IMPORTANT: Access to aulaweb with password to be requested by e-mail to Prof. Ana Lourdes de Hériz.

SYLLABUS/CONTENT

Theoretical Module 

• Linguistic-political history of the Spanish language and the Real Academia Española, from its founding and prescriptive policy until the beginning of the 21st century with the pan-Hispanic and more descriptive policy.
• The model: norm and usage. Evolution of the norm in academic orthography. Opposition to the norm: proposals for reform of academic orthography.
• Institutions and foundations in support of the dissemination of Spanish: Instituto Cervantes and Fundéu.
• The motto “unidad en la diversidad”, pluricentrism and panispanism.
• The Congresos internacionales de la lengua española: evolution of Spanish expansion policy.
• The economic value of Spanish. The Anuarios del español en el mundo.
• International Spanish; “neutro” Spanish.
• Linguistic resources on the web: linguistic corpora of the Spanish language.

Lettorato

• Consolidate language proficiency to reach C2 level. Enhance oral and written expressive resources.
• Analyze morphosyntactic structures, including comparing them with those of Italian. Understand texts on current topics of different nature and express oneself on their content.
• Produce written texts of different types using the elements of coherence and cohesion effectively. Produce written texts as summaries of texts in Italian (mediation).
• Consolidate command of vocabulary and idiomatic expressions; analyze implicit meaning; enhance mastery of different registers and recognition/use of regional varieties.

RECOMMENDED READING/BIBLIOGRAPHY

Theoretical module

Much of the compulsory and recommended bibliography is accessible online and will be searched, presented, analysed and discussed by the students during the lectures. For the final exam, frequent and non-frequent students must also have read one of the recent working papers of the Observatorio Nebrija del español. Non-attenders are also required to have read the following book:

• Del Valle, José (2024). Lo político del lenguaje, Santiago de Chile, Verba Volant. 

Students who attend lectures in the theory module in a percentage of less than 50% are considered “non-attenders.”

Lettorato

Details on Spanish language lessons materials will be announced in early September.

TEACHERS AND EXAM BOARD

LESSONS

LESSONS START

Lettorato and modulo teorico: first week of October

Class schedule

SPANISH LANGUAGE II

EXAMS

EXAM DESCRIPTION

Theoretical Module: Assessment of functional literacy throughout the course (in continuous discussion with students) and oral test for the assessment of compulsory reading comprehension and critical thinking skills.

Lettorato: written and oral test. 

ASSESSMENT METHODS

The oral test of the Theoretical Module consists in the discussion of critical literature on the role of the Spanish language in the world, on its political weight and economic value as well as on the showcase that collects all this in the web of institutions that spread and promote the Spanish language. Students who have presented certain themes of the program during the lessons will be exempted from some parts of the exam.

The written test of Lettorato The Lettorato written test involves the production of two argumentative texts of approximately 300 and 150 words respectively on the topics contained in the bibliography or on those
covered in class. In both texts, expository effectiveness, adequacy of register, appropriate use of the components of coherence and cohesion, grammatical accuracy and lexical precision are evaluated. The written test also includes a reading comprehension exercise with a series of multiple choice questions on a current news article or a short opinion article. The morphosyntactic and lexical contents (periphrases, logical connections, consecutio temporum, idiomatic expressions, co-occurrences, etc.) are assessed with a series of exercises (between three and five) that correspond to the level to be achieved (C2 of the CEFRL).

The oral competence for the attending students will be evaluated with a conceptual grade based on the presentations made in class. For students who do not attend, however, the oral test takes place during the exam and consists of the presentation of the material assigned by the teacher during the course (journalistic articles and short stories by Spanish and Hispanic-American authors).

The grade for the  exam is calculated as the average between written and oral.

FURTHER INFORMATION

Students with a certified DSA, disability or other special educational needs are required to contact the two teachers at the beginning of the course in order to agree on teaching and examination methods that, while respecting the teaching objectives, take into account individual learning methods and provide suitable compensatory tools.