Introductory description

Introductory description This module will consolidate existing skills in language acquired at A level or equivalent and extend them through translation, writing, reading, speaking and listening activities.
A range of assessments will be offered for students to track and reflect on their progress through the provision of regular feedback. Students will also be provided with complementary autonomous learning activities and directed to appropriate activities for self-study in order to develop independent learning strategies.
This module will consolidate linguistic skills acquired in the first year and extend them through translation, writing, reading, speaking and listening activities.
A range of assessments will be offered for students to track and reflect on their progress through the provision of regular feedback. Students will also be provided with complementary autonomous learning activities and directed to appropriate activities for self-study in order to develop independent learning strategies.
This module will consolidate linguistic skills acquired in the intermediate year and extend them through translation, writing, reading, speaking and listening activities.
A range of assessments will be offered for students to track and reflect on their progress through the provision of regular feedback. Students will also be provided with complementary autonomous learning activities and directed to appropriate activities for self-study in order to develop independent learning strategies.

Module web page

Module aims

Outline syllabus

This is an indicative module outline only to give an indication of the sort of topics that may be covered. Actual sessions held may differ.

Translation: into English and into Spanish; texts will cover a series of registers from formal to
conversational and will range from the literary to the popular and journalistic.

Essay and discursive writing: building through the year, students will produce a series of
discursive texts in a variety of registers and styles, involving prior reading, research and peer-
review, emphasis is placed on the acquisition of a broad range of vocabulary and the use of
complex grammatical structures.

Oral: students will research and prepare a series of oral presentations, focused on developing appropriate
argumentation and discussion structures and vocabulary, as well as peer learning and group work. The final
exam will, however, be individual and draw upon not only the material covered by the class across the year
but other topics related to the Spanish speaking world.

Learning outcomes

By the end of the module, students should be able to:

• A solid command of advanced aspects of grammar
• An advanced understanding of modes of written expression
• Advanced reading skills across a range of document types
• An advanced understanding of the challenges inherent in translation from and into English (syntax, register, idiom)
• Advanced listening and speaking skills
• Good ability to understand and critically engage with aspects of contemporary Spanish speaking society and culture and intercultural issues associated with them
• A systematic approach to proof-reading with due attention to accuracy
• Consolidation of independent language-learning skillss

Indicative reading list

Essential:
Spanish grammar in context. Juan Kattán-Ibarra and Angela Hopkins. Routledge. Third edition.

Further:
John Butt and Carmen Benjamin: A New Reference Grammar of Modern Spanish (5th edition,
2011)
A comprehensive Spanish-English-Spanish Dictionary (either Collins or Oxford)
A monolingual Spanish dictionary (e.g. Salamanca or online DRAE)

Reading lists distributed at the beginning of the course and availabe in Talis Aspire.

View reading list on Talis Aspire

International

All modules delivered in SMLC are necessarily international. Students engage with themes and ideas from a culture other than that of the UK and employ their linguistic skills in the analysis of primary materials from a non-Anglophone context. Students will also be encouraged to draw on the experiences of visiting exchange students in the classroom and will frequently engage with theoretical and critical frameworks from across the world.

Subject specific skills

This module will build students’ linguistic skills through activities that stimulate authentic target language production and develop sensitivity to the transference of meaning across languages. Students will work towards the production of nuanced, accurate and contextually sensitive materials through a range of language classes and guided independent learning.

Transferable skills

All SMLC culture modules demand critical and analytical engagement with artefacts from target-language cultures. In the course of independent study, class work and assessment students will develop the following skills: written and oral communication, creative and critical thinking, problem solving and analysis, time management and organisation, independent research in both English and their target language(s), intercultural understanding and the ability to mediate between languages and cultures, ICT literacy in both English and the target language(s), personal responsibility and the exercise of initiative.