Newcastle University

Pre Requisite Comment

Level A or equivalent. Available to any student with an A-Level or equivalent in Spanish. Students who have previously taken Level A Spanish are advised not to proceed to level B unless they have achieved at least 40% in the module. Note: Non-SML students are advised not to proceed to level C unless they achieve at least 40% in this module.

Co Requisite Comment

None

Aims

In consonance with the overall aims of the degrees offered in the SML, this module will:

- Focus on developing the students' written communicative and oral communicative competences in the target language (including fluency, grammatical and lexical accuracy and range, register and pronunciation);
- Facilitate students' ability to establish and maintain effective social and working relations with
speakers of the foreign language in written and spoken media. This includes students’ ability to use and understand authentic material and produce their own written and spoken output.
- Prepare students for the future study of the target language (including written and oral communicative skills, and intercultural awareness) and for their future learning experience (including independent learning and study skills; reflective skills and self-regulation).

This module is available to all students with an A-level or equivalent in the target language.

Outline Of Syllabus

- Communication; development of spoken and written communicative competence by study of a thematic programme which includes topics and aspects of Spanish and Latin American culture and contemporary society such as 'en busca de identidad biológica, la mujer hispana and la descolonización';

- A wide-ranging coverage of the grammar system of modern Spanish including study of the noun, adjectives, adverbs, articles, the major tenses, the indicative and subjunctive moods and the active and passive voices; 'ser' and 'estar'; pronouns, comparative constructions, prepositions, participles, negations, infinitives and gerunds; and

- systematic development of lexis in a wide range of contemporary themes and settings.

The module is taught and assessed in Spanish and English

Intended Knowledge Outcomes

By the end of the course, students will have had the opportunity to learn about:

- Sentence and text structure, grammatical categories and their exponents and use, lexical fields and registers and their usage

- All areas of grammar, vocabulary and background knowledge related to the skills listed below.

Intended Skill Outcomes

Subject specific skills:

By the end of the course, students will have had the opportunity to learn about:

- using varied lexical and grammatical structures in spoken and written communication.
- reading for information using authentic material of appropriate complexity and length and responding appropriately in written and oral form.
- writing and typing in the target language (e.g.: answers, short reports, short essays, summaries)
- listening for information using different types of authentic sources in the foreign language and responding appropriately in written and oral form.
- conversing and discussing directly with peers and target language speakers and producing/giving presentations in Spanish using an appropriate range, on agreed topics.
- how to study and apply grammar systematically.
- how to identify and present the language graduate skills developed during the course of the module.

Cognitive/ intellectual skills:

Students will learn:
- to locate, make use and critically evaluate materials for this level other than those provided by the teacher.
- to evaluate their own performance or the performance of others.
- to apply a range of strategies for language learning appropriate for this level and module
- to work independently and confidently on their own and in a group, either within or outside the classroom.
- to locate information from different authentic sources (e.g. Internet) in order to contribute their own materials and ideas to the course.
- to articulate and reflect on the skills developed during the course of the module, in written or spoken form.

Teaching Rationale And Relationship

1. Synchronous language seminars, either on campus if possible or online in case it becomes necessary for the teaching format to change in the light of the public health situation. In which case, the provision for the seminars would be to have one zoom hour with half of the group whilst the other half does some guided activities online and swap during the second hour.


2. Teaching in the language seminars will focus on communication skills while the recorded lecture materials will focus on key study skills and the formal structures of the language. All four skills: listening, reading, writing and speaking are fully integrated in the language seminars, associated work and preparation.

3. Independent learning and learner autonomy are further developed through the means of online grammar videos
and related activities, online guided tasks, pair and group work, assessment preparation and completion, and selfstudy via the University’s Virtual Learning Environment (VLE), Canvas and in the Language Resource Centre. Particular initiative is expected from students at this level, e.g. course participants will be asked to contribute their own materials to the classes and activities.

4. All students will be supported in their study of formal and informal aspects of the Spanish language and their study skills via their weekly practical sessions, seminars and consultations with seminar leaders.

Assessment Rationale And Relationship

- The portfolio (40%) will encourage regular work on the four language skills and enable students to receive regular formative (for learning) feedback. It will help students assess their progress and identify their strengths and areas for improvement, thus stimulating their independent and reflective learning skills throughout the year. The oral component will test students’ ability to produce and present their own output orally. The listening/aural component will test the students’ ability to listen and understand video/audio sources (excluding written text) and to respond appropriately in written (or typed) or oral form. The written component will test students’ ability to write or type in the target language. [For in-class tests: Students may be allowed to type their own answers provided that spell check / grammar check has been disabled]. The reading component will test students’ ability to read and understand written sources in the target language and to respond appropriately in written (or typed) or oral form.

- The oral recording (20%) will test students’ ability to produce and present their own output orally and enable them to receive feedback on their work. This assessment provides summative information to staff and student on student's achievement in speaking in the module.

- The final written exam at the end of Semester 2 (40%) will test the students’ reading, grammar and written skills. Students may be allowed to type their own answers provided that spell check / grammar check has been disabled. This formal examination provides summative information to staff and student on student's achievement in reading / grammar and writing in the target language in this module.

General Notes

N/A