Newcastle University

Pre Requisite Comment

Alternatively, if students have spent part of their year abroad at Stage 3 in a Catalan-speaking area taking a Beginner’s Catalan course equivalent to an A2 level, they can progress to Intermediate Catalan at final year.

This module is not suitable for native speakers of Catalan.

Co Requisite Comment

Students must also be taking Level D French or Level D Spanish

Aims

In consonance with the overall aim of the degrees offered in the SML, this module will focus on consolidating students’ competence in Catalan (including fluency, grammatical and lexical accuracy and range; register and pronunciation). It will reinforce students’ grammatical and lexical knowledge of the language and contribute to students’ broad-based knowledge of aspects of the history, politics, society and culture of Catalan speaking territories, focusing on contemporary issues in the region. The module also aims to prepare students for more specialist study in Hispanic Studies.

Outline Of Syllabus

This module is designed as an enhancement to the knowledge of the language and culture of Catalan-speaking parts of Spain acquired in the module SPA2021 ‘Introduction to Catalan’. It will also provide an introduction to contemporary Catalan culture through real texts and visual material. On the linguistic side, there will be text comprehension, Catalan grammar, composition, general oral work, oral role-plays, and listening exercises.

Intended Knowledge Outcomes

1. A critical awareness of contemporary culture in Catalan-speaking territories, with a special emphasis on Catalonia.
2. Critical perspectives on issues of cultural identity, sociolinguistics, mass media, and political culture.
3. Knowledge of current situation of Catalan-speaking territories within the Iberian Peninsula and the debates concerning cultural, political and linguistic issues in the region.

Intended Skill Outcomes

1. Ability to analyse and historically contextualize different forms of authentic texts, both written and audiovisual, in Catalan-speaking territories including multiple speakers, the exposure to different accents, intonations, speeds of delivery, background noises, etc.
2. Development of linguistic skills (speaking, understanding, reading and writing and/or typing) in the target language.
3. Linguistic and communication skills in speaking in the target language in everyday informal contexts and in discussing directly with target language speakers.
4. Ability to take notes from books, journals, and primary texts in both English and the target language.
5. Ability to contextualize relevant cultural discourses and authors about mass media, popular culture and the culture industry in Catalan speaking territories.
6. Ability to argue opinions convincingly in the target language.
7. Ability to participate in class in the target language.
8. Ability to work in pairs and small groups.
9. Ability to write well-argued and analytical essays in the target language.

Teaching Rationale And Relationship

As this is mainly a language course it is more classroom-based than the other optional cultural modules offered in the School, hence the higher number of contact hours. The teaching will be split into two main parts: A) Reading and writing skills: i.e. grammar, and text comprehension B) Oral and listening skills, which will focus on the students' active use of the spoken language in understanding and speaking Catalan.

THIS COURSE WILL BE TAUGHT AND ASSESSED IN CATALAN.

Assessment Rationale And Relationship

Written exam (40%) - In the 120-minute written exam students will answer 3 sections:
a) Reading comprehension
b) A set of grammar and vocabulary exercises
c) Written composition of 350-380 words

Oral exam (30%) - Presentation and discussion with the teacher based on a newspaper article in Catalan.

Listening exam (30%) – 1 hour listening comprehension exam based on gap-fill, true/false or multiple-choice comprehension questions. The exam will be held in a language lab and students will be requested to answer two exercises involving a 4-5 minutes recording (first exercise) and 4/5 brief recordings (second exercise). Each recording will be played three times.

In case of pandemic, the format of alternative assessment will be 24-hour take-home exam for written and listening exams and a live oral exam organised online.

General Notes

HESA DATA extra information: The study of Catalan language, its structure, history, grammar and use. Includes acquisition, pronunciation and articulation