LA467 - Contemporary Spanish Language & Culture

Saint Paul and Saint Peter in Palencia cathedral, SpainLa Coruna seagulls Malaga orangesBullfighting arenaMojacar

Spanish Symbols | Module Objectives | For further details see http://courses.essex.ac.uk/la/


Module Description
This module is linked to the Materials Bank of the National Subject Centre for Languages, Linguistics and Area Studies.
 

A module for students with a highly advanced knowledge of Spanish either because they have spent an acceptable period of time either in Latin America or in Spain or have an equivalent qualification. The materials are taken from a range of authentic Latin American and Spanish sources and cover a variety of features of written prose, registers, and speech. The work is based on presentations, Mojacarseminars, debates and project writing, the guidelines for all these activities appear below. There are 4 Readers that accompany the module containing weekly background and contemporary materials covering 4 weeks. The work is spread out through 20 weeks with 2 Reading Weeks and 2 Assessment Weeks. The contents are divided into 4 themes which aim to compare and contrast common issues in Latin American countries and Spain: Language and Politics; Language, Gender and Identity; Language, Power and the Media; and Language, work and family. The corresponding topics are: Spanish: official, minority and pluricentric language; Cinema: gender and identity representations; TV, publicity and soap-operas; Men, women, youth, family and work. Students have to prepare presentations and seminars and participate in debates related to the weekly subject-matter. This is a term work module and there is no exam. The table below shows the assessment percentages awarded to the activities and components.


Pre-requisites: LA440 or LA450 plus an appropriate number of weeks successfully spent in a Spanish-speaking country.
Comments: All students must normally have passed LA450 Proficiency Level Spanish and in addition satisfy at least one of the three additional conditions below: 1) have also passed LA457. 2)  have spent a successful period of eight weeks in a Spanish-speaking  country between the end of the Second Year and the beginning of the Final Year,  of which at least six weeks must normally be in the Summer Vacation immediately preceding the Final Year. 3) have followed an approved University module in Spanish during the year abroad.

Learning Outcomes

By the end of the module students will be able to analyse Spanish and Latin American prose,  write reports, commentaries, essays and exposés; use spoken Spanish to show a range of styles, registers and emotions in conversations, exchanges, presentations, situationals and seminars; and would also have acquired a set of transferable and cognitive skills.

Main Component - PROJECT

Click on this link Structuring the Project to find all information about timescale, assessment and presentation of the project.

 

Marking Criteria: What your marks mean and feedback to improve your performance
Coursework Marking Criteria:
Glossary of Terms / Content of  WorkLanguage of written work/ Oral Work  
Project Marking Criteria :   Excellence  /  Difficulty  /  Management  / Referencing / Language Performance / Analysis of Content/

 

 

COURSEWORK & ASSESSMENT CALENDAR
Marking Criteria for coursework: Glossary of Terms / Content of  WorkLanguage of written work/ Oral Work  
All the 5 pieces of work have the same weight. The best 4 are taken.

FIRST TERM

WEEKS 2 - 11 Language and Power : Presentations: PresMinorities 0; Spanish vs English in the world1; Presentation2 ; Pres3; Pres4;  ; Lenguas Amerindias5
Reading: Spanish: official, minority, pluricentric language : Textual Analysis
Reading: Spanish and globalization: Textual Analysis
Reading: Spanish and prestige: Textual Analysis
Reading: Minority languages in Spain - Textual Analysis
TALK ABOUT PROJECT - PROJECT
Week 6
SUBMIT WRITTEN WORK BY MIDDAY FRIDAY
a)Write a 700 word (minimum) commentary on one of the topics we have seen and highlight it with one of the films that appear in the handbook for your conversation and submit it on OCS by Friday of WEEK 6. Instructions for the written task are here
b) Prepare your part in a conversation (7 minutes) based on the commentary and one film and submit it on OCS together with the commentary on the topics above (300 spoken Spanish words)and deliver it on WEEK 7.  Instructions for the conversation are here. Please read carefully.
The final mark will be an average of the commentary and conversation.

THINK ABOUT YOUR PROJECT
Week 7  
ORAL ASSESSMENT
Oral Conversation =  Groups of 2, 3 or 4 at 7/10 minutes per group. List of groups.
WEEKS 2 - 11 Cine and Society : Presentation1 ;Presentation2; Presentation3
Reading: Focus on contemporary Spanish cinema
Reading: Latin American cinema
Reading: Realismo sucio y marginalidad
Reading:
Spanish cinema and national identity
Week 11 ASSESSMENT: a)Hand in all exercises from weeks 2 - 10 on OCS and a watermarked copy to administrators, here;   b) Open Exam about topics c) Personal Interview about project and topics we have seen so far, TIMES. There will be a mark for each task and the marks will be averaged into one.
Weeks 11 - 16 WORK ON  GENERAL INFORMATION PROJECT- PROJECT


SECOND TERM

 Week 16 - 20 Language, power and the media
TV, publicity, soap operas / Presentation / Publicidad / SoapReading1 / SoapReading 2
TALK ABOUT PROJECT-
Structuring the Project
 Week 20   First Draft of the Project - Submit on OCS - Deadline Friday midday - 1000 words minimum
 Week  21 - 24

Language, society and the family
Women, youth, family and work / 1-La familia / 2-IdeasGeneralesFamiliaHispam  / 30Contemporary Spanish family ; 4-Historia de la familia latinoamericana  /5-Emigration e inmigrationn / 6-Youth Presentation /Example

 Week 25 Structuring the PROJECT- Oral & Scripted - Oral Assessment - Conversation  instructions
Week 26 - 29 FINISH THE PROJECT - PROJECT


THIRD TERM

Week 30 Handingin the Project by Friday midday - PROJECT
   
ASSESSMENT CALENDAR - only the best 4 marks will be counted
WEEK 7
WEIGHT = 20
Oral Debate-Instructions in Handbook (oral & scripted - 2 marks- 500 words in Spanish) Friday midday deadline to submit a)the scripted version of your debate (500 words minimum) on Online Course Submission (OCS) and b) a watermarked copy of the script  for the debate to the secretaries in Language & Linguistics)
WEEK 11
WEIGHT = 20
Written Open Exam (content & form)
WEEK 20
WEIGHT =20
Written Draft of Project - Firm Draft - On OCS and watermarked copy to the secretaries in Language & Linguistics by midday Friday.
WEEK 25
WEIGHT = 20
Written Open Exam (content & form)
WEEK 30
WEIGHT 20
Deadline Friday midday - PROJECT
   

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Materials and Reading List

Online Materials

Allen, R C (ed) To be continued: soap operas around the world, Lonson: Routledge, 1995

Allen, R C Speaking of soap operas, Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, c1985

Brinton, D M, Kagan, O and Susa (eds) Heritage language education: a new field emerging,  New York: Routledge, 2008

Crameri, K Language, the novelist and national identity in post-Franco Catalonia, Oxford: Legenda 2000

Ed. Stenstrm, Anna-Brita, Jrg ,Annette Myre Youngspeak in a multicultural perspective, Amsterdam: Philadelphia: Benjamins, c2009

Fishman, J.A., (2001) (ed) Handbook of language and ethnic identity, Oxford University Press, c1999.

Hammon, M and Mazdom, L (eds) The contemporary television series, Edimburgh, Edimburgh University Press, c2005

Harvey, S (ed) Trading culture: global traffic and local cultures in film and television, Eastleigh: John Libbey, c2006

Hobson, D Soap Opera, Cambridge, Polity, 2003

Jackson, J Language, identity and study abroad, London Equinox , 2008

Limon, J E, Mexican speech play: history and the psychological discourses of power, (Austin Tex.): Institute of Latin American Studies, University of Texas at Austin, 1987

MacKinnon, K Love, tears and the male spectator, Madison, (NJ): Fairleigh Dickinson University Press, c2002

Mar-Molinero, C. & Stevenson, P. (2006b) (eds) Language Ideologies, Policies and Practices: Language and the Future of Europe, Basingstoke, Palgrave.

Mar-Molinero, C. & Stewart, M. (2006a) (eds)  Globalization and language in the Spanish-Speaking World, Palgrave Macmillan.

Mar-Molinero, C. (1997) The Spanish-Speaking World: A Practical Introduction To Sociolinguistic Issues, Routledge.

Mar-Molinero, C. (2000) The Politics of language in the Spanish-speaking world, Routledge.

Modleski, T Loving with a vengeance: mass produced fantasies for women, New York: Routledge, 2008

Munday, J Style and ideology in translation: Latin American writing in English, New York : Routledge, c2008

Newman, K M Radio active: advertising and consumer activism

Ni{22,M (ed) Bilingualism and identity: Spanish at the crossroads with other languages Philadelphia: Benjamins, J, c2008

ONLINE BOOK
McQuarrie, E F and Armonk B, Go figure! New directions in advertising, rhetoric (electronic resource), N.Y.: M.E. Sharpe, c2008

ONLINE BOOK
O, Lois Letters from Barcelona (electronic source): an American woman in revolution and civil war, Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, 2009

ONLINE BOOK
Rancheros in Chicagpacn (electronic source): language and identity in a transnational commune, Austin:University of Texas Press, 2006

Penny, R. (1991) A history of the Spanish language, Cambridge University Press.

Penny, R. (2000) Variation and change in Spanish, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2000.

Ptz, M., Fishman, J.A., Neff-van Aertselaer, J. (2006) (eds) Along the routes to power : explorations of empowerment through language, Berlin : Mouton de Gruyter, c2006.
Beswick, J E Regional nationalism in Spain: language use land ethnic identity in Galicia, Clevedon: Multilingual Matters, c2007

Riley, P Language, culture and identity: an ethnolinguistic perpective, London: Continuum, 2007

 

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