Spanish as a Foreign Language

120 - 140.

Faculty of Philology

35

The specific aims of the Masters program, and the professional and academic goals it seeks to achieve, are organised around four distinct professional profiles for the future expert in the Spanish language:

Professional profile: Designer of materials for the teaching of Spanish as a Foreign Language in professional settings. The student should be able to:

- Employ relevant linguistic and cultural research findings in designing materials to teach Spanish as a foreign language.
- Acquire the necessary strategies for designing materials to teach Spanish grammar and culture.
- Design and write materials for the development of language skills, communicative competence and cultural awareness: textbooks, grammar books, dictionaries, graded readers, support materials, resource web pages, audiovisual materials, etc.

Professional profile: Spanish as a Foreign Language in multilingual and multicultural settings. The student should:

- Have a clear understanding of the need for the teaching of Spanish as a foreign language in a range of diverse settings, depending on who the learners are and on their specific characteristics (age and circumstances; abilities and needs).
- Have a good understanding of the prevailing legislation, current practices and initiatives, and the models already in use.
- Be critically aware of the effects produced by the linguistic expression of multicultural and multilinguistic societies, and to promote the ability to analyse the judgements and beliefs reflected by the various discourses.

Academic profile: The Hispanic World: linguistic and cultural diversity. The student should:

- Acquire a specialist understanding of linguistic and cultural variation in the Hispanic world so as to achieve proficiency in the Spanish that is spoken.
- Develop an awareness of the internal diversity of the language and acquire a knowledge of its dialects and registers so as to be able to use them effectively in the professional environment.
- Have the ability to recognise the features of the different varieties of Spanish and their use in the media and art.

Professional profile: Teacher of Spanish as a Foreign Language. The student should acquire a good linguistic, pragmatic, and cultural knowledge of the language and develop the necessary skills to teach Spanish as a Foreign Language. Similarly, the student should obtain a good grounding in language evaluation and error correction in the classroom.

Academic record (undergraduate grades)
Interview
Covering letter outlining personal experience and interests
Knowledge of foreign languages

Candidates should have a degree in a related field of study, including Philology and Linguistics, the Humanities, the Social Sciences, the New Technologies and Psychology.

The following will also be taken into consideration: an interest for the Spanish language, its structure and use; an interest for the different contexts (interpersonal and social) in which a proficient knowledge of Spanish is considered essential; and also an interest for the different formats and channels in which Spanish is put to use.

On completing this Masters program (both the theoretical and professionally-oriented courses), and having undertaken the practicum and written a final project, students are expected to have acquired the following skills:

1. A thorough understanding of their own and related disciplines from a reading of the standard bibliography and reports of the latest research findings.
In addition, students will have the capacity to apply this knowledge creatively both professionally and within their own research.
2. An ability to express themselves with clarity, accuracy and expertise in their own languages. They will also be able to formulate argumentative discourse based on the concepts and expository patterns of their fields of expertise.
3. An ability to express themselves with clarity and proficiency in at least one foreign language.
4. An ability to undertake critical and rational analyses.
5. An ability to communicate their theoretical and applied knowledge, and their skills and aptitudes, to both expert and non-expert audiences, to their peers and learners, and to their superiors and customers alike.
6. The necessary cognitive, emotional and communicative skills to work as a member of a group and to undertake project management.
7. The learning strategies required to continue with their autonomous study.
8. An ability to apply their skills, knowledge and problem-solving powers to new and ever-changing professional and social environments, and to a range of multidisciplinary contexts.
9. An ability to integrate knowledge and to handle complex data from a range of data sources so as to make reasoned judgements and decisions.
10. An ability to undertake a doctorate study - to conceive, design and develop a research project with sufficient scientific and academic rigour. 13;