Language Proficiency
Students are able to communicate effectively in Spanish in three modes: interpersonal, interpretive, and presentational, and in a culturally appropriate manner in a variety of social and professional settings and circumstances at the Advanced Low level of language proficiency, according to ACTFL Guidelines.
1.1 Speaking ability: The student is able to satisfy the requirements of everyday situations and routine school and work requirements. Can communicate facts and talk casually about topics of current public and personal interest, using general vocabulary. The student can be understood without difficulty by native speakers.
1.2 Listening ability: The student is able to understand main ideas and most details of connected discourse on a variety of topics beyond the immediacy of the situation. Comprehension may be uneven due to a variety of linguistic factors and topics.
1.3 Reading ability: The student is able to read prose selections of several paragraphs in length, particularly if printed clearly and if prose is in familiar sentence patterns. Reader understands the main ideas and facts but may miss some details. At this level the student can read such texts as descriptions, narratives, short stories, news items and routine personal and business correspondence.
1.4 Writing ability: The student is able to write routine social correspondence and join sentences in simple discourse of at least several paragraphs in length on familiar topics, and is able to express him/herself simply with some circumlocution. Good control of the most frequently used syntactic structures, but makes frequent errors in producing complex sentences. Writing is understandable to natives not used to the writing of non-natives.
1.1 Speaking ability: The student is able to satisfy the requirements of everyday situations and routine school and work requirements. Can communicate facts and talk casually about topics of current public and personal interest, using general vocabulary. The student can be understood without difficulty by native speakers.
1.2 Listening ability: The student is able to understand main ideas and most details of connected discourse on a variety of topics beyond the immediacy of the situation. Comprehension may be uneven due to a variety of linguistic factors and topics.
1.3 Reading ability: The student is able to read prose selections of several paragraphs in length, particularly if printed clearly and if prose is in familiar sentence patterns. Reader understands the main ideas and facts but may miss some details. At this level the student can read such texts as descriptions, narratives, short stories, news items and routine personal and business correspondence.
1.4 Writing ability: The student is able to write routine social correspondence and join sentences in simple discourse of at least several paragraphs in length on familiar topics, and is able to express him/herself simply with some circumlocution. Good control of the most frequently used syntactic structures, but makes frequent errors in producing complex sentences. Writing is understandable to natives not used to the writing of non-natives.
Reflective Narrative
Under this criterion, I have completed the course SPAN 301: Composition and Oral Practice (Fall 2018) and SPAN 304: Introduction to Hispanic Literature (Fall 2018).
Language proficiency is an essential part of the Spanish major because students learn to communicate in an interpersonal, interpretative and presentational modes. In the classes I mentioned above, I learned to employ these modes in a more professional and academic style. In the interpersonal mode, I was able to express myself in front of my classmates and teachers with a linguistic competence in accordance with the requirements of the program. In this form, I had the opportunity to express my opinions and ideas about all the topics we discussed in class. In most of my classes we addressed the historical and contemporary social problems of Latin America. One of the topics that caught my attention was the refugee crisis from Central America who were leaving their countries due to violence, poverty, as well as the lack of academic and job opportunities. Their purpose was to come to the United States in search of bettering their lives in all aspects. When we discussed this topic in class, I noticed that there were a variety of opinions that viewed this issue with different perspectives. For this reason, I decided to present "The Refugees from Central America" in an objective setting with both quantitative (statistics) and qualitative (refugee experiences) data in order to foster interpersonal communication based on a social issue that is directly related to our experiences as immigrants. The interpretive mode was presented in all my classes, especially in literature, where we analyzed literary works taking into account many aspects. These elements include its historical and social context, the literary movement, the writer's style, literary techniques, message, purpose, and how it applies to the subject matter on a social and personal level. Taking into account these elements I made the critical essay, "The Resistance to Power" about the role of women in the society of the 20th and 21st century based on the short story, "The Little Doll" in which the theme of the colonized body of women is addressed. As for the presentation mode, in most of my classes I made individual and group presentations where I addressed a topic relevant to the class and concentration on which I expressed myself academically in either English or Spanish. To exemplify this mode, "The perceptions of binary and non-binary inclusive language in academic communities from students and teachers of Buenos Aires, Argentina and California, United States" was presented orally in Spanish and in written form in English during the WLC Capstone Festival 2020. Certainly, my communication in the interpersonal, interpretative and presentational modes improved circumstantially after I acquired strategies from my teachers and classmates. At this moment, I feel very confident in expressing myself in Spanish in a variety of settings.
One of the most challenging parts of the classes that met this MLO was the interpretive communication mode especially in literature. Personally, I have always found it difficult to interpret a poem, mainly from the modernist literary movement as symbols abound and the form of expression is deeper and more complex. I overcame this challenge when I researched the background information of the literary work such as the social and historical context, as well as the author's purpose with the work. On a personal level, the goals of this MLO helped me to communicate in a more academic and professional level, something that will be of great help in my profession as a Spanish professor.
Language proficiency is an essential part of the Spanish major because students learn to communicate in an interpersonal, interpretative and presentational modes. In the classes I mentioned above, I learned to employ these modes in a more professional and academic style. In the interpersonal mode, I was able to express myself in front of my classmates and teachers with a linguistic competence in accordance with the requirements of the program. In this form, I had the opportunity to express my opinions and ideas about all the topics we discussed in class. In most of my classes we addressed the historical and contemporary social problems of Latin America. One of the topics that caught my attention was the refugee crisis from Central America who were leaving their countries due to violence, poverty, as well as the lack of academic and job opportunities. Their purpose was to come to the United States in search of bettering their lives in all aspects. When we discussed this topic in class, I noticed that there were a variety of opinions that viewed this issue with different perspectives. For this reason, I decided to present "The Refugees from Central America" in an objective setting with both quantitative (statistics) and qualitative (refugee experiences) data in order to foster interpersonal communication based on a social issue that is directly related to our experiences as immigrants. The interpretive mode was presented in all my classes, especially in literature, where we analyzed literary works taking into account many aspects. These elements include its historical and social context, the literary movement, the writer's style, literary techniques, message, purpose, and how it applies to the subject matter on a social and personal level. Taking into account these elements I made the critical essay, "The Resistance to Power" about the role of women in the society of the 20th and 21st century based on the short story, "The Little Doll" in which the theme of the colonized body of women is addressed. As for the presentation mode, in most of my classes I made individual and group presentations where I addressed a topic relevant to the class and concentration on which I expressed myself academically in either English or Spanish. To exemplify this mode, "The perceptions of binary and non-binary inclusive language in academic communities from students and teachers of Buenos Aires, Argentina and California, United States" was presented orally in Spanish and in written form in English during the WLC Capstone Festival 2020. Certainly, my communication in the interpersonal, interpretative and presentational modes improved circumstantially after I acquired strategies from my teachers and classmates. At this moment, I feel very confident in expressing myself in Spanish in a variety of settings.
One of the most challenging parts of the classes that met this MLO was the interpretive communication mode especially in literature. Personally, I have always found it difficult to interpret a poem, mainly from the modernist literary movement as symbols abound and the form of expression is deeper and more complex. I overcame this challenge when I researched the background information of the literary work such as the social and historical context, as well as the author's purpose with the work. On a personal level, the goals of this MLO helped me to communicate in a more academic and professional level, something that will be of great help in my profession as a Spanish professor.
Assignments
SPAN 301: “The Refugees from Central America”
SPAN 304: “The Resistance to Power”
WLC 400: “The perceptions of binary and non-binary inclusive language in teachers and students in California, United States and Buenos Aires, Argentina”
SPAN 304: “The Resistance to Power”
WLC 400: “The perceptions of binary and non-binary inclusive language in teachers and students in California, United States and Buenos Aires, Argentina”