Spanish Studies BA Hons - 2021 Entry

Course Structure

Lancaster University offers a range of programmes, some of which follow a structured study programme, and others which offer the chance for you to devise a more flexible programme to complement your main specialism. We divide academic study into two sections - Part 1 (Year 1) and Part 2 (Year 2, 3 and sometimes 4). For most programmes Part 1 requires you to study 120 credits spread over at least three modules which, depending upon your programme, will be drawn from one, two or three different academic subjects. A higher degree of specialisation then develops in subsequent years. For more information about our teaching methods at Lancaster please visit our Teaching and Learning section.

The following courses do not offer modules outside of the subject area due to the structured nature of the programmes: Architecture, Law, Physics, Engineering, Medicine, Sports and Exercise Science, Biochemistry, Biology, Biomedicine and Biomedical Science.

Information contained on the website with respect to modules is correct at the time of publication, and the University will make every reasonable effort to offer modules as advertised. In some cases changes may be necessary and may result in some combinations being unavailable, for example as a result of student feedback, timetabling, Professional Statutory and Regulatory Bodies' (PSRB) requirements, staff changes and new research.

Year 1

Core

• Part I Spanish Studies (Advanced/CEFR: B1)

  This module is designed for students who have already completed an A-level in Spanish or whose Spanish is of a broadly similar standard. The language element aims to enable students both to consolidate and improve their skills in spoken and written Spanish. A further aim is to provide students with an introduction to the historical and cultural development of Spain in the twentieth century, and also to contemporary institutions and society.

  Each week, we aim for one of your language classes to be conducted by a Spanish native speaker. In tutorials the emphasis is placed on the acquisition of vocabulary and a firm grasp of Spanish grammatical structures. You will have the opportunity to develop listening and speaking skills usually under the guidance of Spanish native speakers using audio and video materials.

  To explore Spanish culture, you are given the chance to examine how key moments in Spanish history have shaped contemporary Spanish culture, we will look at examples including films, plays, and novels

  Advanced modules usually have three classes per week.

• Part I Spanish Studies (Beginners to CEFR: A2)

  This module is designed for students having little or no knowledge of the Spanish language. Consequently, a substantial part of the module is devoted to intensive language teaching aimed at making the student proficient in both written and spoken Spanish. At the same time, students will be introduced to aspects of Spanish culture and society.

  Each week, we aim for one of your language classes to be conducted by a Spanish native speaker. Tutorials are based on a textbook and emphasis is placed on the acquisition of vocabulary and a firm grasp of Spanish grammatical structures. Listening and speaking skills are developed under the guidance of Spanish native speakers using audio and video materials.

  To explore Spanish culture, you are given the chance to examine how key moments in Spanish history have shaped contemporary Spanish culture, we will look at examples including films, plays, and novels

  Beginner modules usually have four classes per week.

Year 2

Core

• Second Year Programme for Academic Skills, Employability and International placement preparation

  This module is a non-credit bearing module. If you are a major student going abroad in your second or third year you are enrolled on it during the year prior to your departure, and timetabled to attend the events. These include: introduction to the Year Abroad and choice of activities; British Council English Language Assistantships and how to apply; introduction to partner universities and how they function; working in companies abroad; finance during the Year Abroad; research skills and questionnaire design; teaching abroad; curriculum writing and employability skills; welfare and wellbeing; Year Abroad Preparation Week in the Summer Term.

• Shaping Contemporary Spain and Latin America: Moments and Movements

  This core module is usually divided into three topic areas usually comprising of the following:

  (1) Power and Resistance in Spanish America from the Colony to the 21st Century;

  (2) War, Dictatorship and Transition in Spain in the 20th and 21st Century;

  (3) Culture and Resistance in Catalunya in the 20th and 21st Century.

  You will study texts which both encourage an engaged reading of Spanish and open up alternative avenues towards traditional fields of study in Hispanism (empire and colonialism, nineteenth-century nation-building, revolution, dictatorship, Francoism, regionalism, neo-liberalism, and globalisation.) Firstly, you will examine the theme of power and resistance which and how this concerns you in various ways. Secondly, we divide the module by geographical region and study varying cultures and histories in the Spanish speaking world. We will examine texts associated with the main theme and throughout, you will be encouraged to interrogate the meanings of terms such as colony, revolution, rebellion, republic, empire, dictatorship, and democracy. You will have the opportunity to examine close readings of cultural texts which themselves question the assumptions which underpin these terms.

• Spanish Language: Oral Skills (CEFR: B2)

  This module comprises of both oral and aural skills, to be taken alongside the Written Skills module. It builds upon skills gained in the first year.

  This module aims to enhance your linguistic proficiency in spoken Spanish in a range of formal and informal settings (both spontaneous and prepared). Specific attention will be given to developing good, accurate pronunciation and intonations well as fluency, accuracy of grammar, and vocabulary when speaking the language.

  This module also aims at broadening students’ knowledge about different aspects of modern society, politics and culture, and contemporary issues and institutions in order to prepare them for residence abroad in their 3rd year.

  By the end of this module, you will have had the opportunity to enhance your comprehension of the spoken language, as used in both formal speech, and in everyday life situations including those that you may encounter in Spanish-speaking countries.

• Spanish Language: Oral Skills (post Beginners/CEFR: B1)

  This module comprises of both oral and aural skills, to be taken alongside the corresponding Written Language module. It builds upon skills gained in the first year.

  The module aims to enhance your linguistic proficiency in spoken Spanish in a range of formal and informal settings (both spontaneous and prepared). Specific attention will be given to developing good, accurate pronunciation and intonations well as fluency, accuracy of grammar, and vocabulary when speaking the language.

  This module also aims at broadening your knowledge about different aspects of modern society, politics and culture, and contemporary issues and institutions.

  By the end of this module, you have hopefully developed enhanced comprehension of the spoken language, as used in both formal speech, and in everyday life situations including those that you may encounter in Spanish-speaking countries.

• Spanish Language: Written skills (CEFR: B2)

  This module comprises of reading and writing skills to be taken alongside the Oral Skills module.

  This module aims to consolidate skills you have hopefully developed in the first year of study, and enable them to build a level of competence and confidence required to familiarise yourself with the culture and society of Spanish-speaking countries.

  The module aims to enhance your proficiency in the writing of Spanish (notes, reports, summaries, essays, projects, etc.) including translation from and into Spanish; and the systematic study of Spanish lexis, grammar and syntax.

  The module aims to enhance your linguistic proficiency, with particular emphasis on reading a variety of sources and on writing fluently and accurately in the language, in a variety of registers.

• Spanish Language: Written Skills (post Beginners/CEFR: B1)

  This module comprises of reading and writing skills to be taken alongside the Oral Skills module.

  This module aims to consolidate you have hopefully developed in the first year of study, and enable you to build a level of competence and confidence required to familiarise yourselves with the culture and society of Spanish-speaking countries.

  The module aims to enhance your proficiency in understanding spoken Spanish, as well as in the writing of Spanish (notes, reports, summaries, essays, projects, etc.) including translation from and into Spanish; and the systematic study of Italian lexis, grammar, and syntax.

  The module aims to enhance your linguistic proficiency, with particular emphasis on reading a variety of sources and on writing fluently and accurately in the language, in a variety of registers.

Optional

• Cross-cultural encounters in World Literatures

  What is world literature? How have writers engaged with the concept? How have they explored their role as a writer in the 20th century?

  This module explores a range of texts written in a range of languages and genres, examining the engagement of writers with their role in different social, political and historical contexts. Lectures aim to provide an introduction to the genre being studied and address the question of the role of the writer in the context of world literatures. Workshops will focus on a range of set and optional texts of global importance, which will be considered as examples of the literary genre and in relation to material covered in the lecture.

  The module is usually divided into five sections, each focusing on a specific genre. Each section will usually comprise three texts, two of which are optional. All texts explore the role of the writer in different social, political and historical contexts of the 20th century, and the ways their writing engages with these contexts.

• Economic and Social Change in France, Germany and Spain since 1945

  This module explores how post-war economic change has affected European societies, and how socio-political factors in turn have influenced the patterns and outcomes of economic development, over the second half of the twentieth and the beginning of the twenty first century.

  The module is structured on the basis of three country-specific modules (France, Germany and Spain), examining how these countries have confronted key moments of economic change, and what the longer-term consequences of that change have been. While the module emphasis is on broad national developments, discussion also covers examples relating to particular industries and major companies.

  In lectures, workshops and seminars we will explore the context of reconstruction after World War II and the pattern of subsequent economic development; the relationship between social and economic policies; the development of the three country's economies; the changes of the 1980s and their impact on subsequent years; and the consequences of specific momentous events, such as the re-unification of Germany and how the financial crisis of 2008 affected, and still affects, France, Germany and Spain.

• Language and Identity in France, Germany and Spain

  This module will introduce you to the role that the language used by institutions plays in shaping individual perceptions of identity. It aims to provide you with a basic theoretical framework that allows them to understand the relationship between language and power as reflected in current language policies at regional, national, and supranational levels. It will give you the opportunity to recognise forms of prestige and stigma associated with varieties of the three main languages under study. We aim for this module to raise critical awareness of the portrayal and representation of linguistic variations in the media and in the sphere of literature.

  The main topics covered in the course include Language and Power; European language policies; German as a pluricentric language and ‘Gastarbeiter’ language and policies; regional variations of France: Linguistic Diversity: A threat to French National Identity?; The languages and language attitudes of Spain (Castilian Spanish, Catalan, Basque, Galician).

  This module is taught in English.

• Professional Contexts for Modern Languages

  This module seeks to support you to apply your linguistic and cultural understanding in a specific professional context. This module gives you the opportunity to spend time on a work-based placement in the UK or abroad. You will be given the opportunity to develop, reflect on and articulate both the range of competences and the linguistic and cross-cultural skills that enhance employability by working in language-related professional contexts and reflecting on key issues in relation to their placement organisation. There is the opportunity to join a local work placement developed by the department, or for you to source your own placements (subject to departmental approval). Workshops before and during the placement will provide preparation and guidance on sourcing, confirming and then reflecting on academic work. Students will share their experiences and learning with each other by means of end-of-module presentations.

• Society on Screen: The Language of Film

  How do films deal with topics like terrorism, immigration, resistance and city life? Do they entertain viewers, instruct them, or both?

  This module explores European and Latin American films in their social and historical contexts. The main aim is to make connections between the films and such contexts not only on the level of narrative, characterisation and dialogue, but also on that of form and technique.

  To these ends, there will be introductory lectures on cinema and society and on film aesthetics and content in the first week of the module. The connections mentioned will be the focus of seminars and presentations within the four core topic areas: terrorism, migration, the city and resistance.

  The module usually consists of four strands on cinema and society: Terrorism, Migration and Hybrid identities, The City and Collaboration/Resistance.

  Each strand will be introduced with a lecture and followed by seminars on the set films. Students will give a presentation on a short sequence within their allocated film.

• Understanding culture

  This module aims to give you a background to and insight into the diversity of twentieth and twenty-first century thought and contemporary definitions of culture.

  Some key questions explored on the module include: What is 'culture' and how does it work? How do 'art' and 'culture' relate to each other? What do we mean when we talk about the production and consumption of culture? Why does popular culture arouse conflicting responses? What role does the body play in our understanding of culture? How does culture define who we are? Can a work of culture be an act of resistance?

  With these questions in mind, this module focuses on texts which raise questions about class, race, gender, and subcultures.

Year 3

Core

• International Placement Year: Intercultural and Academic Reflection

  As part of The International Placement Year you will normally spend at least eight months abroad in your third year. You will have the opportunity to:

  • analyse the contemporary relevance of a tradition, contemporary social, political or economic issue, or a living part of the regional culture.
  • reflect critically on cultural differences observed in everyday life such as social relationships, politics, attitudes to food, drink, religion, etc., explaining them in the context of various historical, social and cultural developments.
  • think analytically about your intercultural position and understanding of the relevant culture(s).
  • reflect on language use (different registers, varieties of pronunciation and accents, dialects, vocabulary and idiomatic expressions, and aspects of grammar) and the process of the acquisition of skills in the relevant language(s).

  The module also aims to enhance and develop your language skills, with all assessments being written in the target language. If you have started a language as a beginner in year one you will spend a minimum of four months in a country where that language is spoken. If you are a joint honours student who is studying two languages, you may choose to spend the year in either of the two countries concerned or, if appropriate arrangements can be made, you can spend a semester in each country.

  Lancaster University will make reasonable endeavours to place students at an approved overseas partner. Students conduct either a study placement at a partner University, a teaching assistantship placement with The British council or an appropriate working placement with a vetted employer abroad or a combination of placements (please note that there are some restrictions on British Council placements which usually last for the whole of the academic year).

  Joint honours degrees

  If you are a joint honours student who is combining a language with a non-language subject, your placement year will provide the opportunity to develop your language skills and cultural awareness, but will not necessarily relate to the non-language aspect of your degree.

  Lancaster University cannot accept responsibility for any financial aspects of your International Placement Year.

Year 4

Core

• Full Unit Dissertation

  This module is assessed entirely through coursework. You are given a chance of pursuing a topic of their own interest, which is not covered in taught options. A dissertation consists of approximately 10,000 words written in English. The topic of dissertation must relate to French/German/Spanish language, or a comparison between two or more, or a general European issue. The other two restrictions on topic choice are: it must be capable of and approached from a serious academic angle and it falls within the range of expertise of a member of the Department’s staff.

  Each student will be assigned a supervisor - one of the lecturers from the Department, who will provide regular supervision, and feedback on the first draft of the completed dissertation. The topic is agreed and discussed with the supervisor in the Summer Term of the second year, and preparatory research should begin during the Year Abroad.

• Spanish Language: Oral Skills (CEFR: C1/C2)

  This module is a half unit and is integrated with the Spanish Language: Written Skills module.

  This module together with the written skills module consists of three hours of tuition per week. Both the oral and written language modules focus on particular topics of cultural and contemporary interest. The general aim of these half unit modules is to develop the abilities you gained during their second year and your year abroad.

  By the end of this module, we hope you will have developed an informed interest in the society and culture of the Spanish-speaking world. We aim for you to have acquired almost native-speaker abilities in both spoken and written language.

• Spanish Language: Written Skills (CEFR: C1/C2)

  This module is integrated with the Spanish Language: Oral Skills module.

  This module has two main aims. The first one is to enhance your linguistic proficiency with emphasis on understanding of spoken and written Spanish, the speaking of Spanish (prepared and spontaneous) in both formal and informal settings, the writing of Spanish, and the systematic study of Spanish lexis, grammar and syntax. The second aim is to increase your awareness, knowledge and understanding of contemporary Spain.

  By the end of this module, we hope you will have developed an informed interest in the society and culture of the Spanish -speaking world. We aim for you to have acquired almost native-speaker abilities in both spoken and written language.

Optional

• Autocrats, Caudillos and Big Men: Understanding Dictatorship and its Cultural Representation in the 20th Century

  This module will consider different ways in which the concept of ‘dictatorship’ has been understood and critiqued throughout the twentieth century. Considering examples from Argentina, the Dominican Republic, Germany, Guinea, Italy, Kenya, Uganda and Zimbabwe, students will explore the differences between the Latin American caudillo, European dictators, and the ‘Big Men’ of Africa. Selected critical and theoretical sources will be drawn upon to develop a more critical understanding of dictatorship, including the work of Hannah Arendt, Roberto González Echevarría and Achille Mbembe.

  The module will also examine relationships between dictatorship and cultural production. How have dictators represented themselves in their writing, speeches and literature? To what extent have they controlled cultural production and to what end? How, in turn, have they been represented in cultural production? What role do writers, artists and intellectuals play in evaluating and critiquing dictatorship? In turn, can the writer, artist or intellectual be considered to be a dictator in the particular world view he/she projects and/or the rhetoric he/she adopts?

• Contemporary Cities in Literature and Film

  This module introduces you to major themes that shape the experience of contemporary city dwellers: gender, social inequality, and practices of citizenship. These interlinking themes will be introduced through novels, poetry and films on the following European, North American (with the emphasis on immigrant communities within its cities) and Latin American cities: New York, Mexico City, Santiago de Chile, Barcelona, Berlin, and Los Angeles.

  Each topic will be covered though an introductory lecture and a core text, followed by a range of additional texts for students to analyse. During workshops students will share their findings and opinions, emphasizing on identifying links between the topics studied, aiming to encourage discussion.

  The format of the module encourages cross-referencing between the themes of the module (for example, gender and sexuality are relevant to an analysis of social inequality, and vice versa).

• Imagining Modern Europe: Post-Revolutionary Utopias and Ideologies in the First Half of the Nineteenth Century

  This module aims at exploring the nature of the relationship between the individual and society, notions of progress and economic justice, as these are still widely debated topics in contemporary Europe in light of the current economic and political crisis.

  This module will use the concepts of utopia, dystopia and ideology as a forum for discussion on the relationship between individual imagination and social discourse in the nineteenth century, as well as the relationship between fiction and political discourse. You will look at the major intellectual debates which influenced the contemporary European thought after the French Revolution.

  You will explore the development of major ideologies and cultural movements such as Romanticism, Marxism, Socialism and Positivism, spanning from the period immediately following the French Revolution to the middle of the nineteenth century.

• Latin America and Spain on Film: Violence and Masculinities

  This module aims to provide students with a grasp of both the historical contexts for violence and masculinities as they are depicted in Spanish and Latin American film as well as an understanding of theoretical approaches, enabling rich analyses of such violence and evolving masculinities.

  The module seeks to pluralise violence so that it is understood by students in its many forms. It will also ensure students have the terminology to discuss relevant contexts and approaches in relation to specific films in a coherent and intellectually appropriate framework.

  You will be required to view films set in historical contexts highlighting key themes. They will be encouraged to observe and analyse structural violence in various forms in these films and to understand its relationship with such categories as hegemonic, protest and patriarchal masculinities. The module will then question the 'invisible' nature of domestic violence, violence as a means (or not) of providing 'cheap shocks' and different aesthetic approaches towards the depiction of state violence.

• Social movements and committed writing in Mexico since 1968

  This module covers Mexican political history and committed writing since 1968. You will be presented with several important and politically defining events in Mexican contemporary history: the student movement of 1968, the guerrilla movements and the guerra suciaof the 1970s, the emergence of civil society after the earthquake of 1985, the Zapatista Uprising in 1994, and the Oaxaca Uprising in 2006.

  These movements and events are explored through lectures on the political context of each movement, and through a combination of fictional and non-fictional texts from a variety of genres, such as testimonial literature, the documentary novel, and communiqués. You will be analysing texts written by the most important contemporary Mexican writers and public intellectuals such as Paco Ignacio Taibo II, Elena Poniatowska, Carlos Monsivais, Carlos Montemayor, and the Subcomandante Insurgente Marcos.

  This module is taught in English and all texts are available in English

• Translation as a Cultural Practice

  What makes a good translation and how do translations do good? This module aims to help you understand the practice of translation as it has evolved historically from the 18th century to the present across European and American societies. The materials we study include historical textual sources (philosophical essays on the craft of translation from French, German and Hispanic authors of the 19th and 20th centuries), representative fictional texts reflecting on translation processes, and contemporary documents from the EU directorate on translation, PEN and the Translators' Association. We will also make considerable use of contemporary online resources as exemplified by Anglophone advocates of intercultural exchange such as Words Without Borders. Our aim is to look at translation as both a functional process for getting text in one language accurately into another and a culturally-inflected process that varies in its status and purpose from one context to another. We will pay particular attention to the practical role that literary translators play within the contemporary global publishing industry and consider the practicalities of following a career in literary translation in the Anglophone world.

• Writing in the margins: narrating cross-cultural experience

  The module aims to review a series of narratives by 21st century European-born authors: writers, cinematographers, anthropologists and documentary makers. It not only introduces students to the historical contexts within which each of the narratives is situated, but also explores contemporary theories of identity and writing.

  You are presented with autobiographical accounts, semi-fictional stories, films and documentaries to be given the opportunity to understand the experience of being caught between cultures as a result of travel or involuntary displacement resulting from war or social upheaval. You will be invited to reflect upon the issues of identity, problems associated with cross-cultural analysis and the relationship between history and personal destiny, border-crossing, cultural fragmentation and continuity. The focus of the module lies on the historical relationship between countries within Europe, and between Europe and other parts of the world; mainly India, North Africa and America.