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SPAN30020

Academic Year 2024/2025

Spanish Language III b (SPAN30020)

Subject:
Spanish
College:
Arts & Humanities
School:
Languages, Cultures & Linguis
Level:
3 (Degree)
Credits:
5
Module Coordinator:
Dr Tara Plunkett
Trimester:
Spring
Mode of Delivery:
On Campus
Internship Module:
No
How will I be graded?
Letter grades

Curricular information is subject to change.

The module is intended for students who wish to develop their skills towards a proficient user level in Spanish. It is primarily for students of Spanish who are completing a degree programme but it may be of interest to students of other disciplines and Erasmus students. The module specifically works at level C1 of the Common European Framework of Reference (CEFR) .
The aim of the module is enhance students' competencies and strategies to further develop their analytical skills that would allow them to produce clear, well-structured, detailed argumentative texts in Spanish, showing controlled use of organisational patterns, connectors and cohesive devices.
This module will allow students to develop high-level oral communication in Spanish. Students will work with audiovisual material, participate in and lead discussions and debates, and deliver oral presentations in Spanish fluently using complex grammatical structures and abroad range of vocabulary. Classes are conducted in Spanish and students will demonstrate their oral skills applying contents studied during the trimester.
This module has a dual approach in that one class per week is devoted to oral production (presentations and debates) on current affairs topics and the second weekly class focuses on written production during which students will develop argumentative texts that focus on topics related to the 21st century. To complement the 2 weekly classes, it is expected that students will spend 5 hours per week working on this module, both reviewing language grammar and acquiring new vocabulary as well as completing technology-enhanced learning activities via Brightspace. Students who achieve at least a B grade on completion of this module are deemed to have reached level C1 of the Common European Framework of Reference. Students who fail this module and register for a re-sit will need to demonstrate satisfactory achievement of the module learning outcomes, including oral and written skills.
In-module repeats of select component elements may be made available during this module for students.
Any in-module repeat is only available to students who have already sat and failed an in-term component; it carries a one-grade penalty; and it does not extend to orals or RDS exams.

About this Module

Learning Outcomes:

On successful completion of this module, students should be able to:
- Communicate effectively in Spanish and actively participate in discussions and debates using appropriate and accurate structures and registers;
- Deliver professional presentations in Spanish;
- Use appropriately and correctly an argumentative writing style that incorporates a range of vocabulary and complex linguistic structures;
- Engage in self- and peer-assessment of written texts and oral presentations;
- Reflect critically on their learning process.

Indicative Module Content:

Current affairs - socio, cultural and political topics that are selected each year in consultation with the students.
For the written component of the module, the focus is on topics related to the 21st century.

Student Effort Hours:
Student Effort Type Hours
Small Group

24
Specified Learning Activities

41
Autonomous Student Learning

45
Total

110

Approaches to Teaching and Learning:
This module adopts an integrated-skills approached to the learning of languages and requires students to take an active participation in all the learning activities associated with the module, both in class and outside the class. Students will be taught in small group and activities will be centred around language skills (reading, writing, speaking and listening). Tasks will be completed individually or in groups. Each class will be 50 minutes long.

Requirements, Exclusions and Recommendations
Learning Requirements:

Students are expected to have an intermediate to advanced level of Spanish, equivalent to at least B2 of the Common European Framework and preferably reaching towards C1.

Learning Recommendations:

This module is a logical follow-on from the Spanish language module SPAN 30010, and complements the Level 3 Spanish literature and culture modules.


Module Requisites and Incompatibles
Pre-requisite:
SPAN20060 - Spanish Language II b, SPAN20080 - Spanish Language II a, SPAN20230 - Spanish ex ab-initio IIa

Incompatibles:
LANG10230 - Spanish Gen Purp 1, LANG10240 - Spanish Gen Purp 4, LANG10260 - Spanish Gen Purp 2, LANG20030 - Spanish Gen Purp 3, LANG20100 - Spanish Gen Purp 5, LANG20390 - Spanish General Purposes 3a, LANG20400 - Spanish General Purposes 3b, LANG20470 - Spanish General Purposes 4, LANG20490 - Spanish General Purposes 6

Additional Information:
Pre-requisites: One of SPAN20080 OR SPAN20230 AND one of SPAN20060 OR SPAN20100. Co-requisite: SPAN 30010


 

Assessment Strategy
Description Timing Component Scale Must Pass Component % of Final Grade In Module Component Repeat Offered
Exam (In-person): 2 hour written examination Week 14 Standard conversion grade scale 40% No
40
 No
Group Work Assignment: 1 oral examination and discussion in groups Week 14 Standard conversion grade scale 40% No
20
 No
Assignment(Including Essay): 1 written task. Week 8 Standard conversion grade scale 40% No
15
 No
Group Work Assignment: 1 oral presentation in groups and discussions in class plus online weekly peer feedback of the group presentation. Week 14 Standard conversion grade scale 40% No
25
 No

Carry forward of passed components
No
 

Resit In Terminal Exam
Autumn Yes - 2 Hour
Please see Student Jargon Buster for more information about remediation types and timing. 

Feedback Strategy/Strategies

• Feedback individually to students, on an activity or draft prior to summative assessment
• Feedback individually to students, post-assessment
• Group/class feedback, post-assessment
• Peer review activities
• Self-assessment activities

How will my Feedback be Delivered?

For written tasks, feedback on drafts will be given to students as part of class activities so that they can apply what they have learnt to the summative task. This will be done by the teacher and by student peer-review activities. For the oral presentations and debates, feedback will be provided individually by the teachers. There will also peer-review activities of the presentations and debates completed via Brightspace. Further Individual feedback will always be available on request by the students who can avail of the Office Hours provided by the teachers for consultation.

There is no text book for this module. Learning materials will be available on Brightspace or distributed in class.

It is highly advisable that students purchase a grammar book for revision and private study. We recommend A Modern Spanish Reference Grammar by J. Butt and C. Benjamin, published by Hodder Education.

A monolingual dictionary is highly recommended . We recommend Diccionario Salamanca de la lengua española. Students will be allowed to use a monolingual dictionary during the end of semester written examination.

Students should also have a copy of either the Oxford Spanish-English /English-Spanish Dictionary or the Collins Spanish-English /English-Spanish Dictionary.

Name Role
Dr Hannie Lawlor Lecturer / Co-Lecturer

Timetabling information is displayed only for guidance purposes, relates to the current Academic Year only and is subject to change.
Spring Small Group Offering 1 Week(s) - 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33 Mon 14:00 - 14:50
Spring Small Group Offering 1 Week(s) - 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33 Wed 16:00 - 16:50
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