1. Handbook
  2. Majors, Minors and Specialisations
  3. Spanish and Latin American Studies

Spanish and Latin American Studies

MajorYear: 2023

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Overview

The Spanish and Latin American studies program at The University of Melbourne offers language options at all levels together with a variety of cultural studies subjects in fields as diverse as literature, cinema, popular culture, food studies and gender studies in Spain and Latin America.

The Spanish and Latin American studies program will provide you with a wide range of opportunities to develop your Spanish language skills while increasing your awareness of Spanish and Latin American cultures through authentic written, spoken and audiovisual materials. You will also cultivate your intercultural competency interacting with the Spanish-speaking communities in Australia and abroad.

Our program offers opportunities to undertake independent research projects with innovative scholars working in areas such as Hispanic food studies, Spanish and Latin American cinema, Latin American popular culture studies and translation. Beyond sound disciplinary skills students will be able to develop and enhance critical workplace skills, such as problem-solving, teamwork, clear communication, self-evaluation, mentoring, information literacy, professionalism and digital competency. You will be able to demonstrate your skills through a range of meaningful tasks developed along innovative assessment methods such as object-based learning, curation, process writing and project work in a variety of media (video, podcasts, etc.). A selection of your assessment tasks is housed in an ePortfolio, a valuable platform to showcase workplace skills, language level and intercultural competency achieved during your studies.

The Spanish and Latin American studies program has agreements with universities in Spain and Latin America. They allow students to undertake exchange and study abroad options as part of their Spanish studies.

Spanish language core subjects are organised in a progressive sequence from Spanish 1 to 7. The program also offers a range of Spanish electives in a variety of delivery modes, including our overseas intensives such as Tales of Muslim Spain, and the online winter intensive Realities and Fictions of Argentina. Our innovative elective Languages at Work offers students an additional opportunity to engage with industry collaborators in target-language communities in Australia.

Students may enter at any point, subject to placement testing and/or prerequisites, and normally progress through the sequence in consecutive order. Accelerated progression and mid-year entry are also possible in special cases with the permission of the course convenor. However, mid-year entry is only possible into Spanish 2, 4 and 6. Students also have the opportunity to fast track their studies opting for the summer Intensive Spanish 3 & 4 subject.

Intended learning outcomes

Students who complete this major in Spanish and Latin American Studies will:

  • Interpret academic and everyday communication across a number of contexts, situations and genres in the target language;
  • Understand the use of Spanish in real-life and be aware of the contributions of Spanish speakers to the economic, intellectual, cultural and social affairs of the Spanish-speaking world and beyond;
  • Acquire the intellectual sophistication needed to appreciate historical, cultural and anthropological differences within the Spanish-speaking communities from Spain and Latin America;
  • Understand and reflect on the lingo-cultural acquisition process both in English and Spanish, as autonomous, reflective and self-directed learners with academic-level skills;
  • Appreciate and respect diversity and background differences by critically evaluating Spanish-speaking cultures, including the viewpoint of the target culture, and based on intercultural competency skills;
  • Be able to confidently interact in intellectually sophisticated spoken and written communication with both native and non-native speakers in the target language about historical and contemporary Spanish-speaking communities;
  • Be able to speak effectively in public about social, historical and cultural issues in Spain, Latin America and beyond;
  • Engage critically and constructively in intercultural dialogue as a bicultural and bilingual person and as a global citizen;
  • Develop critical workplace skills such as problem-solving, teamwork, clear communication, self and peer evaluation, mentoring, information literacy, professionalism and digital competency.

Last updated: 2 March 2023