Spanish Major

Professor Rojas
Associate Professors Colvin, Counselman, Nieto-Cuebas
Assistant Professor Paris-Huesca

“Language, aside from its character as a grammatical skeleton bequeathed by tradition, is at the same time a living body experience of a people’s form of life.” — Americo Castro

Spanish majors at Ohio Wesleyan not only learn how to understand, speak, read and write Spanish, so as to be able to communicate effectively with native Spanish speakers, but they also gain an understanding of the diverse cultures that exist within the countries where Spanish is spoken. While our beginning and intermediate level Spanish courses focus on honing your communication skills in the language, at the advanced level students will have an opportunity to delve deeper into various topics related to Spanish and the Spanish-speaking world and learn how to analyze and interpret authentic cultural materials with an awareness of the (socio-cultural, historical and political) contexts in which cultural production takes place.

All Spanish majors must satisfy an Immersion Requirement.This can be done in one of the following ways:

● They must successfully complete an accredited Spanish study abroad program approved by the department; it must be a minimum of 8 weeks in length and transfer at least one unit of credit at the intermediate level or above to count towards the Spanish major or minor.

● they must show that they have studied an academic year (at least 9 months) in a Spanish-language high-school or university; or

● they must document that they spent at least one calendar year abroad (12 months) in a Spanish language immersion environment; or

● they must be a heritage Spanish speaker entering at the 250 level or above; or

● they must be a native Spanish speaker (having grown up speaking Spanish as their primary language, either here in the U.S. or in a Spanish-speaking country).

Most of our Spanish majors fulfill the immersion requirement by spending a semester abroad. Many of them do so by participating (usually during the fall of their junior or senior year) in our Salamanca Program in Spain, which has been directed by OWU faculty since its foundation in 1988. If choosing a program other than Salamanca, Spanish majors must first make an appointment with the Chair of the MFL Department and complete the academic guidelines for study abroad. Detailed information about approved off-campus study programs, financial aid and billing is available in the Office of International and Off-Campus Programs.

Learning Objectives

By the time students graduate with a Spanish major, they will:

Demonstrate strong speaking, reading, listening and writing skills in the target language that enable them to function in an environment where Spanish is used exclusively.
Demonstrate awareness and appreciation of the cultural and linguistic diversity within Latin America, Spain, the Caribbean and the US.
Analyze and interpret authentic literary, filmic and other cultural texts in organized and coherent (written or oral) presentations that reflect an awareness of the socio-cultural, historical and political contexts in which the texts are produced.
Demonstrate awareness of how issues related to race, ethnicity, religion, gender, culture or socio-economic status influence perspectives and power relations and communicate respectfully with people of varying beliefs and diverse backgrounds.

Major Requirements

A minimum of nine courses (≥ 0.7 credits each) above the SPAN 111 level. No more than three courses numbered below SPAN 300 may be counted toward the major. Up to three courses may be transferred from an approved, semester-long study abroad program; up to two courses from an approved summer program abroad. Normally, no more than one independent study or directed readings (SPAN 490, SPAN 491) may be applied to the major. Only in exceptional cases, and with departmental approval, may a student take fewer than 6 courses in residence (at Ohio Wesleyan).