Lourdes Hernandez Martin

Dr Roser Martinez-Sanchez

Mercedes Coca

This course is available on the BA in Geography, BA in Social Anthropology, BSc in Economic History, BSc in Economic History and Geography, BSc in Economics and Economic History, BSc in Environment and Sustainable Development, BSc in Environment and Sustainable Development with Economics, BSc in International Relations, BSc in International Relations and History, BSc in Language, Culture and Society, BSc in Social Anthropology, Erasmus Reciprocal Programme of Study and Exchange Programme for Students from University of California, Berkeley. This course is freely available as an outside option to students on other programmes where regulations permit. It does not require permission. This course is available with permission to General Course students.

This course has a limited number of places (it is capped) and priority will be given to Centre for Language Studies BSc students and students from other Departments following a Language Specialism. This course is available as an outside option to students on other programmes where regulations permit and on the MA in Modern History. This course is available with permission to General Course students. All students should seek approval from the teacher responsible before completing course selection. Please see here for information on seeking approval for undergraduate modern language degree courses (https://www.lse.ac.uk/languages/undergraduate-degree-programmes/degree-courses-as-part-of-an-undergraduate-degree).

Assumed prior knowledge:

Language skills and knowledge of Spanish at A2/B1 level of the Common European Reference Framework for Languages are required.

Additional requisites:

This course is designed to develop students' Spanish proficiency to advanced level (B1/B2 of the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages, CEFR) by developing their interaction, production, reception, and mediation skills. Classroom activities are conducted in Spanish, and students are expected to take an active part in discussions, collaborative tasks, and project work.

The course is structured around sociocultural units that explore a wide range of topics from across the Spanish-speaking world. Units cover themes such as the journey of the Spanish language and its variation across regions, contemporary economies, migration movements, the legacy of slavery, and environmental activism. Alongside this sociocultural content, students consolidate and extend their grammatical knowledge through tasks linked to the themes of each unit.

Throughout the academic year, students also undertake an independent research project within a simulated editorial environment, working as country specialists for Enfoques, an in-house online magazine and podcast that promotes understanding of the contexts where Spanish is spoken. Students produce a series of research-based outputs — including country profiles, diagnostic reports, and podcasts — tailored to their linguistic level, and present their findings to their peers.

The course thus aims not only to build students' Spanish language skills but also to deepen their understanding of Spanish-speaking contexts, develop their research abilities, and foster sociolinguistic critical awareness.

50 hours of classes in the Autumn Term.
50 hours of classes in the Winter Term.
5 hours of classes in the Spring Term.

This course has a reading week in Week 6 of Autumn and Winter Term.

Five hours per week.

The course is structured around sociocultural units and the research-based project Enfoques.

Students´ initiative and participation are essential.

Continuous Assessment tasks can take place in class and outside the class.

Students will be required to complete weekly tasks. 

 

Students will be provided with two study packs developed by the Spanish team at the LSE Language Centre. The first contains the ten sociocultural units around which the course is structured; the second supports the Enfoques research project. Both have been designed for LN122 Spanish Language and Society and are regularly updated to reflect contemporary developments across the Spanish-speaking world.

Additional resources will be recommended at the start of the course.

Exam (30%), duration: 90 Minutes in the Spring exam period.

Oral examination (30%).

Continuous assessment (40%).

Language courses map to the Common European Framework for Language Learning.  This framework defines linguistic proficiency in the four language skills (reading, writing, speaking and listening) at different levels.  To pass this course, students are therefore required to achieve a pass mark in each element of the assessment (continuous assessment, oral and written exams), as these test all four skills.