Learning Outcomes

BA French/Spanish

(a)    Demonstrate the ability to communicate successfully with native speakers of the target language in a large range of contexts, both personal and professional, and to present their point of view in a comprehensible, organized, and culturally appropriate manner.
(b)   Be able to write clearly, coherently and accurately on a variety of subjects -- personal experience or reflection; cultural, linguistic, or literary analysis -- and to use a variety of discourse types, including expository and argumentative essays on academic topics.
(c)    Be able to understand spoken and visual messages, live or in recordings or videos, and to summarize and discuss such messages or respond to them in an interactive context.
(d)   Be able to read and discuss texts ranging from advertisements and newspapers to business correspondence and literary masterpieces, understanding both the explicit and implicit messages of such texts, and demonstrating the ability to discuss the ideas in these texts and their own interpretation of them.
(e)    Demonstrate a familiarity with the main periods, authors, and developments in French and Francophone or Spanish and Spanish American literatures, and the ability to summarize and analyze literary texts.
(f)    Demonstrate a familiarity with well-known historical figures and events, and understand and be able to explain basic cultural characteristics of the main world regions in which the target language is spoken.
(g)   Be able to examine the larger question of how language functions as a communicative system and a social construct, and the role of the target language in the world.
(h)   Demonstrate familiarity with library and information technology as part of a well-rounded education in the Humanities, and exploit such technology to find resources in the target language.


MA Spanish

(a) Are able to understand and use correctly a wide range of target-language vocabulary/terminology inherent to the study of literary works, literary analysis, and linguistic theory;
(b) Understand and are able to discuss main literary works in the target language as related to historical periods and key cultural issues in both Spain and Latin America;
(c) Have acquired a global view of the foundations of Hispanic literary history and its development;
(d) Understand and are able to explain linguistic processes as related to the target-language variation at the regional, social and stylistic level, as well as its historical development from Latin, using appropriate terminology and relevant examples.

BA Japanese/Chinese

(a) Demonstrate their ability to handle successfully a variety of predictable and concrete oral exchanges necessary for survival in the target culture (e.g., personal information covering self, family, home, daily activities, interests and personal preferences, as well as physical and social needs, such as food, shopping, travel and lodging).
(b) Demonstrate their ability to read and write short, simple communications, compositions, descriptions, and requests for information that are based on personal preferences, daily routines, common events, and other topics related to personal experiences and immediate surroundings.
(c) Perform (a) and (b) in culturally appropriate ways.
(d) Demonstrate their understanding and ability to discuss cultural similarities and differences between Chinese or Japanese culture and the students' own or American culture.
(e) Be able to understand and analyze major literary works in the socio-historical contexts of the literary production, and to explain the authors of the texts.
(f) Be able to understand and explain basic linguistic terminology and socio-cultural aspects of the target language, as well as differences of sound and grammar structures between the target and English languages.
(g) Demonstrate familiarity with library and information technology as part of a well-rounded education in the humanities, and exploit such technology to find resources in the target language.