SP 401 - Spanish Language in Context: Emerging Competent Abroad I

Research has demonstrated that study abroad can enhance every aspect of language ability. One of the most important general findings of this research is, however, that study abroad is most beneficial for the development of abilities related to social interaction. Students who go abroad can learn to do things with words, such as requesting, apologizing, or offering compliments, and they may also learn to interpret situations calling on such speech acts in ways that local people do…In short, and logically, study abroad has been shown to enhance the aspects of communicative competence that are most difficult to foster in classroom settings (IES Abroad MAP for Language and Intercultural Communication, p. 6).

The goal of this course is to enhance students’ knowledge of the Spanish language in the five skills: oral and written comprehension, oral and written expression, and knowledge of the Spanish socio-cultural environment. To meet this goal, the course has a series of unites with well-defined functional, grammatical, lexical, and cultural contents that corresponds with the students’ abilities at this level. At the end of the course, the student will have mastered the communicative competencies necessary to interact in Spanish fluently and politely.