Spanish 102: Writing in the Discipline Core Application
SMC Core Curriculum Course Proposal Form
1. Name of Proposer: Lori Spicher and Frances M. Sweeney
2. Email address: lspicher@stmarys-ca.edu and fsweeney@stmarys-ca.edu
3. Department/Program of Proposer: Modern Languages
4. Name of Department/Program housing the course: Modern Languages
5. Name(s) of Program Director/Department Chair (if not the proposer): Lori
Spicher
6. Course Acronym, Number and Title:
Spanish 102: Advanced Writing and Research
7. Semester(s) in which course will be offered: Each spring term
8. How often is this course taught? Once per year
9. Course Prerequisites (if any): English 5, Spanish 11
10. Unit Value of Course: 1.00 SMC unit
11. Proper Audience for the course (delete those that don’t apply):
Sophomores
Juniors
Seniors
12. The Learning Goals for which the course is being submitted: Habits of Mind,
Writing in the Discipline
13. Expected Attachments:
Please note that we used the following document to complete the application: Guidance in
Preparing the Application for the Writing in the Discipline Course (working
document May 2012). Thus, the included attachments are:
A) Application based on a narrative response to the document, Guidance in Preparing the
Application for the Writing in the Discipline Course, including attention to goals and
learning outcomes, teaching and learning, and evaluation;
B) Syllabus for the course, with a sample course calendar.
Spanish 102: Writing in the Discipline Core Application
Application for
Writing in the Discipline Course
Course: Spanish 102, Academic Writing and Research
Submitted by: Lori Spicher and Frances M. Sweeney, course instructors
Reviewed by: Lori Spicher, current department chair, and Catherine Marachi,
former chair
Introduction: This document parallels the steps in the Guidance for Course Application
for Writing in the Discipline.
Spanish 101 and 102 have been offered as requirements for the Spanish major for over
two decades. Students who pursue the minor take either Spanish 101 or 102 as a
requirement, but are encouraged to take both.
The two-course series was revised by the department in 2010 to address more directly the
process of writing across genres, skills and practices of investigation and interpretation,
resource analysis, and academic writing. This revision reflects the benefit of having now
two linguists in the department, with areas of research that include language acquistion,
morphosyntax, and particularly best practices for speaking and writing development
using scaffolding models of proficiency. Moreover, both courses were redesigned to
include attention to information literacy (evaluation and research practices), in part due to
the conversations that have occurred on campus about advanced writing in the discipline.
Spanish 101 emphasizes process writing and editing and introduces literary analysis and
Spanish 102 emphasizes research and writing in this discipline and advanced literary
analysis. Moreover, both courses include advanced linguistic analysis of Spanish syntax.
1) Purpose:
In reference to the guidance document provided by the Core Curriculum Habits of Mind
committee, this course teaches students how to write and do research in Spanish, building
on the work begun in English 5, as well as lower division language courses (especially
Spanish 4, 9 or 10, and 11), and Spanish 101, Advanced Spanish Syntax and
Composition.
Spanish 102 develops students’ disciplinary thinking and communication skills.
"Academic writing" is both the primary content and the skill studied, by working on the
processes involved in research, analysis, interpretation, and communication. The writing
assignments provide practice with the language and writing conventions of Spanish.
Additionally, students study advanced linguistic structures in Spanish as well as stylistics.
This material is presented as linguistic inquiry and analysis, per upper division content; it
is not presented for rote memorization as might occur at a lower division level. Whereas
Spanish 101 encourages students to find their Spanish voice through advanced writing in
the discipline, Spanish 102 forwards this work by stressing academic writing, evaluation
and research practices, and critical theory.
Spanish 102: Writing in the Discipline Core Application
2) Expectations the CCC has for the WID Course:
a) This is a long-standing course, that was revised in 2010. It is part two of the Spanish
101 and Spanish 102 advanced writing sequence. It is required a course in the major, and
encouraged for students pursuing the minor.
b) As noted above, disciplinary content is taught as an integral part of this course. This
content includes literary study of genres; aspects of linguistics; stylistics; and academic
investigation and writing. In Spanish 102, the primary focus is investigation, citation and
academic writing. The literature is studied within a collaborative "reading community," in
which students transition through roles of biographer, historian, facilitator, language
expert, interpreter, and summary provider. Each of these roles implies a series of tasks
designed to develop skills of comprehension, interpretation, communication (oral and
written) and literary analysis.
c) This course addresses proper disciplinary rhetoric, including elements of literary
analysis and academic writing, such as: register, style, format, purpose, terminology,
organization, tone, point of view, and intended audience. Whereas Spanish 101 addresses
description and narration and introduces argument, Spanish 102 primarily addresses
argument and academic research and writing. Additionally, in Spanish 102, MLA style is
reinforced and students learn (and are tested on) both MLA and APA standards for
citation and bibliographic references. Depending on the research areas and topic they
choose, their final project must incorporate one of these styles.
d) Process of writing and rewriting. Spanish 101 and 102 were revised with a primary
aim precisely to improve instruction into the process of writing, complemented by not
only improving Spanish proficiency, but understanding complicated Spanish syntactic
structures as content necessary for any educated advanced user of Spanish. This is true
for native speaker students and non-native speakers students alike. The courses "teach
the process of writing and rewriting—drafting, editing and revising—to help students
mature as disciplinary thinker/writers and to continually improve the relationship
between content and clarity. Students apply their learning when they rewrite and
reconnect their ideas." (from CCC guidance document).
Spanish 102 has two main types of writing assignments: five chapter-based essays (3-5
pages expected length) and one culminating academic research and writing project (15-20
pages expected length). The chapter essays explore means of argumentation and literary
analysis, based on models read and studied in class. The research essay is begun the
second week of the term and aspects of the project are completed throughout the term.
The aspects of the research include topic selection, developing an initial literature review
of the topic through use of best search strategies, devising a thesis for exploration,
evaluating the literature review and revising it as the topic narrows, writing in stages of
introduction, body, findings, and conclusion. Sectional drafts are submitted to the
professor for review, and individual meetings between students and professor occur at
least three times throughout the term. Students offer brief presentations to the group
about progress on each section of the research project.
Spanish 102: Writing in the Discipline Core Application
Students create a group "evaluation key" to use throughout the term for self- and peerediting. They use this key to read and offer peer feedback on each essay. Each chapter
essay includes outline, draft, peer editing, and submission. Depending on the grade,
students consult with the professor about whether they will need additional rewriting.
Students also use peer editing as they complete each section of the research project. An
outcome for the course is to teach respectful peer editing and offering feedback, including
understanding what grades of "A," "B," "C", "D," and "F" mean. The text and writer's
manual used in the course include attention to peer editing skills and offer anonymous
student models. Students practice peer editing, feedback, and grading on these
anonymous models throughout the term, and then proceed to help each other with their
own work.
e) Spanish 102 has both discrete-end writing assignments and a scaffold approach for the
final research project. Also, the writing process is developmentally addressed in the text
and writer's manual, within Spanish 102 and across Spanish 101 and 102. Spanish 101
emphasizes the process of writing, from description to narration to argument. Spanish
102 continues the developmental process, addressing aspects of argumentation, literary
analysis, research and academic writing. Moreover the text and manual include mini
sections on strategies related to drafting, composing and editing, such as the creation of
titles, use of transition sentences, thesis development, introduction and conclusion.
Assignments for the chapter essays include character analysis, plot analysis, comparison
and contrast of works by the same author, or between authors, stylistics, and other topics
of literary analysis. The culminating research project topic is open-ended: students
choose to pursue a question from an area of interest, either a literary-based topic or an
historical, social, cultural issue. Because students who pursue a major in Spanish are
responsible for knowing historical, cultural, and social aspects of Spanish-speaking
countries, as well as literature and linguistics, we invite topics beyond literature, and we
expect them to know both APA and MLA styles.
f) Spanish 102 has writing as a primary focus. It meets the expectation of "substantial and
important writing", as articulated in the guidance document. The learning outcomes for
the course center on writing development, academic research and writing, and linguistic
analysis. The grade is based on tests and writing assignments. There are five tests: four
tests cover elements of Spanish linguistics and one covers MLA and APA citation
standards. There are five chapter essays; for each essay students are graded on content,
organization, style and the use of language (as in the linguistic elements that are under
discussion and the correct use of grammar); they are also graded on their use of drafts,
their ability as peer editors for others, and their ability to use editing for rewriting. There
is one culminating project; students are graded on their successful completion of each
phase of the project, as noted above.
For students pursuing a major in Spanish, this course offers a necessary component of
significant writing for the field, because of its emphases on 1) advanced linguistic
knowledge and 2) the types of professional writing that graduates are likely to face in
graduate study of literature or linguistics, or as expected of Spanish speakers with
advanced proficiency, in an array of professional fields.
Spanish 102: Writing in the Discipline Core Application
g) Spanish 101 and Spanish 102 reinforce knowledge used in English 5, which is a
prerequisite. The courses are grounded in best practices for writing in each stage of the
writing process, commensurate with the expectations for writing as articulated in the
college-wide handbook, Writing Research Papers Across the Curriculum, by Hubbuch,
as well as linguistic and stylistic standards expected for students of Spanish at the
advanced level, according to the proficiency standards of the American Council of
Teaching of Foreign Language (ACTFL).
The syllabi were designed so that students will build on what they learned in English
Composition courses, and be able to employ the skills learned in Spanish 101 and 102 in
other Spanish upper division courses, be they literature, linguistics or culture courses.
Moreover, the course should help students address advanced writing assignments in
Collegiate Seminar and other disciplines (especially helpful for students who pursue two
majors).
h) Core Learning Outcomes. The learning outcomes in the syllabus address the language
of the Core Learning Outcomes for Written and Oral Communication, as well as
Information Evaluation and Research Practices.
i) Writing Advice and Tutorial. In the syllabus, students are made aware of the services
provided by the Writing Center. However, students are expected to complete all of their
work, both written and oral, in Spanish. The best practice is that students work
exclusively in Spanish, without first working in English and then translating; this might
pose a problem for those who go to the Writing Center. Instead, we use substantial peer
editing, as well as student-professor consultation. Addditionally, we work with
Academic Advising and Tutorial Services to find appropriate tutors.