Spanish

Overview

At the California State University, Bakersfield Department of Modern Languages and Literatures, faculty and students engage in a process of unraveling the creative powers of literature, language, and cultures to widen their understanding and appreciation of cultural and literary expressions across the globe and over centuries.

A special emphasis is placed on a multidisciplinary study of the diversity of perspectives and points of views embedded in literary and cultural expressions and aesthetics. The Master of Arts in Spanish program is designed to enable students to perfect all their communications skills: listening, reading, speaking and writing.

The curriculum is carefully planned and integrated to ensure a foundation of professional skills, and a uniform degree of coverage in the areas of Spanish and Spanish-American literature and culture, linguistics and second-language acquisition pedagogy, and the business-related fields of interpretation and translation.

Learning outcomes

Students gain an excellent preparation to become far more effective teachers of Spanish or professionals who are able to interact expertly throughout their careers with Spanish-speaking persons.

To meet these objectives, the program provides:

• balance for those who wish to terminate their studies at the Master’s level and whose primary aim is to teach in a community college;
• advanced training for teachers who wish to improve their professional skills and status;
• a variety of courses for students who plan to continue toward the Ph.D. degree at another institution;
• continuing education for those who wish to extend their knowledge as an end in itself through an interesting and stimulating series of classes in literature, criticism, language and culture.