Undergraduate
Bachelor's Degree Programs
Spanish
Major in Spanish
The mission of the program in Spanish at IU Indianapolis is to assist students in achieving proficiency in the Spanish language and to lead them to an understanding of and appreciation for the wide range of Hispanic cultural, literary, and linguistic manifestations. To meet this goal, the program in Spanish offers introductory and advanced instruction in language, linguistics, culture and civilization, literature, and translation and applied language studies.
The introductory and intermediate sequences of courses are designed to provide non-majors with an exploration into Spanish language and Hispanic culture as an essential component of a liberal arts education. The sequences aim to develop an interest in the language and the people who speak it, as well as to prepare students for a variety of careers with international dimensions.
The advanced curriculum prepares students to communicate orally and in writing on the different content areas that comprise the study of Spanish, providing them with the knowledge and skills necessary to achieve success in their future careers, to meet their academic and personal goals, and to prepare them for graduate work.
Considering the rapidly growing Spanish-speaking population in the United States, a major in Spanish is becoming increasingly desirable in the workplace. The major in Spanish can prepare students for a wide variety of careers in such fields as education, social services, international business and finance, government service, international communications and information services, and the travel and hospitality industry.
Students completing the Spanish B.A. program will achieve the following:
- Develop and deliver well-organized oral presentations that exhibit critical thinking skills in academic, intercultural and professional areas
- Create written products that exhibit critical thinking skills in academic, intercultural and professional areas using major tenses and moods and linking paragraphs into composition length products
- When listening, demonstrate understanding of main facts and supportive details of conventional narrative and descriptive discourse in most genres including those in various time frames in many familiar and unfamiliar academic, social and professional contexts
- When reading, demonstrate understanding of conventional narrative and descriptive texts in major tenses and moods on a variety of familiar and unfamiliar topics of general and professional interest
- When talking with others, converse fully on topics including matters of public and community interest in an organized way with appropriate detail using paragraph-length discourse in various time frames
- Explain the relationship between the practices and perspectives of the cultures studied and their own
- Integrate and apply methods of analyzing language, literature, and cultural products and practices
- Operate with civility in a complex world
The Bachelor of Arts degree with a major in Spanish (SPAN) requires satisfactory completion of the following:
- A minimum of 120 credit hours is required for a B.A. degree from the IU School of Liberal Arts.
- A minimum cumulative grade point average of 2.0 (C) is required for graduation.
- A minimum of 30 credit hours must be completed after formal admission to IU Indianapolis.
- A minimum of 21 credit hours of major coursework must be completed in residence in the IU School of Liberal Arts at IU Indianapolis. Course work completed on an IU-administered or IU co-sponsored Overseas Study program counts as residential credit.
- A minimum grade of C (2.0) is required in each major course.
- Once a course has been applied toward one requirement, it cannot be used to satisfy a second requirement, except where explicitly stated otherwise. In addition, except in cases of variable title courses, internships, and other special courses, no course will be counted more than once toward graduation.
- The required distribution of courses may NOT be waived or substituted, but equivalent courses from study abroad programs or transferred from other universities may be accepted with the consent of the director.
IU Indianapolis General Education Core
A list of accepted courses in the IU Indianapolis General Education Core can be found here.
Core Communication (6 credits)
- ENG-W 131: Reading, Writing, and Inquiry I (3 credits) or ENG-W 140: Reading, Writing, and Inquiry: Honors (3 credits) completed with a grade of C (2.0) or higher
English for Academic Purposes (EAP) sections of ENG-G 131 have been designated for students whose first language is not English.
- COMM-R 110: Fundamentals of Speech Communication (3 credits)
Analytical Reasoning (6 credits)
- College math from List A (3 credits)
- List A or List B (3 credits)
Cultural Understanding (3 credits)
- A world language course is recommended
Life and Physical Sciences (6 credits)
- A laboratory science component is required
Arts/Humanities and Social Sciences (9 credits)
- Arts & Humanities (3 credits)
- Social Science (3 credits)
- Additional Arts & Humanities or Social Science (3 credits)
Transfer students entering IU Indianapolis from another public university in Indiana who have completed the transferable general education core at their home campus will not need to complete the IU Indianapolis General Education Core.
Liberal Arts Baccalaureate Competencies
First-Year Experience (1-3 credits)
- SLA-S 100: First Year Success Seminar
- Other: First Year Seminar from another school at IU Indianapolis
Transfer students with 18 or more credit hours are not required to take this course.
Writing Proficiency (3 credits), completed with a grade of C (2.0) or higher, chosen from the following:
- ENG-W 230: Writing in the Sciences
- ENG-W 231: Professional Writing Skills
- ENG-W 270: Argumentative Writing
Transfer students may satisfy the writing proficiency by completing course work equivalent to ENG-W 231, ENG-W 230, ENG-W 270, or GEWR-UN 200 with a grade of C (2.0) or higher at another campus or institution.
Transfer students with 80 or more transfer credits may petition for exemption from the Writing Proficiency requirement. Petition available in the Miriam Z. Langsam Office of Student Affairs, Cavanaugh Hall room 401.
Analytical Proficiency (3 credits), chosen from the following:
- ECON-E 270: Introduction to Statistical Theory in Economics and Business
- PHIL-P 208: Causality and Evidence
- PHIL-P 262: Practical Logic
- PHIL-P 265: Introduction to Symbolic Logic
- POLS-Y 205: Analyzing Politics
- SOC-R 359: Introduction to Sociological Stats
Analytical Proficiency is in addition to the Analytical Reasoning area in the IU Indianapolis General Education Core. Analytical Proficiency courses may be shared with major requirements if applicable.
Life and Physical Sciences Laboratory
One laboratory science course is required, but may be part of the coursework taken in the IU Indianapolis General Education Core.
Arts and Humanities (3 credits) - Courses in one’s first major field of study cannot be used to fulfill this requirement
100 or 200 level course chosen from the following disciplines
- Africana Studies (AFRO)
- American Studies (AMST)
- American Sign Language (ASL) excluding World Languages courses
- Classics (CLAS) excluding World Languages courses
- Communication Studies (COMM-R, excluding COMM-R 110, and COMM-T only)
- East Asian Languages and Cultures (EALC) excluding World Language courses
- English-Creative Writing or Writing and Literacy (ENG-W), excluding courses in the Writing Proficiency area.
- English Literature (ENG-L)
- Film Studies (FILM)
- Folklore (FOLK) excluding FOLK-F 101
- German (GER) excluding World Language courses
- History (HIST) excluding HIST-H 105, HIST-H 106, HIST-H 108, HIST-H 109, HIST-H 113, HIST-H 114
- Latino Studies (LATS)
- Medical Humanities and Health Studies (MHHS)
- Museum Studies (MSTD)
- Native American and Indigenous Studies (NAIS)
- Philosophy (PHIL)
- Religious Studies (REL)
- Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies (WGSS) excluding WGSS-W 105
- World Languages and Cultures (WLAC)
Social Sciences (3 credits) - Courses in one’s first major field of study cannot be used to fulfill this requirement
100 or 200 level course chosen from the following disciplines
- Africana Studies (AFRO)
- Anthropology (ANTH)
- Communication Studies (COMM-C and COMM-M only)
- Economics (ECON)
- English-Linguistics (ENG-Z)
- Folklore (FOLK)
- Geography (GEOG)
- Global and International Studies (INTL)
- History (HIST) only HIST-H 105, HIST-H 106, HIST-H 108, HIST-H 109, HIST-H 113, HIST-H 114
- Journalism and Public Relations (JOUR)
- Latino Studies (LATS)
- Medical Humanities and Health Studies (MHHS) excluding MHHS-M 201
- Native American and Indigenous Studies (NAIS)
- Political Science (POLS)
- Psychology (PSY)
- Sociology (SOC)
- Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies (WGSS)
World Language and Perspectives (0-14 credits)
Completion of second-year proficiency in a single world language.
Second-year proficiency is demonstrated by passing the full second-year sequence of courses in a single language or completing a third or fourth-year course1
Courses in World Language and Perspectives may also satisfy General Education Core Cultural Understanding.
1 Students interested in receiving credit for lower-division language courses, see the section ‘‘Special Credit for Foreign Language Study.’’
Advanced Courses
Students are required to have 42 credit hours in 300-400 level coursework including courses in their major. Of the 42 advanced credits, 9 credit hours must be 300-400 level coursework outside the first Liberal Arts major field of study and from the School of Liberal Arts. Students seeking dual degrees are exempt from completing 9 credits hours in 300-400 level coursework outside their major and from the School of Liberal Arts.
Major Requirements (30 credits)
Required courses at the 300 level (15 credits):
- SPAN-S 313: Writing Spanish* (3 credits) or S318 for Native & Heritage Speakers
- SPAN-S 323: Introduction to Translating Spanish and English (3 credits)
- SPAN-S 326: Introduction to Spanish Linguistics (3 credits)
- SPAN-S 360: Introduction to Hispanic Literature (3 credits)
- SPAN-S 363: Introduction to Hispanic Culture (3 credits)
Required courses at the 400 level (15 credits):
One course in Literature, choose from:
- SPAN-S 407: Survey of Spanish Literature I (3 credits)
- SPAN-S 408: Survey of Spanish Literature II (3 credits)
- SPAN-S 431: Survey of Spanish Poetry I (3 credits)
- SPAN-S 432: Survey of Spanish Poetry II (3 credits)
- SPAN-S 445: Major Dramatists of the Golden Age I (3 credits)
- SPAN-S 450: Cervantes’ Don Quixote I (3 credits)
- SPAN-S 455: Modern Spanish Drama I (3 credits)
- SPAN-S 457: Modern Spanish Novel I (3 credits)
- SPAN-S 461: Contemporary Spanish Literature I (3 credits)
- SPAN-S 470: Women and Hispanic Literature
- SPAN-S 471: Spanish-American Literature I (3 credits)
- SPAN-S 472: Spanish-American Literature II (3 credits)
- SPAN-S 477: 20th-Century Spanish-American Prose Fiction (3 credits)
- SPAN-S 495: Hispanic Colloquium (3 credits)
One course in Culture and Civilization, choose from:
- SPAN-S 411: Spanish Culture and Civilization (3 credits)
- SPAN-S 412: Latin American Culture and Civilization (3 credits)
One course in Linguistics, choose from:
- SPAN-S 425: Spanish Phonetics (3 credits)
- SPAN-S 427: The Structure of Spanish (3 credits)
- SPAN-S 428: Applied Spanish Linguistics (3 credits)
- SPAN-S 440: Hispanic Sociolinguistics (3 credits)
- SPAN-S 441: The Acquisition of Spanish (3 credits)
- SPAN-S 468: Varieties of Spanish (3 credits)
One Elective at the 400 level (3 credits)
One Capstone (3 credits), choose from:
- SPAN-S 487: Capstone Internship in Spanish (3 credits)
- SPAN-S 498: Capstone Seminar in Spanish (3 credits)
Only majors with senior standing may register for SPAN-S 487: Capstone Internship or SPAN-S 498: Capstone Seminar in Spanish with authorization.
*Note for Native speakers of Spanish: SPAN-S 313 is not open to native speakers. SPAN-S 313 must be substituted with SPAN-S 318
Five year Spanish BA/MAT
Admission
- Qualified students may apply for the program in the second semester of their junior year. To be eligible to apply, students should have completed at least 60 credits overall and 15 credits in their major. They should have a minimum GPA of 3.5 overall and a GPA of 3.5 in their major’s coursework.
- As part of the application process, students are required to submit two faculty letters of recommendation (at least one from a member of the IU Indianapolis Department of Spanish faculty) and a single-authored writing sample.
- If students maintain at least a B average in all of the graduate courses taken during their senior year, they will automatically be allowed to continue in the M.A.T. program, and the graduate credits completed during their senior year would double-count towards completion of the M.A.T. requirements.
- Students accepted into the program will be able to take up to 12 hours of Spanish graduate courses during their senior year. These 12 credit hours will count towards the student’s B.A. (NOTE: All courses counting towards the B.A. major must be completed with a grade of C or higher).
- In their fifth year, after earning their B.A., students would complete the remaining hours of graduate coursework required for the M.A.T. in Spanish (M.A.T with Thesis or M.A.T. via Coursework options). In this final year of study, students will be required to take the following core courses in the program: SPAN-S517 (Methods in the Teaching of Spanish), SPAN-S515 (Acquisition of Spanish as a Second Language) and SPAN-S519 (Practicum in the Teaching of Spanish). In addition, students will enroll in up to 9 additional hours of 500-level SPAN elective classes for a total of 18 graduate credit hours.
- Students may elect to our Graduate Courses for Teachers in Salamanca (Spain) during the summer (6 credits maximum). Students wishing to write a thesis may elect to do so in the spring or in the summer of their 5th year.
Required courses (18 credits):
- SPAN-S 313: Writing Spanish* (3 credits) or S318 for Native & Heritage Speakers
- SPAN-S 323: Introduction to Translating Spanish and English (3 credits)
- SPAN-S 326: Introduction to Spanish Linguistics (3 credits)
- SPAN-S 360: Introduction to Hispanic Literature (3 credits)
- SPAN-S 363: Introduction to Hispanic Culture (3 credits)
- One course in Culture and Civilization at the 400 level, choose from:
- SPAN-S 411: Spanish Culture and Civilization (3 credits)
- SPAN-S 412: Latin American Culture and Civilization (3 credits)
- Literature at the 500/600 level (3 credits), choose from:
- SPAN-S680 Topics in Contemporary Spanish American Literature
- SPAN-S523 Spanish Literature, Art and Culture for Teachers I
- SPAN-S525 Spanish Literature, Art and Culture for Teachers II
- SPAN-S650 Topics in the Teaching of Spanish (provided that the topic is literature)
- Linguistics at the 500/600 level (3 credits), choose from:
- SPAN-S508 Spanish Varieties
- SPAN-S511 Spanish Syntactic Analysis
- SPAN-S513 Introduction to Hispanic Sociolinguistics
- SPAN-S515 Acquisition of Spanish as a Second Language
- SPAN-S517 Methods of Teaching College Spanish
- SPAN-S521 Spanish Grammar and Linguistics for Teachers I
- SPAN-S524 Spanish Grammar and Linguistics for Teachers II
- One Elective at the 500/600 level (3 credits)
- One Capstone at the 500/600 level (3 credits)
- Choose from the Spanish graduate courses
MAT/BA in Spanish (18 credits):
- SPAN-S 515: Acquisition of Spanish as a Second Language (3 cr.)
- SPAN-S 517: Methods of Teaching College Spanish (3 cr.)
- SPAN-S 519: Practicum in the Teaching of Spanish (3 cr.)
- 9 credits of graduate electives
*Note for Native speakers of Spanish: SPAN-S 313 is not open to native speakers. SPAN-S 313 must be substituted with SPAN-S 318
Dual Degree Advantage (BA only)
The Liberal Arts baccalaureate competencies are waived for IU Indianapolis undergraduate students whose first major is outside the School of Liberal Arts and whose second major is a Bachelor of Arts degree from the IU School of Liberal Arts at IU Indianapolis. Students are only required to complete the courses in their major of choice in Liberal Arts. The IU Indianapolis General Education Core or the Indiana transferable general education core must be successfully completed. Students must complete the degree outside Liberal Arts in order to have the Liberal Arts baccalaureate competencies waived for degree completion. The Liberal Arts baccalaureate competencies are only waived for students who actively pursue and complete another degree program outside of Liberal Arts. Both degrees must be completed at the same time.
