Curriculum Proposal System
Course Details

Prerequisites (list each individually, one course per line, with course number and title)
Current 3580:301, Spanish Conversation, 3580:302, Spanish Composition, and 3580:303, Spanish Grammar, or permission of instructor. New NO change: 3580:301, Spanish Conversation, 3580:302, Spanish Composition, and 3580:303, Spanish Grammar, or permission of instructor. New prerequisites to be checked at time of registration? yes
Corequisites (list each individually, one course per line, with course number and title)
Current N/A New N/A New corequisites to be checked at time of registration? no
Bulletin description
Advanced study of Spanish syntax and grammatical analysis. Taken as 503, does not count toward the M.A. in Spanish. Conducted in Spanish.
Web Components
N/A
Textbook selection
Required texts: King, L. and Suñer, M. (2004). Gramática Española: Análisis y práctica. (2nd Ed.) New York: McGraw-Hill Higher Education. Kattán-Ibarra, J., Pountain, C., and Wilkie, I. (2003) Modern Spanish grammar: A practical guide. (2nd Ed.) New York: Routledge. 1 LARGE Spanish-English/English-Spanish Dictionary (200,000+ words; 400,000+ translations). Recommended publishers: Oxford, Harper-Collins, or Larousse.
Rationale
The Department of Modern Languages would like to add a 500-level number to Spanish 3580:403, Advanced Grammar,which presently is approved only at the undergraduate level. The rationale for this proposal is that we have found over time and are finding more and more that we have M.A. students who need or would like to do some additional or remedial work in the area of Spanish grammar. We offer no such course at the graduate level. Adding the 500-level designation would allow GAs to take the course without having to pay for it, which they would have to do if they were to take it at the 400 level. We already are doing this with our Spanish Civilization and Culture courses (3580: 431/531, 432/532, 433/533) that were approved originally with the dual numbers/levels. Given that this is viewed as "remedial" work, we allow or require M.A. Students to take these courses in order to make up for deficiencies in their background, but we do not allow the credits to count toward completion of the 32 credits required for the M.A. in Spanish. It is not uncommon for otherwise well qualified applicants to the Spanish M.A. program to have the need to fill in some gaps or otherwise strengthen their knowledge or skills in one or two areas, in order to fulfill more successfully the required course work for completion of the M.A. degree. As noted in the syllabus below, graduate students will be required to complete a research project, as follows: "If you are a graduate student, your project will involve an 8-12 page critical comparison of two linguistic analyses of a particular Spanish structure and will similarly involve checking the validity of these analyses against native speaker data."
Syllabus
Department of Modern Languages University of Akron Advanced Spanish Grammar Spanish 3580:403:001, Class Number XXXX Spanish 3580:503:001, Class Number XXXX Course information Professor: Paul Toth, Ph.D. Class meets: Tuesday and Thursday from 10:45am-12:00pm Location: Olin 375 Contact information Tel. 330-972-5808 E-mail: toth@uakron.edu Office: Olin 308 Office hours: Tues. 2:30-4:00pm, Wed. 12:00-2:00pm, and by appointment Modern Languages Department: OLIN 304, Tel. 330-972-7486, Fax: 330-972-6908 Required texts King, L. and Suñer, M. (2004). Gramática Española: Análisis y práctica. (2nd Ed.) New York: McGraw-Hill Higher Education. Kattán-Ibarra, J., Pountain, C., and Wilkie, I. (2003) Modern Spanish grammar: A practical guide. (2nd Ed.) New York: Routledge. 1 LARGE Spanish-English/English-Spanish Dictionary (200,000+ words; 400,000+ translations). Recommended publishers: Oxford, Harper-Collins, or Larousse. Description and objectives: This course combines an analytical approach to understanding Spanish grammar with an emphasis on the use of grammatical patterns for communicative purposes. Considerable class time will be spent comparing and contrasting Spanish grammatical patterns with those of English, and investigating authentic texts from the Hispanic world that demonstrate these features. The needs of those who plan to use Spanish for teaching, translating, or other professional purposes will shape the treatment of course topics. As the course progresses, students will develop the ability to: • describe and analyze the structure of Spanish sentences and texts using linguistic terminology • identify similarities and differences between Spanish and English grammatical structures • classify elements of Spanish grammar according to their semantic (i.e., impact on meaning), syntactic (i.e., impact on sentence structure), and morphological (i.e., word formation) functions • identify the communicative function of grammar items • critique traditional explanations of Spanish grammar Placement: Please note that you should NOT be taking this course unless you have already taken Spanish 303 or an equivalent course. The course will be conducted almost completely in Spanish, and prior exposure to an overview of Spanish grammar will be assumed. This means that you should already be able to recognize the basic sets of pronouns and verb suffixes BEFORE taking this course. Here, we will analyze Spanish grammar in depth rather than provide an initial overview or review. If you have not yet had an overview course, you should drop this course and plan to take Span 303 next semester. Registration and Withdrawal: Be sure to register on time. Students whose names are not on the official class list on the first day of the third week will not be permitted to continue attending class. They will receive no grade or credit. Attendance policies: Because language learning involves continual, ongoing practice, attendance is required. You will be allowed two absences during the semester with no questions asked. Beyond that number, you must give advance notice and document any further absences as having been a result of illness or personal emergency. Otherwise, for each class you miss, zeros will be entered in your daily participation grade, and your overall course average will be reduced by 3 percentage points. There are no make ups for missed quizzes, even if your missed quiz is one of your allowed absences. The lowest quiz score will be dropped from everyone’s quiz average. If you miss a quiz, a zero for the missed quiz will be the score that is dropped. The midterm and final cannot be made up unless advance notice and authentic documentation of a severe personal emergency or illness is provided. Late homework will likewise not be accepted without such advance notice and documentation. While I understand that many of you have significant work and family responsibilities outside of class, I cannot make allowances for missed classes or exams due to work or non-emergency family reasons. Extra credit assignments cannot be given to improve an individual’s grade at the end of the course. Please note: There is a lot of difficult material to learn in this course, and you will need do the readings, complete the homework, and take notes in class. Plan on about 6 hours per week of outside work for this class. Make sure that you can come to class regularly and on time, do the reading, and do the homework. You will not be able to do the exams if you do not do the homework and get feedback. The quizzes, midterm, and final will reflect the homework assignments, readings, and lectures. This is not a course where you cram a lot of information into your head at the last minute; it involves the accumulation of knowledge and analytical skills similar to a math or science course. Withdrawals and incompletes: Please refer to the U of Akron calendar for appropriate dates to withdraw from the course without penalty (http://www3.uakron.edu/registrar/dates.html). There can be no exceptions to these timelines. A grade of “Incomplete” will only be given for this course if you have failed to withdraw AND have completed 75% of the course work with a passing grade. You must also sign the Incomplete Documentation form required by the College of Arts and Sciences Evaluation: Midterm 15% In class, closed book: October 21st Final 15% In class, closed book: December 14th Quizzes 20% Weekly or biweekly unannounced checks on understanding course topics Homework 20% Weekly assignments involving gramatical analysis and exercises in the book. Project 20% Undergraduates: Analysis/critique of a textbook grammar explanation; 3-5 pages Graduates: Critical comparison of two linguistic grammatical analyses; 8-12 pages Participation 10% Active participation and demonstration that you are prepared for class; major penalty for absences beyond the two-class limit. There will be a midterm and final exam, and short, sometimes unannounced, weekly or biweekly quizzes to check for comprehension of the material. If you are an undergraduate, you will also have to do a 3-5 page project, in Spanish, analyzing and critiquing the presentation of a grammar rule in a beginning Spanish textbook by comparing it to the actual use of Spanish by native speakers in oral or written sources. If you are a graduate student, your project will involve an 8-12 page critical comparison of two linguistic analyses of a particular Spanish structure and will similarly involve checking the validity of these analyses against native speaker data. More details about this project will be forthcoming around the time of the midterm. Weekly homework assignments will vary with the course topics and may include exercises from the textbook, some amount of writing in Spanish, and use of the internet as a tool to access authentic texts from Spanish language newspapers and other media. Assignments that are turned in will be graded and count toward the homework portion of your final grade. Grade Scale: A+ =100-97 A = 93-93 A- = 92-90 B+ =89-87 B = 86-83 B- = 82-80 C+ =79-77 C = 76-73 C- = 72-70 D+ =69-67 D = 66-63 D- = 62-60 F = below 60 Bibliography For information on Spanish grammar… Bull, W. (1965). Spanish for teachers: Applied linguistics. Malabar, FL, Robert E. Krieger Publishing Company. Kattán-Ibarra, J., Pountain, C., and Wilkie, I. (2003) Modern Spanish grammar: A practical guide. (2nd Ed.) New York: Routledge. King, L. and Suñer, M. (1999). Gramática Española: Análisis y práctica. New York: McGraw-Hill College Publishers. Spinelly, E. (1994) English grammar for students of Spanish. Ann Arbor, MI: The Olivia and Hill Press. Whitley, M. S. (1986). Spanish/English contrasts. Washington, DC, Georgetown University Press. …linguistics in general… Cook, V., and Newson, M. (1996). Chomsky’s Universal Grammar: An introduction. (2nd Edition). Oxford, UK: Blackwell Publishers  Fromkin, V., & Rodman, R. (1998). An introduction to language. (6th Ed.) New York: Harcourt College Publishers.  O'Grady, W., J. Archibald, et al. (2001). Contemporary linguistics: An introduction,(4th Ed.). Boston, Bedford-St. Martin's Press. …and Spanish linguistics in particular.  Azevedo, M., (1992). Introducción a la lingüística española. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice-Hall  Mackenzie, I., (2002). A linguistic introduction to Spanish. London: Lincom Europa Press. Penny, R., (1991). A history of the Spanish language. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press Zagona, K. (2002). The syntax of Spanish. Cambridge, UK, Cambridge University Press. CALENDARIO DEL CURSO (TENTATIVO) Semana Fecha Tema Lectura para la semana 1 31 Ago. 2 Sep. Introducción: Presentación del curso. ¿Qué es la gramática? El lenguaje humano, la lingüística y la gramática Cáp. 1 pp. 1-16 2 7 Sep. 9 Sep. Componentes de la oración, los argumentos del verbo, y los papeles temáticos Cáp. 2, sec. 1-3 pp. 17-33 3 14 Sep. 16 Sep. Oraciones clasificadas según su estructura Cáp. 2, sec. 4 pp. 33-47 4 21 Sep. 23 Sep. La morfología del verbo y la representación del tiempo Cáp. 3, sec. 1-2, 4-5 Cáp. 6, sec. 3.4-3.5 pp. 59-63; 66-73; 251-255 5 28 Sep. 30 Sep. El aspecto: pretérito, imperfecto y progresivo Cáp. 3, sec. 6-7 pp. 74-97 6 5 Oct. 7 Oct. Modo: Indicativo vs. subjuntivo Cáp.. 3, sec. 8.1-8.3 pp. 98-119 7 12 Oct. 14 Oct. Usos especiales del subjuntivo Cáp.. 3, sec. 8.4-8.6 pp. 119-126 8 19 Oct. 21 Oct. Repaso EXAMEN 1 9 26 Oct. 28 Oct. El género y número del sustantivo y los determinantes Cáp.. 4, sec. 1-3, 5 pp.131-138; 141-152 10 2 Nov. 4 Nov. Los demostrativos, la pronominalización y la colocación de adjetivos Cáp.. 4, sec. 6-7 pp. 152-165 11 9 Nov. 11 Nov. Los pronombres personales, su posición y movimiento Cáp.. 5, sec. 1-3.4, 3.6 pp. 166-189; 194-195 12 16 Nov. 18 Nov. “Se” y la interpretación de pronombres Cáp.. 5, sec. 3.5, 3.7-4 pp.190-193; 196-213 13 23 Nov. Verbos copulativos: “Ser” y “estar” Cáp.. 6, sec. 1 pp. 214-236 14 30 Nov. 2 Dic. La “a” personal y las preposiciones Cáp.. 6, sec. 2, 5 pp. 237-242; 267-276 15 7 Dic. 9 Dic. Las cláusulas relativas y sus pronombres Cáp.. 6, sec. 4 pp. 255-267 14 Dic. 12:00pm EXAMEN 2
Bibliography
Bibliography For information on Spanish grammar… Bull, W. (1965). Spanish for teachers: Applied linguistics. Malabar, FL, Robert E. Krieger Publishing Company. Kattán-Ibarra, J., Pountain, C., and Wilkie, I. (2003) Modern Spanish grammar: A practical guide. (2nd Ed.) New York: Routledge. King, L. and Suñer, M. (1999). Gramática Española: Análisis y práctica. New York: McGraw-Hill College Publishers. Spinelly, E. (1994) English grammar for students of Spanish. Ann Arbor, MI: The Olivia and Hill Press. Whitley, M. S. (1986). Spanish/English contrasts. Washington, DC, Georgetown University Press. …linguistics in general… Cook, V., and Newson, M. (1996). Chomsky’s Universal Grammar: An introduction. (2nd Edition). Oxford, UK: Blackwell Publishers  Fromkin, V., & Rodman, R. (1998). An introduction to language. (6th Ed.) New York: Harcourt College Publishers.  O'Grady, W., J. Archibald, et al. (2001). Contemporary linguistics: An introduction,(4th Ed.). Boston, Bedford-St. Martin's Press. …and Spanish linguistics in particular.  Azevedo, M., (1992). Introducción a la lingüística española. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice-Hall  Mackenzie, I., (2002). A linguistic introduction to Spanish. London: Lincom Europa Press. Penny, R., (1991). A history of the Spanish language. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press Zagona, K. (2002). The syntax of Spanish. Cambridge, UK, Cambridge University Press.