Program Overview

Program Overview

The Department of Spanish and Portuguese Studies offers a graduate program leading to the degree of Ph.D. in Romance Languages and Literatures with a concentration in Spanish.

Program Structure

Students may choose a specialization in either literature/cultural studies or Hispanic linguistics. The program strives to achieve balance and depth. A minor is optional; it may be another Romance language or a different field related to the student’s major (such as English, History, Latin American Studies, Philosophy, Portuguese/Brazilian Literature, or Women’s Studies and Gender Research).

Program Requirements

Ph.D. students determine their program of study in close consultation with their Supervisory Committee, which also prepares and administers the Qualifying Examination. Courses should be chosen to develop adequate background for teaching in the field as well as to prepare for more focused work in the area of the dissertation. In the literature/cultural studies track, all candidates must take two courses in literary theory, which will help them to achieve methodological coherence in their dissertations. In the language/linguistics track, students pursue course work in Spanish linguistics, including phonetics and phonology, morphology, syntax, sociolinguistics, historical linguistics and language acquisition. They complement these courses with work in the Linguistics Department. The Qualifying Examination normally covers the core areas listed above, the area of the anticipated dissertation, and any declared minor.

Teaching Experience

Most doctoral students will be given the opportunity to gain teaching experience through a teaching assistantship, dependent upon departmental need and availability of funds. Renewal of the assistantship is contingent upon satisfactory performance as a teaching assistant and as a graduate student.

Degrees Offered

• Doctor of Philosophy
  • concentration in Spanish

Course List

Spanish and Portuguese Studies Departmental Courses

• FOL 6326: Technology in Foreign Language Education (3 credits)
• FOL 6943: Romance Language Teaching Methods (3 credits)
• SPN 6060: Spanish for Functional Reading and Translation (3 credits)
• SPN 6166: Teaching Spanish for the Professions (3 credits)
• SPN 6425: Writing for the Profession (3 credits)
• SPN 6480: Spanish Phonetics and Phonology (3 credits)
• SPN 6702: Issues in Spanish Second Language Acquisition (3 credits)
• SPN 6705: Foundations of Hispanic Linguistics (3 credits)
• SPN 6735: Special Study in Spanish Linguistics (3 credits)
• SPN 6785: Advanced Spanish Phonetics (3 credits)
• SPN 6803: Introduction to Generative Syntax in Spanish (3 credits)
• SPN 6804: Advanced Syntax of Spanish (3 credits)
• SPN 6806: Psycholinguistics of Spanish Bilingualism (3 credits)
• SPN 6827: Sociolinguistics of the Spanish-Speaking World (3 credits)
• SPN 6835: Spanish and Spanish-American Dialectology (3 credits)
• SPN 6845: History of the Spanish Language (3 credits)
• SPN 6855: Spanish Syntax (3 credits)
• SPN 6856: Spanish in Contact: Issues in Bilingualism (3 credits)
• SPN 6900: Directed Readings in Spanish (3 credits)
• SPN 6940: Supervised Teaching (0-5 credits)
• SPN 6945: Practicum in Advanced College Teaching (2 credits)
• SPW 6209: Colonial Spanish-American Literature (3 credits)
• SPW 6216: Spanish Prose Fiction of the Golden Age (3 credits)
• SPW 6269: Spanish Novel of the Nineteenth Century (3 credits)
• SPW 6278: Postwar Spanish Fiction (3 credits)
• SPW 6285: Contemporary Spanish-American Narrative I (3 credits)
• SPW 6286: Contemporary Spanish-American Narrative II (3 credits)
• SPW 6345: Twentieth-Century Spanish Poetry (3 credits)
• SPW 6356: Spanish-American Poetry from Romanticism to Vanguardismo (3 credits)
• SPW 6357: Contemporary Spanish-American Poetry (3 credits)
• SPW 6366: Spanish-American Essay (3 credits)
• SPW 6545: Spanish Romanticism (3 credits)
• SPW 6606: Cervantes (3 credits)
• SPW 6729: The Generation of 1898 (3 credits)
• SPW 6806: Introduction to Graduate Study and Research (3 credits)
• SPW 6902: Special Study in Spanish or Spanish-American Literature (3 credits)
• SPW 6905: Individual Work (1-3 credits)
• SPW 6910: Supervised Research (1-5 credits)
• SPW 6934: Seminar in Spanish American Literature and Culture (3 credits)
• SPW 6938: Seminar in Spanish Literature and Culture (3 credits)
• SPW 6945: Practicum Adv Col Tch (2 credits)
• SPW 6971: Research for Master's Thesis (1-15 credits)
• SPW 7979: Advanced Research (1-12 credits)
• SPW 7980: Research for Doctoral Dissertation (1-15 credits)
• POR 5132: Graduate Introduction to Portuguese and Brazilian Culture (3 credits)
• POW 6276: Twentieth-Century Brazilian Novel (3 credits)
• POW 6385: Brazilian Lyric (3 credits)
• POW 6386: Brazilian Drama (3 credits)
• POW 6905: Individual Work (1-3 credits)
• POW 6930: Rotating Topics in Brazilian or Portuguese Literature (3 credits)