Student Opportunities

UROC! Spanish Major Students Present Summer Research Projects 

Congratulations to students from the WLC Major in Spanish Language and Hispanic Cultures who presented their current research projects at the 2019 UROC Summer Research Symposium. The Undergraduate Research Opportunities Center at CSUMB creates opportunities for undergraduate students to conduct original research in collaboration with CSUMB faculty members.

Spanish in the Professions: The Need of Intermediate Courses on College Campuses, Nery Gonzalez* & Dr. Rebecca Pozzi

In light of the recent closure of over 600 language departments, language courses in higher education in the United States must become more relevant to the needs of students, universities, and communities. One way such departments may address this challenge is through ascertaining institutional needs and building courses accordingly through interdisciplinary collaboration. Nevertheless, to our knowledge, few existing studies document the creation of such courses. While Spanish in the Professions courses are popular in higher education, they are often offered to majors or minors at an advanced level, once students have already determined their interest in language study. Nevertheless, considering that students with different majors may be interested in and called on to use Spanish in their array of professions in local, national, and/or global contexts, an intermediate-level course relating to students' career aspirations is a logical choice for obtaining and maintaining students' interest in language. With this in mind, the present study describes the course development and implementation of an intermediate-level Spanish for the Professions course created to save the language requirement at a state university. We expect the course to meet the needs of the institution and we hope to share with the field the benefits and costs of creating such a course in collaboration with colleagues across disciplines. This work will be important for determining the effectiveness of the course in meeting the students' and institution's needs and it will be beneficial for providing information and materials to other departments looking to renew their relevance and maintain their presence on college campuses.

Hispanic Testimonios of Monterey County, Linda Heredia Chavez*, Brian Chavez*, & Dr. Christine Fernandez

The anthology “Hispanic Testimonios of Monterey County” discloses various issues of social justice and its intersections with race/ethnicity, politics, gender, social class, among others from people with Hispanic heritage. As of date only two other scholarly publications in Spanish document the experiences of Hispanics in southern California such as Otras voces, nuevas identidades en la frontera sur de California (2017) as well as 21 Miles of Scenic Beauty...and then Oxnard (2011). The methods implemented include transcribing audio recording in Spanish, editing preliminary drafts of oral histories, compiling supplemental audiovisual materials, and collaborating on the organization of the material in the form of an enhanced e-book. The final product of this research is an enhanced e-anthology, which is considered to be the first scholarly publication in Spanish of this nature in the northern-central coast of California. The testimonios presented contribute for equality and respect for human rights. It will promote the active participation of the people, as well as the creation of a solid and secure platform to create awareness surrounding cases of social justice. Through this project, the linguistic and cultural diversity of our community is well represented by empowering those whose stories have been under the shadow.

Second Language Auditory Discrimination in Japanese by English Native Speakers, Hana Jacinto* and Dr. Shigeko Sekine

JLC Major and CLC Language Facilitator Hana Jacinto was welcomed into the inaugural cohort of the Koret Scholars Program to conduct interdisciplinary research in the social sciences. She is mentored by Dr. Shigeko Sekine. The project title is "Second Language Auditory Discrimination in Japanese by English Native Speakers" and she is examining 1) How well English native speakers are able to distinguish unique Japanese sounds that do not exist in the English sound system, 2) How the participants' language learning background plays a role in their performance of word recognition tests, and 3) The effectivity of the sound training that aims to enhance auditory discrimination skills.

Ms. Hacinto was able to present her work at both the Research, Scholarship, & Creative Activity Spring Showcase that took place in April, as well as the Summer Research Symposium in August where she shared the data collected in the spring semester and showcased the results.

Ms. Hacinto says her "ultimate goal is to incorporate the knowledge and skills I've gained from this research experience in my CLC tutoring sessions and help the students with strengthening their Japanese listening/auditory discrimination skills. This opportunity as a Koret Scholar and working with Dr. Sekine motivated me to continue learning about applied linguistics and second language acquisition at a graduate school." 

Spanish Heritage Language Program

Since 2012, the School of World Languages and Cultures (WLC) at CSUMB has offered a course designed for Spanish heritage language learners (students who grow up speaking and/or listening to Spanish at home or within a Spanish-speaking community but whose dominant language is English). WLC joins a growing number of departments across the country that recognize the distinct needs and abilities of this population as opposed to those of traditional second language learners who have not been in regular contact with Spanish growing up.

The goal of our program is to promote Spanish language development and maintenance by providing a supportive learning environment that takes into consideration the rich bilingual/bicultural background of our diverse student body. We welcome and nourish our students' linguistic resources and cultural heritages while aiming to expand their oral, reading, and writing skills in Spanish. We seek to do this through exploring topics related to the experiences of U.S. Latinxs as well as Spanish-speaking cultures both in and outside the United States. Moreover, we aim to build community among heritage language learners at CSUMB in addition to fostering learning opportunities in the classroom and beyond.

Our course designed for Spanish heritage language learners is Spanish 212 (Spanish for Spanish Speakers I). It fulfills CSUMB's language requirement and prepares students to enroll in upper-division courses leading to a major or minor in Spanish. To find out if this course is appropriate for you, please take the placement test and email WLC with your score to obtain a permission code.

SPAN 212 is the right course for you if:

• You earned a score between a 441 and a 750 on the placement test.
• You speak Spanish at home and/or you learned to speak Spanish in an immersion context.

If you have questions or concerns, please contact the program coordinator, Dr. Becky Pozzi, Director of Spanish Lower Division Language Program.

Testimonials

"Span 212...is an engaging course that showed me a way to discover my identity and to be comfortable with myself, because I am me."

"Span 212 changed me to become a better bilingual and have more respect for my heritage. Be more open about my race and language."

"If you speak Spanish but don't know where the acentos go this class helps a lot."

"This [course] has made a difference in my life because now I feel way more confident with my writing abilities. I feel that this will help me in the outside world, for example when it comes to my career."

"Spanish 212 truly made me appreciate and value my culture and traditions even more."

"...thanks to the course I definitely became proud of the languages I speak (Spanish and English)."

"...there are frequent discussions during the class with other classmates that make it feel like a small like-minded community in the classroom."

Heritage Spanish Faculty