Master in Teaching Spanish as a Foreign Language

Competencies

1. Provide broad and up-to-date training to primary- and secondary-level Spanish as a Foreign Language (SFL) teachers—both in public and private institutions, SFL teachers in adult education, and graduates with relevant qualifications intending to work as SFL teachers, laying the foundations to develop academic and professional skills necessary for teaching SFL with fluency, consistency, and according to the educational context of their professional activity.
2. Provide education in new or unfamiliar environments of education within broad contexts related to teaching SFL so that students can apply the knowledge acquired, formulate judgments, make decisions, solve problems, and reflect on their own teaching and professional development.
3. Provide students with the methodological tools for conducting specific educational research in language and linguistics applied to Spanish teaching.

Outcomes

At the end of the program, students will be able to:

1. Analyze, articulate, and evaluate learning and second language acquisition theories and the methodological trends in the teaching of foreign languages essential for effective teaching and successful learning.
2. Analyze how individual factors (cognitive, affective, social, and cultural) affect foreign language learning, and design instructional strategies to address the learning needs of SFL students.
3. Manage the SFL classroom so that group processes guarantee the learning of all students: creating a safe space in which all students participate and work collaboratively; using language that fosters the construction of knowledge; selecting activities of greater and lesser cognitive effort; selecting the type of grouping most appropriate for each activity; and paying attention to learning opportunities that may arise, among other aspects.
4. Integrate language skill development in the SFL classroom to promote realistic and meaningful language use.
5. Analyze, evaluate, select, adapt, and design adequate materials for the teaching of SFL.
6. Make critical and reflective interpretations of Spanish usage, applying cultural, linguistic, and pragmatic knowledge when planning the teaching and learning process of SFL.
7. Analyze the function of the formal system and communication actions and provide an appropriate method in the Spanish classroom.
8. Plan and evaluate the short- and long-term Spanish teaching-learning process, taking into account current linguistic pedagogical trends, the educational context, the methodological approach, lesson plans, students’ interests, needs, and learning styles, and technology advances.
9. Integrate ICT in a meaningful, rather than arbitrary, way into the teaching activities for the SFL learning process, and critically analyze the digital materials created in the field.
10. Integrate specific training in learning strategies within the program’s objectives and unit contents, aligning it to students’ needs while implementing the necessary learning-to-learn tools.
11. Integrate socio-cultural content into the Spanish classroom to give students a gradual understanding of cultural facts and products and socio-cultural knowledge and attitudes of Spanish-speaking countries, the development of intercultural awareness, the ability to act as a cultural intermediary and effectively deal with cultural misunderstandings in conflict situations, and the development of empathy, openness, and interest toward other cultures.
12. Properly address the varieties of Spanish in the SFL or SSL classroom according to the teaching and learning context.
13. Analyze and evaluate the student’s own teaching and professional development through tools, such as self-observation, journaling, self-assessment, teaching portfolios, etc.; identify areas of learning that can be improved; and plan and implement a personal plan of improvement and lifelong learning.
14. Access and correctly use academic literature related to language pedagogy and linguistics applied to foreign language teaching, especially literature related to the Spanish language.
15. Design and evaluate specific methodological procedures for research in the field of language pedagogy and linguistics applied to foreign language teaching, especially in research related to the Spanish language.