The MA program in Spanish provides students a customizable, flexible curriculum to develop advanced linguistic and cultural expertise in a language and to apply that expertise in the disciplinary or professional contexts of their choice. Whether in the “global village” of today’s world or in multi-ethnic communities such as Chicago, this advanced expertise is an increasingly valuable personal and professional asset, requiring appropriate training and credentials. The MA program especially seeks to serve adult professionals (government employees, social workers, healthcare providers, business people, or certified K-12 teachers) whose careers require this applied expertise.
The MA in Spanish may be expanded to include also select graduate certificate programs covering particular areas of interest. Students participating in a combined MA/certificate program should consult with their academic advisor to determine what coursework might count toward both programs. A separate application process for the certificate is required. Students who are interested in any of the following combination programs should contact the Graduate Student Services Office for additional information.
- Spanish + Digital Humanities Certificate
- Spanish + Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL) Certificate
- Spanish + Translation and Interpreting Studies Certificate
| Program Requirements | Quarter Hours |
|---|---|
| Degree Requirements | 48 |
| Total hours required | 48 |
Learning Outcomes
Students will be able to:
- Speak and participate in most informal and some formal conversations from topics related to school, home, and leisure activities, to many related to employment, current events, and matters of public and community interest.
- Narrate and describe in the major time frames of past, present, and future in paragraph-length discourse with some control of aspect, as well as combine and link sentences into connected discourse of paragraph length; although these narrations and descriptions tend to be handled separately rather than interwoven.
- Use communicative strategies such as rephrasing and circumlocution, and contribute to a conversation with sufficient accuracy, clarity, and precision to convey their intended message without misrepresentation or confusion.
- Combine and link sentences into texts of paragraph length and structure, and use minimal control of common structures and vocabulary.
- Listen and comprehend (albeit unevenly) short conventional narrative and descriptive texts with a clear underlying structure.
- Understand conventional narrative and descriptive texts with clear underlying structure (though their comprehension may be uneven).
Degree Requirements
Course Requirements
The curriculum of the MA in Spanish consists of twelve graduate courses (48 quarter credit hours) in Spanish (i.e. courses with the SPN prefix). With the approval of the student’s advisor and the director of the graduate program, a student may count one or two relevant courses taught in English among their twelve courses.
Graduation Grade Point Average Requirement
In order to graduate from the program, students must complete all program requirements with a minimum GPA of 3.000.
Student Handbook
Students in a graduate program offered through Modern Languages follow the requirements, rules, and regulations set by the College of Liberal Arts and Social Sciences and the DePaul University Graduate Handbook. There are additional academic regulations specific to students in a Modern Language graduate program.
Language Proficiency for Admission
In order to be eligible for admission to a Modern Language graduate program a student must have successfully completed at least 20 quarter credit hours (or the equivalent in semester credit hours) of advanced college-level coursework in the language (this is the equivalent of an undergraduate “minor” at most colleges or universities in the United States).
Students who lack 20 quarter credit hours (or the equivalent in semester credit hours) of coursework must demonstrate proficiency in the language by attaining a rating of at least “Intermediate High” on two standardized tests from the American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages (ACTFL): the Oral Proficiency Interview (OPI) and the Writing Proficiency Test (WPT)
Transfer Credit
Students may apply (“transfer”) toward their MA programs in Modern Languages no more than eight quarter hours of graduate-level credit completed at another college or university, with approval from the departmental director of graduate programs. Students may not transfer credits already used to satisfy the degree requirements of any program at another college or university.
Students seeking to apply “transfer” credit toward their MA programs in Modern Languages must complete the college transfer request form.
Graduation with Distinction
Students from the MA programs in Modern Languages earn their degrees “with distinction” if they graduate with a cumulative grade point average (GPA) of 4.0 (on a scale where 4.0=A). To verify eligibility, students and their faculty advisors should contact the departmental advisor and the departmental director of graduate studies before the deadline to apply for graduation.