Spanish

About this opportunity

The BA program in Spanish, through The School of International Letters and Sciences, allows students to gain reading, speaking and writing proficiency through either a Spanish linguistics track or the Spanish literature and culture track. The linguistics track provides an in-depth understanding of the Spanish language. In contrast, the literature and culture track addresses issues throughout the Spanish-speaking world as seen through the lenses of the Spanish language, culture and literature.

Throughout the year, through study abroad and exchange programs, ASU offers opportunities to study in Spanish-speaking countries.

The Bachelor of Arts is also available for online students as a combination of courses from both tracks. Students are encouraged to contact a SILC academic advising to discuss the best option.

Thesis

The Honors thesis is the opportunity for the student to engage and interpret  with a phenomenon of cultural production in an intellectually principled way and making use of appropriate theoretical and critical sources. Thesis work can be research based or applied and include projects such as poster presentations, documentary film and photography, and students’ own exercises of cultural production, or any other format deemed appropriate by the faculty Thesis Director. 

Academic Preparation

Prior to embarking on a thesis, the student must have the equivalent of the Spanish BA, with courses distributed among upper-division language courses, survey and monographic literature courses, and courses devoted to the civilization and culture of the Hispanic world. Students should seek honors enrichment contracts in courses as well. For instance some Barrett students have created Spanish podcasts in their 300 and 400 level Spanish classes for honors contract work. 

Recommended Timeline

Time line: 12 mos.

• Month 1 - establish topic and conduct bibliographic search.
• Month 2 - formulation of thesis prospect and constitution of committee.
• Month 4 - sample chapter for critique.
• Month 9 - rough draft.
• Month 11 final draft.
• Month 12 - defense. Students are encouraged to accelerate this timeline.

Other Honors Opportunities

Any student who is majoring or minoring in Spanish and is taking language courses as of SPA 201 to SPA 412 can seek support from the faculty in the department: 

Carlos García-Fernández: [email protected]

Literature, Film and Culture of Spain (on Sabbatical Fall 2024 and returning Spring 2025)  

Cynthia Tompkins: [email protected]

Latin American literature, cultural production (especially film), human rights.

Azucena Hernández Ramírez: [email protected] 

Mexican and Latin American literature and culture, and sound studies.

Daniel Vargas: [email protected]

Business, technology, sustainability, community social issues, Latinx/Mexican-American, and Mexican arts and culture.

Anne Walton-Ramirez: [email protected]

Any topic related to linguistics, second language learning and acquisition, first language learning and acquisition, technology, current events