Spanish@UTA

The graduate students specializing in Spanish in our Modern Languages M.A. will benefit from the new, updated Reading List prepared by the faculty. The new list reflects current research and teaching in the field of Spanish linguistics and Spanish and Latin American literature. Professors in the program will be teaching titles from the list in their graduate courses.

Here’s a copy of the list: master-reading-list-spanish.pdf

Moreover, there is a new rotation of graduate classes in Spanish. Although it is subject to change, we present here as a general guide for our students. After each course number we have placed the initials of the faculty member teaching that course. Students should consult the graduate catalogue for pertinent course descriptions. –The Editors

Fall 08

SP5314 CC
SP5311 ARA
SP5303 RE

Spring 09
SP5329 AA
SP5313 IRP
SP5330 JC

Summer 09
SP5317 (*subject to change)

Fall 09

SP5315 GS
SP5318 IRP
SP5300 SK

Spring 10
SP5313 SW
SP5310 AA
SP5302 JC

Fall 10
SP5314 CC
SP5311 ARA
SP503 RE

Spring 11
SP5327 ARA
SP5313
SP53303

Dr. A. Raymond Elliott, Chair of Modern Languages

You might be wondering what the difference is between an MA in Spanish versus an MA in Modern or Romance Languages. Is earning an MA in Spanish better than getting an MA in Modern or Romance Languages? Are your job prospects less with an MA in Modern Languages? Are PhD programs at other universities less likely to accept you for admission to their programs with an MA in Modern Languages? Are you less prepared in the field with an MA in Modern Languages? Well, the short answer is “no”. The biggest difference I can see between an MA in Modern Languages and an MA in Spanish is purely “administrative”. The two degrees are actually the same. As university budgets get tighter, and competition for securing funding for programs is more fierce than ever, departments are fighting hard to get their piece of the pie. Modern Language departments throughout the United States, Canada and Europe have made the move to offering graduate degrees under the umbrella term of “Modern Languages,” “Romance Languages,” “Slavic Languages,” and “Germanic Languages,” in order to pool students into one category to show the true strength of the department in terms of numbers of students enrolled and total number of degrees awarded. Prior to establishing what I call, “Umbrella Degree Programs”, administrators artificially divided Modern Language Departments into several small pieces of the pie, thus viewing the individual languages separately and consequently never assessing departmental productivity as a whole and complete unit. The consequences of dividing up one department into six, seven or even eight smaller pieces were glaringly apparent: no one piece of the pie in Modern Languages departments had a sufficient number of students enrolled or graduating seniors or graduate students in any one language thus making it virtually impossible to compete with those departments that were viewed as one whole and complete pie. By offering an “umbrella degree”, we were no longer suffer from this artificial segmentation and can pool our numbers together to show the true strength of our department and its productivity. Have our degrees changed? The answer is “no!” Students who earn the MA in Modern Languages are still able to compete with students who have earned an MA in Spanish. In addition, our graduates still qualify for academic appointments in Spanish, Hispanic Studies, Translation, or in related disciplines, as well as for leadership positions in government agencies, public service, educational institutions, and foundations.

Students who earn an MA degree in Modern Languages from UT-Arlington, are in good company for they will join the ranks with other Masters of Modern Language students from Cornell, Princeton, University of Minnesota, University of Illinois, Case Western Reserve, Oxford University, George Mason University, Cambridge University, Carnegie Mellon University, Kansas State University, University of Montana, University of Pennsylvania, and the list goes on! So you see, the real value in your degree is not what it’s called. What’s important is mastery of the materials and content in addition to the skills you are learning so you can compete out there with the best of them!

Let’s Meet Our Graduate Students: Ginger González

As a sophomore in college I decided to take a summer course to fulfill my undergraduate language requirements in Cuernavaca, Mexico at the Spanish Language Institute (which just so happens to be the same institute where UTA currently sponsors a summer program!). The experience was amazing and I was surprised to find that I was successful communicating in Spanish, so I decided to continue my Spanish studies once I returned home. I signed up for a few more Spanish courses and planned to study the following summer in San Jose, Costa Rica. I loved it so much that I returned to Costa Rica to live and study for a year upon early graduation from college. I enjoyed conversing with anyone and everyone as I traveled about the country exploring rainforests, volcanoes and black sand beaches. I lived with a wonderful family that had a two-year-old son. Spending so much time with the boy and his family inspired my desire to work with young children, so when I returned to the U.S. I enrolled in an alternative certification program and became a bilingual kindergarten teacher in Dallas ISD. I continued to work for eight years as a bilingual education teacher in the DFW area. I am now happily married and am staying home with my two-year-old son until he begins school.

My interest in second language acquisition grew as I worked on a daily basis with Spanish-speaking children in the process of learning English. While I once thought I would get my Master’s degree in psychology, I ultimately decided to pursue a Spanish degree because language is what I truly enjoy most of all. I am so glad that I made the choice that I did because I have benefited from every single course that I have taken at UTA. I appreciate that each professor shares his or her own area of expertise with me as a student and has allowed me to greatly broaden my knowledge base.

Upon graduation from UTA, I would like to teach Spanish at the university level. I would also like to be involved at some point with the development of effective bilingual education programs in the public schools. If I have the opportunity, I would love to continue my Spanish studies and one day get my Ph.D. I would like to become a Spanish professor or a director of bilingual education programs in the public school system.

During my studies at UTA I have come to realize the importance of discussing ethnic and cultural differences and the way perceptions shape our past, present and future. I recommend Sab by Gertrudis Gomez de Avellaneda, El reino de este mundo by Alejo Carpentier and Los cuatro espejos by Quince Duncan.

My name is J.D. Stutler, and this is my second year as a graduate student in Modern Languages and my first year as a graduate student in TESOL. I am originally from Huntington, West Virginia, home of the Marshall University Thundering Herd where I received a BA and MA in Secondary Education, English Language Arts and Spanish 5-12 in 1993 and 1999 respectively. I participated in a study abroad program in Madrid, Spain in 1992 and 1999 at the Universidad Antonio de Nebrija. After a few teaching stints in my home state, I moved to Santa Cruz, Bolivia in 2000 to teach middle school English at the American school and work with mission projects. I became a legal resident of Bolivia and spent the most influential six years of my life there. For this reason, the country and people are very close to my heart. What I witnessed politically, socially, and economically on a daily basis forever changed how I look at the world and my own life.

In 2006, I decided to move to Texas to not only attend UTA but also the Cathedral of Hope in Dallas where I actively participate in the Hispanic ministry. After teaching Spanish in Dallas ISD for one year, I decided to become a full-time student. That has been the best decision that I have ever made academically. Even though I divide my time between my Spanish and TESOL classes, there is a complementary overlap in theory and content that is reinforced in both disciplines. In addition to my core classes, I am interested in research methods in linguistic cultural anthropology and social work. Currently, I am a GTA in the Spanish department. I love working with college-age students and a language program that is direct and extremely clear in its objectives and methodology. Again, from my TESOL classes I am able to apply second language theory and methodology to my own Spanish teaching.

If a position in Bolivia becomes available for 2009, I would like to apply to work in the English Language Fellow Program sponsored by the U.S. Department of State. If not, I hope to graduate in May 2009 and begin a doctoral program in TESOL or in Foreign Language Education with a specialization in TESOL. My research interests include sexual identity within second language, foreign language, or literacy programs and the innovations in language theory and pedagogy that are developing as a result of these identities. More specifically, I am interested in the use of language as an instrument for social and religious repression against sexual minorities in Bolivia. In the future, I would like to direct a U.S. or Bolivian university TESOL/foreign language program. I also would like to open up my own English language center in Bolivia that would offer educational, religious, legal, psychological, and social services for sexual minorities.

–J.D. Stutler

I lived in Madrid from 1976 to 1998 and followed my adopted country from the early days following the death of Franco through Spain’s entrance in the European Union and beyond, and witnessed first hand a failed golpe de estado, which shook the country somewhat but did not rattle the constitutional foundation or the resolve of the Spanish people to maintain their fledgling democracy. I arrived in Madrid literally at the crack of dawn on a freezing morning in January with a suitcase, a guitar, and rather deplorable Spanish. I did not know a soul and I did not have a job, but within 24 hours I found myself gainfully employed as an EFL teacher in one of the many language academies that sprouted like mushrooms during the early years of the “English boom.” I considered myself extremely lucky to have found work immediately, especially since, on arrival at Barajas airport, a Gran Turismo taxi driver tried to convince me that there were no hotels open at 5 a.m., and why not join him at the airport discoteca for a spin on the dance floor?

My original intention was to “live in the country for a couple of years and learn the language really well.” Two years was not nearly enough to learn the language really well, at least not by my standards, but it was enough for me to fall in love with Spain, the people, the culture, and… the rest is history, as the saying goes. In the ensuing years, I began to do freelance work. I continued teaching in a variety of places, including the Ministerio del Aire (Spanish Air Force) and supervising the EFL program for blind students in the O.N.C.E. (Organización Nacional de Ciegos de España, and yes, I learned to read and write Braille!) Eventually I branched out into translation work and became a part time editor for EFL materials for a large publishing company called Santillana. My work there was quite varied: writing and editing textbook material, directing recordings and photo shoots, giving talks at national conferences of teachers of English. During my last three years in Spain I was a full time senior editor. The story of how and why I returned to the U.S. is complicated, so I will spare you the agony. I will say that I am still on “withdrawal,” however, and even after nearly a decade back in the U.S., I don’t think I could have acclimatized very well if it weren’t for my Mexican husband whom I met at a bilingual Toastmaster’s club in Dallas. Another thing that has helped (excuse the shameless plug): I am also secretary of La Casa de España en Dallas-Fort Worth, so if you are interested in our activities, here’s our web page: http://www.lacasadeespana.org.

For the last 5 years I have taught high school Spanish in Dallas at a private college prep school for girls. It was after my first semester of teaching there that I decided to pursue a master’s degree in Spanish. Since my original B.A. was in English (UT Austin), I began my career at UTA as a “degreed undergraduate” and took several upper level Spanish courses in addition to the GRE before being able to start grad school.

I am now almost at the half-way mark, with 15 hours completed in addition to a French translation course which was both fascinating and humbling. Due to a change in my school’s calendar, I can no longer take summer school courses, so I have begun this semester with 2 courses and hope to be able to continue that intense rhythm for this year and the next so that I can take my masters’ exams in the summer of 2009.

So that’s where I’ve been and where I am. I have thoroughly enjoyed all of the courses I have taken at UTA, both at an undergraduate and graduate level. My professors, as well as my classmates, have been a continued source of inspiration. One of the courses I am currently enrolled in, MODL 5307 - Theories in Second Language Acquisition, is a veritable United Nations of students from around the world. Whether local or international, I am ever impressed with the variety of backgrounds and experience of my fellow students, and I find the interaction and interchange of experiences immensely stimulating.

My plans for the future? Difficult to say. My life has been a real smörgåsbord of work and study experiences, and the door is always open to new experiences. Successful completion of my M.A. is my only goal right now, but I would like to think that it will enhance my current teaching as well as offer more possibilities for teaching at another level or… who knows? El mundo es un pañuelo, pero… cada día se extiende más el pañuelo.