Communication Skills in Spanish

Sustainable Development Goals (SDG)

• 5. Gender equality

Objectives

Language will be your working tool in the future, and the fundamental objective of this subject is precisely to improve your communication skills in Spanish. To do this, we approach its contents in order to improve expression, both oral and written, and avoid errors in its daily use.

The objectives we must achieve are the following:

a) Express yourself correctly orally and in writing in Spanish.

b) Master the Spanish language at an advanced level.

c) To delve deeper into the most controversial and conflictive aspects of the language.

Learning outcomes

• Acquire and demonstrate advanced knowledge of the theoretical and practical aspects and working methodology in the field of language.
• Communicate knowledge, methodology, ideas, problems and solutions to all types of audiences (specialized or not) in a clear and precise manner.
• Show attitudes of respect towards linguistic, social and cultural diversity.
• Use language (verbal and non-verbal) appropriately in personal and professional interactions in Spanish.
• Expresses himself/herself correctly orally and in writing in Spanish in contexts specific to the field of communication.
• Prepares written texts in Spanish in a coherent manner and appropriate to his/her communicative situation.
• Analyze and identify grammatical errors in the Spanish language in different texts in the field of communication and resolve them correctly.

Competencies

General skills

• Demonstrate interpersonal skills and be able to adapt to new situations and work under pressure.

Specific skills

• Express oneself fluently and communicatively, orally and in writing, in Catalan, Spanish and English, using the discourse of traditional media and new digital media.

Basic skills

• Students can communicate information, ideas, problems and solutions to both specialists and non-specialists.
• Students have demonstrated knowledge and understanding in a field of study that builds on general secondary education with the support of advanced textbooks and knowledge of the latest advances in this field of study.

Core skills

• Exercise active citizenship and individual responsibility with a commitment to the values of democracy, sustainability and universal design, through practice based on learning, service and social inclusion.
• Use oral, written and audiovisual forms of communication, in one's own language and in foreign languages, with a high standard of use, form and content.

Content

Unit 1. The feminine exists! Shall we talk about quantities?

Unit 2. Let's personalize: the pronominal enigma.

Unit 3. Do we conjugate blindly?

Unit 4. Determiners and conjunctions, the poor relatives.

Unit 5. By hook or by crook or how to avoid the misuse of adjectives and adverbs.

Unit 6. Prepositions? Phew! A minefield.

Evaluation

There is a continuous assessment that involves the submission of writing exercises and questionnaires related to the contents of the subject.

Also a punctual evaluation , which consists of two partial exams throughout the course, approximately towards the middle of the semester (first partial) and at the end of the semester (second partial).

The percentages applied to obtain the final grade for the subject of Communication Skills (Spanish) are as follows:

a) Essays and questionnaires: 50% of the final grade. To pass the course, it is mandatory to submit at least 80% of the activities.

b) Two partial exams: 40% of the final grade. The course will only be graded averaged if the average grade of the two exams is 5.0 or higher.

c) Observation of participation: 5% of the final grade.

d) Monitoring of work completed: 5% of the final grade.

The compulsory activities, which must be submitted throughout the course, i.e. those corresponding to continuous assessment, cannot be recovered. In the complementary assessment period (determined by the head of studies), known as "Final Exams", only those exams that have been failed or those that the student has not attended can be taken. Only students who have failed previous partial exams can take the "Retake" exam.

Methodology

Lectures are given, complementary exercises and group practices are carried out, oral presentations, discussion of readings, evaluation tests, etc. Likewise, tutorials can be carried out, previously requested by the students, and a personalized follow-up of the students is carried out.

Bibliography

Key references

• Bosque, I. i& Monte, V. de (1999). Gramática descriptiva de la lengua española. Espasa.
• Gómez Torrego, L. (2007). Gramática didáctica del español. SM Real Academia Española.
• Gómez Torrego, L. (2011). Hablar y escribir correctamente. Arco Libros.
• Real Academia Española (2009). Nueva gramática de la lengua española: También consultable en línea: https://www.rae.es/gram%C3%A1tica/. Espasa.
• Real Academia Española (2024). Diccionario Panhispánico de dudas: También consultable en línea: https://www.rae.es/dpd/. Espasa.

Further reading

Teachers will provide complementary bibliography and compulsory reading throughout the course via the Virtual Campus.