UG.BA.SPAN - Bachelor of Arts - Spanish

Languages and Cultures- Spanish

California Lutheran University’s mission commits it to preparing its students to be leaders in a global society. To do this, it insists that its students be conversant in at least one language beyond their native tongue, and offers courses, majors, and minors in a number of languages and cultural areas. The Languages and Cultures Department reflects CLU’s intention to provide strong language instruction, engage students closely with other cultures, work across disciplines, language families, and cultures, and promote study abroad and in other cultural contexts. CLU students can expect growth and change from this dynamic and important department.

Proficiency Requirement

All CLU students are required, for Core-21, to meet the Foreign Language Proficiency in one of the following ways: by achieving a satisfactory score on a Language Proficiency Exam; by passing two courses in the same language; or by passing one course at the second semester level.

For further information and scheduled testing dates, contact the Languages and Cultures Department.

The goals of our Spanish program at Cal Lutheran are proficiency in the language and a high degree of familiarity with Hispanic literature and culture. To achieve these goals, we offer a wide variety of courses  that use the Spanish language through literature, linguistics, and culture.

Many of our Spanish majors and minors go into teaching, some into private industry and  others into  graduate school. Our program caters to the needs of these students by preparing them for an increasingly pluralistic and globally oriented society and a competitive career world. To that end and because language and literature are inseparable from a cultural context, our program has a strong cultural orientation. In all of our courses, we strive to develop  an understanding of as many aspects of Hispanic culture and civilization as possible . We also place a strong emphasis on developing students’ critical thinking skills in all our courses and many are conducted in Spanish in order to develop students’ proficiency in the language.

Spanish faculty use interactive lectures, group work, engaging cultural activities, such as  video/film presentations, computer-aided presentations and exercises, to give students a well-rounded learning experience.

In addition, students have the opportunity to participate in a variety of cultural activities on campus, such as the Día de los Muertos and Las Posadas celebrations in the fall, as well as the International Film Festival.  Spanish majors can also  become members of the Spanish honor society , Sigma Delta Pi, or the National Collegiate Foreign Language Honor Society, Alpha Mu Gamma,  and participate in LASO, the Latin American Students Organization.

We strongly encourage Spanish majors and minors to study abroad. The Spanish Department sponsors a program in Guanajuato, Mexico, which provides students with an excellent opportunity to polish their language skills through immersion in the culture. Other opportunities to spend a semester or junior year abroad at any one of a variety of universities in Spain and Latin America are available through the  Center for Global Engagement.