The M.A. in offers graduate students the opportunity to develop their language skills in many ways. The M.A. has a heavy concentration in Spanish and Spanish-American Literature and Cultural Studies. It also offers an in-depth study of Spanish language within a diverse variety of texts and contexts: the study of Spanish linguistics and Spanish usage in different geographical settings, as well as Spanish texts in comparative studies. Our M.A. graduates for the most part opt for a career in teaching Spanish at the college level, either by finding instructor positions in colleges and universities, or by pursuing a Ph.D. here at USC or elsewhere.

Learning outcomes of the Spanish programme delivered by University of South Carolina

• Students will demonstrate advanced, graduate-level Spanish language competence in the courses they take at both the 500-and 700-level. In these courses both oral and written skills are measured. Students are required to present orally research on a topic and engage other students in class discussion. Additionally, they will further demonstrate these skills by passing a comprehensive examination that is given in Spanish.  Those students who choose to write a thesis in Spanish (language in which it is written is left to the discretion of the thesis director and the student) will demonstrate graduate-level Spanish language competence.  Those students who take the non-thesis option will demonstrate graduate-level Spanish language competence by submitting a paper from one of the additional language courses they choose.  

• Students will produce original research which will demonstrate their use of appropriate graduate-level discourse in Spanish pertinent to the topic at hand. 

• Students will demonstrate their understanding of the mechanics of the Spanish language (phonetics, structure, relations to other languages, and linguistic/regional variations) by conducting research and interviews and by participating in classroom discussions and presentations on related topics.

• Students will demonstrate reading knowledge in an additional foreign language.