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FOR the purposes of this report, the history of the Spanish department at Middlebury begins in March 1997, with the external review of the department conducted by Gene Bell-Villada, of Williams College; Samuel Saldívar, of the United States Military Academy; and Mary-Anne Vetterling, of Regis College. This was a watershed moment in the unit’s recent history, when past accomplishments were recognized, strengths and weaknesses formally assessed, and new directions set for the future. On acceptance of the external review, the college began to put in place the structures and programs that have come to define the shape of the department today.
The members of the review committee performed a general evaluation of the department and then focused on two specific areas: curriculum and staffing. In assessing the curriculum, the reviewers identified areas where reform seemed warranted, as a response to either student or faculty concerns or both. They noted the strength of the language sequence, commended the breadth and variety of advanced courses offered, and made concrete recommendations for improvement. They then addressed faculty staffing. After analyzing staffing patterns in the department at and before the time of the review, the evaluators recommended the creation of new tenure-track positions in specific areas. This report thus builds from the external review, using the blueprint it established for the Spanish department as a framework for a consideration of the department’s history, goals, and evolution.
Our current mission statement was composed and approved at a departmental retreat in May 1999, when faculty members had the opportunity to discuss our desired learner outcomes. Our mission statement reads as follows:
The Department of Spanish offers its students a thorough training in Spanish language that enables them to interact and communicate effectively with native Spanish speakers globally.
Our programs offer students the opportunity to achieve high competence in written and spoken Spanish, in understanding Hispanic literatures and cultures, and in applying this linguistic, literary, and cultural knowledge in the study of other disciplines.
As juniors, most students will go to the C. V. Starr-Middlebury School in Spain (Madrid, Getafe, Segovia, or Logroño) or School in Spanish America (Argentina or Uruguay), or to an approved program in Latin America, where they will put their linguistic and cultural skills to practical use.
A Spanish major will be expected to have a thorough command of the language, to be conversant with the major currents of Hispanic literature, and to have a broad knowledge of Hispanic culture gained through the experience of courses at Middlebury and study abroad.
(www.middlebury.edu/~publish/catalog/spanish.html)
Regular department meetings tend to focus on immediate concerns (hiring, registration, placement, advising, scheduling, enrollment management, theses and independent-study proposals, lectures and other events, Spanish House concerns, crisis of the week), with the result that in-depth discussion of our mission and educational objectives is generally conducted at departmental retreats. These retreats were instituted in 1999 and usually take place over a half or full day in May. It is important to us to be able to step back from our hectic schedules and devote our attention to long-term issues, such as our mission and goals, faculty hiring plans, curricular reform, planning for seminars and special courses, lecture series, and planning for programs abroad.
The 1997 external review noted the rising demand for Spanish, although no specific numbers were given. Since data were reported to the MLA in 1999, enrollments have generally remained stable; small dips and rises may be attributed to changes in class size and changes in the number of FTE teaching staff. In 2000, the administration raised limits on all Spanish classes by 20% to 33% (with our small class sizes, even increments of three or four students show up as substantial percentages).
We have placed special restrictions on specific classes to manage the constant pressures on enrollments at certain levels. Access to first-year Spanish classes is restricted to freshmen and sophomores, despite demand from juniors and seniors for language study at the beginning level. Similarly, our 300-level course Introduction to Hispanic Literatures is open only to majors, while access to senior seminars is restricted to senior majors. In each of these two cases, this is accomplished during the registration period by requiring the instructor’s or chair’s approval. (See table 1, p. 58.)
That Middlebury does not have a language requirement is generally favored by the language departments here. The lack of such a requirement helps keep demand for Spanish manageable, while granting us the luxury of having in our classes primarily students who have a sound academic rationale for choosing to be there. At the same time, growth in interdisciplinary programs at the college that do require or strongly encourage language study and study abroad (primarily international studies and environmental studies) has created additional demand for most languages, especially Spanish. We have worked with these programs to try to offer courses at the appropriate levels each semester to meet this demand. For example, Latin American studies majors (one of the tracks of international studies) must take an advanced Spanish course on their return from a required study-abroad experience. The Spanish department has identified a series of courses that satisfy this requirement and has labeled them clearly in its catalog.
At the time of the 1997 review, the Spanish department consisted of three tenured full professors and four tenure-track and three non-tenure-track junior faculty members (10 FTEs). The department had for a number of years hired temporary teaching staff to meet demand, creating a revolving-door effect. This practice, in combination with some turnover of tenure-track faculty members, had led to an unstable staffing situation. As the reviewers noted, there were significant adverse consequences: a disruption of continuity and stability; lack of student engagement in the department; continual expenditure of time, energy, and resources in recruiting short-term staff; a lack of engagement in the life and mission of the department by term-contract teaching staff.
The review team recommended hiring additional tenure-track faculty members, including a tenured associate professor to chair the department. As a result, in 1998 four new tenure-track appointments were made: a tenured associate professor to be the new chair (the author of the present report) and three junior hires in Latin American literature and culture. Two of the temporary lines were discontinued, leaving the department in fall 1998 with three full professors, one associate professor, five tenure-track assistant professors, and two non-tenure-track assistant professors (11 FTEs).
Since then, one of the tenure-track assistant professors resigned, two were tenured and promoted, two more tenure-track assistant professors were hired, and one associate professor was promoted to full professor. We now have only one non-tenure-track line in Spanish, due to expire in May 2004. Thus the present staffing is four full professors, two associate professors, four tenure-track, and one non-tenure-track assistant professors (11 FTEs through May 2004, 10 thereafter).
Staffing is also affected by the college’s leave policy, which generally results in either one or two faculty members on leave in any given year. Thus in the Spanish department over a six-year cycle two people will be on leave during three of those years and one on leave during the remaining three, reducing our teaching staff by one or two each year. When the current visiting appointment expires in a year, those numbers will drop by one, leaving either nine or eight.
At the same time, the department’s expected contribution to college-wide and interdisciplinary programs has been increased. We generally offer two first-year seminars, one literature 101 section, and two international studies courses. Before 1998 the department contributed to these programs only sporadically.
This increased involvement in college programs and various staffing factors, in conjunction with important curricular changes, have produced a net reduction in the courses offered in Spanish, especially at the advanced level. Whereas in 1998–99 we could offer at least one advanced (upper-300 level) course in peninsular literature and culture and one in Spanish American literature and culture each semester, in general we can now offer only one of each a year. One solution we are experimenting with is to offer pan-Hispanic courses that count for both the peninsular and Spanish American tracks, such as translation, advanced grammar, varieties of Spanish, films of Luis Buñuel, and representations of popular culture in Hispanic literatures.
The 1997 review recommended the following curricular reforms:
that the department create a bridge course following the four-semester language sequence
that in advanced courses a greater balance be achieved between the specific interests of the faculty and the broader needs of the department and the college
that more canonical literature courses be offered—the reviewers noted that advanced courses had very narrowly focused topics
The first recommendation seems to have arisen from a perception that after completing the language sequence, students needed to ease into more content-heavy courses. The department agreed that students needed an additional semester of study before entering the 300 level, but rather than simply tack on a course at the end, we thought it best to reconfigure the entire sequence. The existing structure consisted of Spanish 101 in the fall semester (5 contact hours per week), Spanish 102 in the four-week January term (8–10 contact hours per week), Spanish 201 in the spring semester (5 contact hours per week), and Spanish 219 in the fall semester of the sophomore year (3 contact hours per week). After completing Spanish 219, students could proceed to one of the lower-level 300 courses (Introduction to Hispanic Literature, Ideas and Cultures of Spain, and Ideas and Cultures of Spanish America).
The new language sequence extends the 100-level program to three semesters: Spanish 101 (fall, 5 contact hours per week), Spanish 102 (January term, 8–10 contact hours per week), Spanish 103 (spring, 5 contact hours per week). The 200-level program consists of two semesters: Spanish 210 (3 contact hours per week) and Spanish 220 (3 contact hours per week). (In Middlebury’s January term, each student takes only one course, studying a subject intensively over the four-week term; in Spanish, the January-term course, Spanish 102, is required of students who began Spanish 101 in the fall and who wish to continue studying the language.) While certainly not unique, our program places strong emphasis on reading and writing skills from the beginning. A high percentage of students who take beginning Spanish continue on to the advanced level, for a number of reasons: Middlebury has no language requirement, so students do not perceive a “natural” place to stop; satisfactory completion of a 300-level course is a prerequisite to study abroad, and many programs require study abroad; international studies majors must complete an advanced course in their language on their return from study abroad. Finally, the institutional culture places high value on language competence. To prepare students thoroughly for advanced courses, we favor content-based instruction throughout the language sequence, and we work to help students improve and refine their language skills right through to the most advanced courses.
There is a graduated progression from Spanish 101 through Spanish 220, from primarily communicative strategies, with some writing and authentic readings, to an advanced grammar review plus a book-length reading and intensive writing practice. In Spanish 103, the third course of the basic sequence, in addition to grammar and oral practice, students read Gabriel García Márquez’s Aventura de Miguel Littín, clandestino en Chile in its entirety and write a series of brief essays on the book and its cultural and historical context, focusing on Chile during and since the Pinochet dictatorship. In Spanish 210, students begin a grammar review, continue oral practice, and read Laura Esquivel’s Como agua para chocolate, writing slightly longer pieces on the text and its cultural and historical context, centered on revolutionary Mexico. Finally, in Spanish 220, they continue the grammar review at a more advanced level and read Javier Cercas’s Soldados de Salamina, against the historical and cultural background of Francoist Spain. In this course, the writing tasks are longer and more sophisticated; at all levels, writing assignments are submitted in draft form and subsequently revised and resubmitted. Thus by the time they finish the sequence, students have read three full-length books in Spanish, have worked through and thoroughly reviewed standard Spanish grammar, and have extensive writing practice on academic topics. We believe that the transition from the language sequence to the 300-level courses is therefore relatively smooth.
The other two curricular recommendations made by the external reviewers are beginning to be addressed. Our greater faculty stability has allowed us to develop some new courses, many of which have a broader—sometimes pan-Hispanic—focus. We have added advanced courses focusing on or incorporating nonliterary topics (e.g., Latin American Visual Culture, Nationalisms of Spain, Painting and Poetry, Language and Society in the Spanish-Speaking World), while maintaining literary study as the core of our major. We have not added traditional canonical courses beyond the one-semester surveys (Spanish 306, 307), however; this topic is still open for discussion in the department.
Most Spanish majors also major in another subject. Middlebury students have the option of a single, double, or joint major (in the joint major, they complete core requirements for both majors and do senior work that combines the two subjects). Common combinations with Spanish include other languages, economics, political science, psychology, and history. Moreover, the interdisciplinary international studies major intersects in important ways with Spanish: Latin American studies majors necessarily take Spanish throughout their program, and those with a disciplinary focus in literature and culture complete the core requirements for the Spanish major; European studies majors with a regional focus on Spain and a disciplinary focus in literature and culture do the same.
Virtually all majors spend at least one semester studying abroad. While not a requirement, we strongly encourage all advanced language students to spend the junior year abroad, in one of our programs in Spain and Spanish America. International studies majors are required to study abroad, and those whose language of specialization is Spanish have the same choices as Spanish majors.
We do not conduct senior exams or exit assessments of graduating majors, and a topic of continuing discussion in the department is just what we expect our graduating seniors to know and to be able to do. We do require a senior seminar of all majors, which serves as a capstone course in which students are expected to speak, read, and write correctly and comfortably about focused academic topics. Recent seminar topics have included The Idea of (Latin) America, Contemporary Spanish American Literature of Fantasy, Gauchesca Literature, Cervantes and Don Quijote, Nationalisms of Spain, Fictional and Cinematic Representations of Masculinity from Francoist Spain to the Present.
The extent to which technology is incorporated into teaching the curriculum depends almost entirely on the individual faculty member. Middlebury provides excellent resources (smart classrooms, well-equipped labs, training) for any instructor who wishes to make use of them. In Spanish courses, use of technology ranges from basic course Web pages with assignments and useful links, sometimes with audio and video files, to student and instructor PowerPoint presentations, electronic conferencing, and CD-ROM or Web-based homework assignments. The use or nonuse of the available technology reflects something of a generational divide: the junior faculty members have more experience and tend to be more comfortable with it, although at least two members of the senior faculty have done extensive course development and design on the Web.
Our students have many opportunities to use their language skills outside the classroom. On campus there are daily Spanish-language tables in one of the dining halls, with table service in the language. We have a Spanish House, a free-standing residence with room for ten students, a resident assistant, and a native-speaker language assistant. All house activities take place in Spanish, and a different department faculty member works closely with the house each month, sharing the responsibility and ensuring that all students are actively involved.
Some Middlebury Spanish students choose to spend a summer (or two) in the Spanish School, a total-immersion program that runs each summer. The department works closely with the director of the Spanish School to make articulation between these programs as smooth as possible.
Spanish students hold internships both in the United States and abroad, and the college has worked hard to expand Spanish-language opportunities. So far the department has not been very involved in service learning, but two faculty members recently received a grant to develop such opportunities for advanced students.
Finally, faculty members in other departments occasionally offer courses in their disciplines in Spanish, notably professors with a focus on Latin America in the departments of history and political science. We encourage our students to take these courses, and we count the courses toward the major in Spanish.
Following is a broad overview of Middlebury’s study-abroad programs. Middlebury’s School in Spain celebrated its fiftieth anniversary in 2002 and has grown from an island program housed at the Instituto Internacional to encompass a free-standing center in Madrid and three direct-enrollment options at Spanish universities: Carlos III (Getafe), SEK (Segovia), and La Rioja (Logroño). The new school in Spanish America, based in Argentina and Uruguay, opened in fall 2002. Both schools have a resident director (Madrid, Buenos Aires); college faculty members do not generally teach in our programs abroad. A small number of opportunities for research abroad in conjunction with one of the schools is a fairly new initiative, and thus far only one member of the department has taken part.
Department faculty members do occasionally offer January-term courses abroad: two recent examples were team-taught interdisciplinary courses in Cuba (Spanish and history) and in Barcelona (Catalan and anthropology).
The growth in international studies and other interdisciplinary programs has meant that more than half of the students at the Middlebury schools in Spain and Spanish America at any given time are not Spanish majors. As a result, the Instituto Internacional has offered fewer literature courses and more courses in history, economics, political science, and environmental studies. Furthermore, the direct-enrollment options at Spanish, Argentinean, and Uruguayan universities offer majors in many disciplines the opportunity to study with local students in regular classes within their major.
Staff at the school in Spain have begun a project using oral interviews to assess student proficiency in listening and speaking on arrival in Spain and toward the end of each semester. This is a recent initiative, and we do not yet have enough data to report results.
Teacher education is a separate program at Middlebury, and each year a handful of Spanish majors graduate with a degree in Spanish and Vermont licensure. The teacher education program offers courses in curriculum development, teaching reading and writing, and other subjects; supervises student teachers during the professional semester; and oversees the completion of the licensure portfolio. Connections with area schools and teacher mentors are managed by the teacher education program, not by the Spanish department. Spanish faculty members participate on an ad hoc basis, as liberal arts mentors to student teachers. Two faculty members with expertise in second-language pedagogy may occasionally teach foreign-language-related courses in the program.
Middlebury College is not situated in an area with a large number of heritage speakers of Spanish, although we do attract such students from other regions of the country. We have developed a course for heritage Spanish speakers, to be offered regularly, though not every semester. This year, the department will assess its efficacy and decide whether or not to make it a permanent offering.
In another new initiative, in 2002–03 the Spanish department, in collaboration with Latin American studies, offered courses in Portuguese for the first time. This initiative coincides with the opening of the new Middlebury Portuguese Language School, in summer 2003. Initially, we offer basic and intermediate Portuguese language, as well as Brazilian and Latin American literature in translation. In the third year, enrollment patterns will be assessed to determine future directions for Portuguese at Middlebury.
The administrative structure of our college is such that departmental budgets cover office expenses and supplies only. Salaries, faculty development, research funding, and conference travel are administered by the dean of the faculty, and individual departments have no control over them.
Until 1999, we were a department of Spanish and Italian. At that time the two units, which had functioned independently in all practical ways, were officially separated into two departments. The single budget was severed into two proportional pieces, and since then our budget has been fairly stable. The general department budget has increased approximately 5% since 1999.
This report has tried to present an overview of the recent history, goals, and evolution of the Spanish department at Middlebury College. It has focused on a number of specific topics but primarily on staffing and curricular issues. The department has made significant progress in addressing areas of concern identified in the 1997 external review and has developed structures and mechanisms to face future challenges. The single most important achievement—with an impact on every area discussed here—is our evolution from a department that was 50% non-tenure-track faculty members in 1997 to one consisting of 91% tenure-track faculty members in 2003.
Donna M. Rogers
| 1995 | 1999 | 2002 | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Introductory sequence (1st year only) |
50 | 80 | 72 |
| Advanced courses (3rd and 4th years) |
45 | 60 | 62 |
| Majors | 75 | 100 | 96 |
© 2003 by the Association of Departments of Foreign Languages. All Rights Reserved.
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