World Languages and Literatures

• General Information
• Departmental Distinction
• Majors, Minors and Courses in World Languages

www.smu.edu/worldlanguages

Associate Professor Dayna Oscherwitz, Department Chair

ARABIC: Senior Lecturer: Liljana Elverskog
Lecturer: Omar Al-Rashdan
 
CHINESE: Senior Lecturer: Yan Xia
Professors of Practice: Xiao Hu, Wei Qu

FRENCH: Professor: Thomas DiPiero
Associate Professors: Dayna Oscherwitz, Hervé Tchumkam
Assistant Professor: Maxime Foerster
Senior Lecturers: Gwendoline Aaron, Paola Buckley, Martine Kincaid
Lecturers: Omar Al-Rashdan, Denis Bettaver, Caroline Grubbs, Rachel Ney
Professors of Practice: Janet Dodd, Thierry Tirado
 
GERMAN: Associate Professor: Marie-Luise Gäettens
Senior Lecturer: Stephen Grollman
Lecturer: Gizem Arlsan
 
ITALIAN: Senior Lecturers: Brandy Alvarez, Teresa Brentegani
Lecturers: Damiano Bonuomo, Daniele Forlino
 
JAPANESE: Senior Lecturer: Keiko Flores

LATIN: Lecturer: Justin Michael Germain

SPANISH: Professors: Denise DuPont, Francisco Morán
Associate Professors: Olga Colbert, Luis Maldonado-Peña, Alberto Pastor, Elizabeth Russ, Rubén Sánchez-Godoy, Gabriela Vokic, Alicia Zuese
Senior Lecturers: Maria Eguez, Susana Fernandez-Solera, Verónica León, Leticia McDoniel
Lecturers: Sarah Bogard, Marlen Y. Collazo, Miroslava Detcheva, Rachel Hall, Constantin Icleanu, Michael Korrie, Allison Larkin, Maria Villar Martin, Ana Acosta Melgarejo, Maria del Pilar Melgarejo, Luis Polanco, Joy Saunders
Professors of Practice: Donna Binkowski, Lourdes Molina 

General Information

The Department of World Languages and Literatures offers eight modern languages and one classical language. Students may pursue a B.A. degree in French, French Studies, German, Spanish and World Languages and minors in Arabic, Chinese, French, German, Italian, Italian Area Studies, Japanese, Latin, Russian Area Studies and Spanish. The B.A. in World Languages allows students to specialize in two different languages.

In pursuing language study, students gain communicative proficiency in a second or third language, as well as cultural proficiency and heightened global awareness. Courses taught toward a language major or minor emphasize all of these through the study of communication, culture, literature, linguistics, history, film, politics business, and other diverse aspects of language and culture. Students may also apply these skills through a language-based internship, either in Dallas or abroad, and through independent research.

SMU Abroad Rules for Credit. Students participating in an SMU Abroad term program may automatically count nine hours of courses taught in an approved program toward a B.A. and six hours toward a minor. Students studying abroad for a full year may apply 15 hours with specific approval from the area chair of the language.

Departmental Distinction

1. Overall 3.500 GPA by the middle of the junior year.
2. Overall 3.700 GPA in the major by the middle of the junior year.
3. Invitation of area faculty after the area as a whole has discussed the student’s candidacy.
4. Two extra courses beyond the requirements for the major. One course must include a major research paper, to be undertaken and completed in the first term of the candidate’s senior year.

Majors, Minors and Courses in World Languages

Requirements for a B.A. degree in French, French Studies, German, Spanish and World Languages, as well as for minors in Arabic, Chinese, French, German, Italian, Italian Area Studies, Japanese, Latin, Russian Area Studies and Spanish are given below.

Programs

• French Studies, B.A.
• French, B.A.
• German, B.A.
• Spanish, B.A.
• World Languages: Chinese, B.A.
• World Languages: French, B.A.
• World Languages: German, B.A.
• World Languages: Italian, B.A.
• World Languages: Spanish, B.A.

• Arabic Minor
• Chinese Minor
• French Minor
• German Minor
• Italian Area Studies Minor
• Italian Minor
• Japanese Minor
• Latin Minor
• Russian Area Studies Minor
• Spanish Minor

Courses

• SPAN 3375 - Topics in Spanish-Speaking Communities in the United States
• SPAN 3377 - Spanish Civilization in Madrid
• SPAN 4321 - Special Topics Abroad in Spanish
• SPAN 4322 - Special Topics Abroad in Spanish
• SPAN 4346 - Texas-Mexico Borderlands: A Social, Political, Cultural, and Economic Story
• SPAN 4352 - Conversations and Community
• SPAN 4355 - Culture and Communication for Spanish Speakers
• SPAN 4357 - Introduction to Spanish Linguistics
• SPAN 4358 - Advanced Spanish for Hispanic Speakers
• SPAN 4365 - Spanish American Film
• SPAN 4385 - Internship in Spanish
• SPAN 4391 - Commercial Spanish for International Trade
• SPAN 4395 - Introduction to Hispanic Literature
• SPAN 4396 - Leadership and Ethics in Literature
• SPAN 5310 - Spanish Literature Before 1700
• SPAN 5311 - Spanish Literature Since 1700
• SPAN 5315 - Spanish-American Literature to 1888
• SPAN 5316 - Spanish-American Literature Since 1888
• SPAN 5321 - The Renaissance and Golden Age: Prose Fiction
• SPAN 5323 - 19th-Century Prose Fiction
• SPAN 5325 - 20th-Century Peninsular Prose Fiction
• SPAN 5326 - Special Topics Abroad in Spanish
• SPAN 5327 - Special Topics Abroad in Spanish
• SPAN 5334 - The Novel, Post-Civil War
• SPAN 5335 - Genre Studies (Spain)
• SPAN 5336 - Spanish-American Novel
• SPAN 5337 - Spanish-American Essay
• SPAN 5338 - Spanish–American Short Story
• SPAN 5339 - Spanish-American Poetry
• SPAN 5340 - The Structure of Spanish
• SPAN 5341 - Spanish Phonetics and Phonology
• SPAN 5342 - Linguistic Variation in the Spanish-Speaking World
• SPAN 5343 - Spanish as a Second Language: Principles of Second-Language Acquisition and Teaching
• SPAN 5361 - Don Quixote: The Idea, the Character, the Book
• SPAN 5364 - Human Rights Issues in Contemporary Spanish Literature
• SPAN 5365 - Contemporary Spanish Women Writers
• SPAN 5370 - Rewriting Discovery and Exploration in the Spanish Borderlands
• SPAN 5375 - Contemporary Fiction by Latin American Women Writers
• SPAN 5380 - Tutorial for Juniors and Seniors
• SPAN 5381 - Tutorial for Juniors and Seniors

All WL/WLAN courses are conducted in English.

• WL 2395 - Italian Culture
• WL 3301 - Introduction to Literary Translation
• WL 3302 - Ethnoviolence: Interdisciplinary Perspectives
• WL 3303 - Topics in Spanish Civilization
• WL 3306 - Chicano Cultural Heritage
• WL 3308 - Introduction to General Linguistics
• WL 3309 - French Cinema: 1945 to the Present
• WL 3310 - Transnational Chinese Cinema
• WL 3322 - Modern Japanese Novels in Translation
• WL 3323 - Russian Culture
• WL 3325 - Perspective on Modern China
• WL 3330 - Migration, Occupation, and Independence in North African Cinema
• WL 3331 - Survey: Russian Literature in Translation
• WL 3332 - Special Topics: Russian Literature in Translation
• WL 3340 - Semiotics and Interpretation
• WL 3341 - The Failure of Humanity in Rwanda
• WL 3349 - The African Diaspora: Literature and History of Black Liberation
• WL 3350 - Existentialism and Literature
• WL 3351 - Introduction to Media Literacy: Semiotics and Current Cultural Myths
• WL 3355 - Tradition, Community, and Identity in African Cinema
• WL 3359 - Masculinities: Images and Perspectives
• WL 3362 - Postcolonial France
• WL 3363 - Figuring the Feminine
• WL 3364 - Cuban Civilization and Culture
• WL 3365 - Special Topics French Literature in Translation
• WL 3369 - Perspectives on Modern Germany
• WL 3371 - Latin America Through Film
• WL 3372 - Relocating Latinos and Their Cultures
• WL 3373 - The Short Story in Latin America
• WL 3374 - Sex, Gender, and Identity in Germany from the Late 19th Century to the Present
• WL 3375 - Introduction to Psycholinguistics
• WL 3376 - Literature and Nation in Spanish America
• WL 3377 - Havana as Revolution: The Cuban Capital in the National and Global Imagination
• WL 3378 - Pompeii: Life Interrupted
• WL 3379 - Modern German Culture From the Enlightenment to the Present
• WL 3380 - Classical Latin Literature in Translation
• WL 3382 - Texas-Mexico Borderlands: A Social, Political, Cultural, and Economic Story
• WL 3390 - Italian Cinema
• WL 3391 - Italian Literature in Translation: The Italian Novel
• WL 3392 - Italian Literature in Translation: Early Humanism
• WL 3393 - Dante’s Poetic Vision
• WL 3394 - Boccaccio’s Decameron and Medieval Storytelling
• WL 3396 - Leadership and Ethics in Literature
• WL 3397 - China Before 1850
• WL 4185 - Internship: World Languages
• WL 4285 - Internship: World Languages
• WL 4310 - French Muslim Citizens and the Algerian War: The Harkis
• WL 4311 - Literature and Theology: Catholic Thought From Augustine to the Present
• WL 4345 - Gender and Human Rights in Latin American Women Writers
• WL 4365 - Introduction to French Cinema
• WL 4385 - Internship: World Language

All WL/WLAN courses are conducted in English.

• WLAN 1301 - Beginning Language (Languages Not Taught At SMU)
• WLAN 1302 - Beginning Language Term Two
• WLAN 1401 - Beginning Language Term One (Languages Not Taught At SMU)
• WLAN 1402 - Beginning Language Term Two
• WLAN 3311 - Special Topics Abroad in World Languages
• WLAN 3313 - Special Topics Abroad in World Languages