The module will introduce students to a study of national cultures and societies and how they connect with transnational contexts beyond national borders. Two initial lectures will introduce students to the study of Modern Languages and a consideration of how the local intersects with the global. Subsequent lectures in the first semester will then focus on the national contexts of the chosen languages of study and chart the emergence of these nations either through a historical overview, or a survey of key foundational moments. The second semester develops this by identifying how languages, cultures and societies both operate on a national level and interconnect according to historical, geographic, economic, political, spatial and cultural conditions. After two transnational lectures outlining this, further lectures will reflect on how these common themes play out on a national level referencing, for example, the emergence of symbols and traditions designed to foster a sense of national belonging. Seminars will focus on the acquisition of critical and analytical skills through discussions of a range of ‘texts’ which complement the lectures (primary and secondary source materials ranging from articles, statistics and graphs to visual materials including film, sculpture, and photography).

• Articulate an understanding of the evolution of cultures and societies at a national level
• Begin to conceptualise how the national fits with the transnational
• Develop and demonstrate strong inter-cultural awareness
• Apply methodological skills through text based analysis
• Apply critical thinking and analytical skills
• Develop and demonstrate competency in information literacy and IT skills
• Deliver a presention as an individual or a group

​The module will be delivered through a range of interactive teaching sessions supplemented by online teaching and learning activities and materials – and may include, where relevant, asynchronous materials such as lecture recordings. Full details on the delivery mode of this module will be available on Learning Central at the start of the academic year – and may be, in part, determined by Welsh Government and Public Health Wales guidance.  

The module will comprise a combination of lectures, seminars, workshops and independent study. Students will experience lectures which are both facing the national culture(s) of their chosen language of study, and lectures which address transnational themes. Students will attend seminars structured around selected texts designed to allow close study of and discussion of the topics explored in lectures. There will be skills training workshops in week 6 of both semesters to support students in the completion of their assignments. Students will be expected to carry out independent study.

Academic and subject specific skills:

• Be able to articulate a strong sense of evolution of cultures at a national level
• Begin to conceptualise how the national fits with the transnational
• Develop strong inter-cultural awareness
• Develop methodological skills through text based analysis
• Develop critical thinking and analytical skills

Employability skills

• Be able to produce writing and commentary  which fits the needs of the reader/listener, within and beyond the academic context
• Be able to use ICT effectively

Assessment and weightings are set out in the table below. 

Mapping of Assessments to Intended Learning Outcomes

Information Literacy assignment assessess ILO 4

Project assesses ILO 2,4

The opportunity for reassessment in this module

Students who fail the module overall will be given the opportunity to submit an essay for 100% of the module, capped at 40%

At the school wide transnational levels, students will explore the following topics

• What is the transnational?
• What does it mean to be a modern languages student?
• How to move between the global and the local
• The concept of the nation
• National identity, nation building and concepts of belonging
• Contemporary debates in European and non-European cultures and societies
• Regional and (de)colonial identities within the nation
• Multilingualism, language identities and globalisation

At the national level student will explore:

• Spain from the Iberian Peninsula to a World Power
• Colonial Hispanic Culture and its ‘Others’ 
• Nation and Identity in Spain
• Surrealism and Transnationality