About Modern Languages and Literatures

The Department of Modern Languages and Literatures at SFSU is home to programs in Arabic, Chinese, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Persian, Russian and Spanish.

Each program offers a unique curriculum designed to foster the knowledge necessary for you to succeed in today’s multilingual world. Speaking another language introduces new perspectives and opens your multilingual mind, giving you the tools to communicate with people of different backgrounds and cultures. Additional training in linguistics exposes you to the commonalities of human language and experience. The study of culture allows you to fully understand and appreciate lifestyles and values other than your own; the analysis of literary texts helps you develop critical thinking skills for tackling issues that transcend national boundaries. You’ll emerge from our multifaceted programs with a keen international perspective that enhances the human experience and helps promote diversity in the global village in which we live.

Mission

The Department of Modern Languages and Literatures (MLL) recognizes and embraces the value of diversity in all its manifest forms, including race, gender and sexual orientation. We appreciate the value of unique identities and experiences and believe that they contribute to a richer and more equitable teaching, learning and research environment. By teaching the languages and cultures of different world regions, we hope to actively foster engagement with a diversity of worldviews. We recognize that all languages are ever-evolving and adapting to changing social norms, and we as faculty members in MLL are committed to accommodating each and every student. Especially at times when our original language teaching materials might not yet display the same level of diversity and acceptance we embrace at SFSU, we will strive to create an inclusive, innovative, and safe learning environment that welcomes and respects every student who wishes to immerse themselves into a language other than English.

Degree Outcomes

Students majoring or minoring in a Modern language will become proficient in the target language, understand elements of the target culture, acquire knowledge of literature, and be able to analyze language structure.

A. Language Skills

  • A1: Listening Comprehension: Student can understand the utterances of native speakers and extract main ideas from recordings of authentic speech, including excerpts from lectures, films, radio and television broadcasts.
  • A2: Reading Comprehension: Student can understand and summarize main ideas in target language texts intended for general readers, including social correspondences, general purpose essays, short stories and news writing.
  • A3: Speaking: Student can sustain a conversation on a general topic with a fluent speaker of the target language, narrate and describe on a variety of topics at paragraph length and respond to spontaneous developments in an exchange.
  • A4: Writing: Student can produce narratives and descriptions, cohesive summaries and routine social correspondences (e.g. business letters, resumes), demonstrating awareness of diction, syntax and stylistics in the writing process.

B. Cultural Knowledge

  • B1: Student has an understanding of cultural values, folk beliefs, social conventions and festive celebrations unique to target culture.
  • B2: Student can identify and characterize exemplars of painting, architecture, music, film and other fine arts in the target culture.
  • B3: Student can identify major historical events and order them chronologically.

C. Knowledge of Literature

  • C1: Student can identify major literary genres.
  • C2: Student can characterize major literary movements or periods and order them chronologically.
  • C3: Student can identify major historical events and order them chronologically.

D. Language Structure

  • D1: Student has understanding of sound system (phonetics/phonology) of the target language.
  • D2: Student has understanding of word-formation processes (morphology) in the target language.
  • D3: Student is familiar with syntax of the target language.
  • D4: Student has understanding of the historical development of the target language.
  • D5: Student has understanding of sociolinguistic variation in the target language.

Graduate students will be proficient in written English, appropriately use resources and materials for writing research papers, and have a greater knowledge of culture and language at the advanced level.

A. Proficiency in Written English (Entry Level)

  • A1: Student admitted into each program must demonstrate, prior to the start of coursework, the ability to write English correctly and effectively to explain, defend or argue discipline-specific issues.

B. Proficiency in Written English (Exit Level)

  • B1: Upon completion of each program, candidates must demonstrate an improved ability to write English correctly and effectively to explain, defend or argue discipline-specific issues commensurate with the academic training received within the program.

C. Use of Appropriate Resources, Materials and Format for Writing a Research Paper

  • C1: Students must demonstrate the ability to produce effective academic writing based on scholarly research.

D. Knowledge of Culture, Language and Literature at the Advanced Level

Students must be able to:

  • D1: Demonstrate graduate-level competence in the concentration language.
  • D2: Analyze texts for theme, structure, style and other aspects of prose and poetry.
  • D3: Explain how literary movements influence each other and are shaped by history.
  • D4: Demonstrate interdisciplinary approaches when analyzing complex problems and intellectual questions.
  • D5: Demonstrate knowledge of the present day structure of the concentration language, including the phonetics, phonology, morphology, syntax and discourse features.
  • D6: Demonstrate knowledge of the historical development and sociolinguistic variations of the concentration language.
  • D7: Demonstrate the ability to develop basic skills as teacher-researcher while applying theoretical knowledge to practice, and to implement standard-based Second Language Acquisition (SLA) instruction.