The B.A. in World Languages with a concentration in Spanish consists of 30 credit hours above the 1000 level. An accelerated option is available for students who already have advanced proficiency in Spanish (usually native or heritage learners), which will allow you to progress more rapidly toward degree completion.
Spanish Faculty
Why study Spanish at UA Little Rock?
- Spanish is the 2nd most widely spoken language in the world.
- Spanish is spoken in 31 countries and by almost 400 million people worldwide.
- In the United States, more than 52 million people speak Spanish.
- Arkansas has the 2nd fastest growing Latino population in the United States, and 17% of this population lives in Central Arkansas.
- Proficiency in Spanish and a nuanced understanding of Latino cultures are increasingly critical and marketable skills in a number of service professions in Central Arkansas.
- Seven percent of UA Little Rock’s student body is Latino, and the Spanish program has an outstanding accelerated major for heritage speakers
- UA Little Rock is located in the heart of culturally diverse Little Rock, and the Mexican Consulate—which serves Arkansas, Mississippi and Oklahoma—is located right across the street from campus.
- Our Spanish program has a number of community partners who provide our students with opportunities for service learning, volunteering, and internships
- With Spanish, you can easily study, travel, live and work abroad in Spain and Latin America.
- Hispanic and Latino cultures are among the oldest and most culturally diverse in the world. We think that Hispanic literatures, film, histories, and arts are also among the most beautiful and fascinating!
- UA Little Rock’s Spanish faculty members take great joy in teaching and mentoring UA Little Rock’s diverse students and work at cultivating a vibrant, supportive learning community.
B.A. in World Languages with a concentration in Spanish (Fall 2020+)
The Spanish concentration requires 30 hours of SPAN courses beyond the 1000-level, completed in 3 blocks. Please note that the two-semester Elementary Spanish sequence (SPAN 1311 and SPAN 1312) does not count toward the 30-hour requirement, but they are prerequisites to SPAN 2311: Intermediate Spanish (unless a student demonstrates equivalent proficiency through the WebCAPE placement exam or by other means)
Blocks must be completed in order and with a grade of C or better in order to proceed to the next block. Courses within blocks may be taken in any order, unless otherwise specified.
Block 1 (9 hours)
- SPAN 2311: Intermediate Spanish (must be taken before the other courses in this block)
- SPAN 3313: Conversation and Presentation
- SPAN 3314: Spanish for Writing
Block 2 (12 hours)
- SPAN 3317: Introduction to Literary and Cultural Studies
- SPAN 3334: Hispanic Culture: Peninsular (or) SPAN 3335: Hispanic Culture: Americas
- SPAN 3000-level elective
- SPAN 3000-level elective
(Courses may be taken in any order and student may begin taking 4000-level courses after completing 3 courses in block 2; no sequence required in Block 2.)
Block 3 (9 hours)
- SPAN 4310: Structured Internship (or) LANG 4350: Advanced Foreign Language Study Trip
- SPAN 4361: Seminar (may be repeated for credit when the topic changes)
- SPAN 3000-level or 4000-level elective
A minor in another discipline is required for the B.A. in World Languages degree. This requirement is waived for double majors and for students who already hold a bachelor’s degree.
To declare a major in World Languages: Spanish or to schedule an appointment with a Spanish faculty advisor, contact the Department of World Languages at worldlanguages@ualr.edu or 501.916.3272.
B.A. in World Languages with a concentration in Spanish: Accelerated Option (Fall 2020+)
The accelerated completion of the Spanish major is designed for students (usually heritage speakers, or students who grow up speaking Spanish at home but have not studied the language formally) who can demonstrate advanced proficiency on the American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages (ACTFL) scale through the official Writing Proficiency Test (WPT) and Oral Proficiency Interview (OPI).
A student desiring accelerated status toward completion of a major in World Languages: Spanish may demonstrate proficiency as prescribed below and obtain 18 or 21 hours of credit (CR), 12 or 15 of which will respectively count toward the 30-hour major requirement. To demonstrate eligibility for accelerated status in Spanish, a student must prove oral and writing proficiency by taking an official Oral Proficiency Interview (OPI) and an official Writing Proficiency Test (WPT) from ACTFL (American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages). Students passing the WPT and OPI with a score of advanced-low will be granted 18 hours of credit (CR) for the following courses: SPAN 1311, SPAN 1312, SPAN 2311, SPAN 3301, SPAN 3313, and SPAN 3314. This will leave the student with 6 courses (18 hours) to complete for the major.
Students passing both the WPT and OPI with a score of advanced-mid will be granted 21 hours of credit (CR) for the following courses: SPAN 1311, SPAN 1312, SPAN 2311, SPAN 3301, SPAN 3313, and SPAN 3314, SPAN 3115, SPAN 3116, and SPAN 3117. This will leave the student with 5 courses (15 hours) to complete for the major.
For more information on receiving credit for advanced proficiency, contact the Department of World Languages at worldlanguages@ualr.edu or 501.916.3272.