Graduate Handbook

Admission Criteria

Applicants must hold a BA degree or equivalent. A major or minor (or its equivalent) in Spanish or a related field is strongly preferred. Applicants must have advanced proficiency in Spanish.

Tuition Coverage, Stipend, and Teaching Responsibilities

Full-time students admitted to the MA program in Spanish receive full tuition remission, as well as a stipend for a period of two academic years. Application Deadline: February 1st.

During the first year, students run Charla conversation groups and Tutoring sessions for the Spanish program. They are expected to work 10 hours per week during the Fall semester and 8 hours per week during the Spring semester.

Students must enroll in SPA 5359, Applied Linguistics and Second-Language Acquisition, in the Fall semester of their first year in the program in order to prepare to teach as Graduate Teaching Assistants. Each student will be paired with a regular lecturer in the Spanish program who will serve as their teaching mentor during their first year.

The framework of the first-year teaching mentorship is as follows:

Students and mentors meet one-on-one once a week.
The graduate student attends at least one of the mentor’s classes at least once a week.
The graduate student is expected to teach the mentor’s class at least once during the semester. (If so desired, mentors may also arrange to have their mentees lead activities or teach parts of class meetings in addition to teaching one full class.)
Students will be expected to observe a variety of instructors and classes to get a sense of different teaching styles and methodologies.

In the second semester of the first year, each MA student teaches one LAB section of SPA 1301.

During the second year of the program, each MA student teaches one MWF section and a LAB section of SPA 1301 in the Fall semester. In the Spring, students teach only a MWF section of SPA 1301. Each Graduate Teaching Assistant will be observed while teaching 2 during the fall semester by the Undergraduate Program Director for Spanish, the Graduate Program Director, and/or the student’s first-year teaching mentor.

Degree Requirements

Credit-hour and Course Requirements

The M.A. in Spanish requires 36 credit hours and is generally completed over the course of two academic years (fall and spring semesters, plus the summer in between the two years). All students must enroll in SPA 5302 (Research Methods in Hispanic Graduate Studies) and SPA 5359 (Applied Linguistics and Second-Language Acquisition) in the fall semester of their first year of study. Full course requirements are as follows, depending on whether the student elects the Linguistics Track or the Literature and Cultural Studies Track:

Linguistics Track

SPA 5302 (3 hrs)
SPA 5359 (3 hrs)
Four courses in Hispanic Linguistics (12 hrs)
o Areas such as: Phonology, Morphology, Semantics, Pragmatics, Applied Linguistics, Sociolinguistics
One course in Iberian or Latin American Literature/Cultural Studies (3 hrs)
Electives (9 hrs)
Thesis Research and Writing (6 hrs)
o If the student opts not to complete a thesis, they will be required to take two additional electives. At least one of these should be in linguistics.

Literary and Cultural Studies Track

SPA 5302 (3 hrs)
SPA 5359 (3 hrs)
Four courses in Iberian or Latin American Literature/Cultural Studies (12 hrs)
Areas such as: Pre-Columbian and Colonial Latin America, Medieval and Early Modern Iberia, Modern and Contemporary Latin America, Modern and Contemporary Spain, Ibero-American Film
One course in Hispanic Linguistics (3 hrs)
Electives (9 hrs)
Thesis Research and Writing (6 hrs)
If the student opts not to complete a thesis, they will be required to take two additional electives. At least one of these should be in literature/cultural studies.

*Students may also propose to complete a final teaching portfolio or graduate research project with their chosen advisor. In that case they will take 3 hrs. of SPA 5V90 in the spring of their second year of study.

*Students must take a minimum of 6 courses at the 5000 level if they do not complete at thesis. Students who opt to complete a thesis must take a minimum of 5 courses at the 5000 level.

*In the first year of study, all classes must be taken in the Division of Spanish and Portuguese. Students may not take an independent study (SPA 5V90).

*In the second year of study, a maximum of 3 credit hrs may be taken outside the Spanish program pending GPD approval. Students must demonstrate how the class contributes to their overall course of study.

*Students may take one independent study (3 hrs of 5V90) during their second year of study pending GPD approval.

*In the second year of study, students may not take 3 hrs of 5V90 and 3 credit hrs outside the program in the same semester.

*Courses already taken at Baylor University for undergraduate credit may not be taken again for graduate credit.

Language Requirement

In addition to Spanish and English, all students are expected to demonstrate proficiency in Portuguese as part of the program. This may be done by:

Presenting documentation of coursework completed at the intermediate level (equivalent to POR 2320) for the undergraduate degree or at a previous institution,
Passing an exam administered by a designated member of the Portuguese faculty,
Or completing the POR 5370 - POR 5371 cycle (Portuguese for Graduate Students) offered during the summer.

*Students may petition to fulfill their language requirement with a language other than Portuguese, based on their research interests and plans for their thesis project. They should notify the Graduate Program Director of their intent to petition and their chosen language as early as possible, and no later than the Spring semester of their first year of study.

Identification of Advisor

Students should identify an advisor (chosen from the tenured and tenure-track Spanish & Portuguese faculty) by the end of the second semester of study. The advisor will work with the student to choose classes, prepare their reading list for exams (see below), and develop the thesis or portfolio project.

Comprehensive Exams

Comprehensive exams are given in two areas: Linguistics and Literature. Reading lists for these two exams are available on the Spanish MA Program website.

Students completing the Linguistics track will take 1 exam based on the linguistics reading list; Literature/Cultural Studies track students will take 1 exam based on the literature reading list. All students will take a second exam that is based upon a reading list created by the student and a professor (usually the student’s advisor). This second list will relate to the student’s main area of interest, and must be approved by the Graduate Program Director.

Comprehensive exams are to be completed during the student’s last semester in the M.A. program. They are offered each year in April. If a student fails one of the exams, they will be given the opportunity to re-take the exam within one month’s time from the original exam date. Exams may only be re-taken once.

Thesis

* For an overview of the thesis process, students should consult the Thesis Overview and Formatting page on the Graduate School website: https://www.baylor.edu/graduate/index.php?id=959239

If a student opts to complete a thesis, they will work with their advisor to plan an original research project beginning at the end of their first year of enrollment in the program. They will typically enroll in 3.0 hours of thesis research (SPA 5V99, Thesis) in the Fall semester of their second year, and 3.0 hours again in the Spring of their second year.

Prospectus:

The candidate should submit a short prospectus (2-3 pages) and preliminary bibliography to the thesis director no later than the beginning of the fall semester of the second year of study.

Committee:

The thesis committee will be chaired by the MA candidate’s advisor, and include two additional faculty members. One of these should be another professor on the Spanish & Portuguese faculty. The third committee member or “external member” will be a member of the Graduate Faculty from another Division in MLC or another department at Baylor. The Chair of the committee must submit a list of committee members to the GPD for approval no later than the end of the semester prior to the semester in which the thesis will be defended.

Submission to Committee Members:

The completed thesis draft should be submitted to all committee members no later than two weeks prior to the thesis defense date.

Defense and final submission:

The defense and submission of the thesis must take place before the deadlines set by the Graduate School. For these deadlines and details on the submission process, consult this website:

https://www.baylor.edu/graduate/index.php?id=958619.

Program Timeline

First semester (Fall)

• Take 9 hrs:

o SPA 5302

o SPA 5359

o A graduate course in area of interest

Work 10 hrs/week in Charla/Tutoring.
Meet weekly with the Teaching Mentor and observe classes.
Meet Spanish & Portuguese faculty.

Second semester (Spring)

• Take 9 hrs:

o One course in the main area of interest

o One course in linguistics

o One course in literature/cultural studies

Work 8 hrs/week in Charla/Tutoring.
Teach one LAB section of SPA 1301 (One 75-min. meeting/week)
Identify an advisor by the end of the semester. Prepare the individualized reading list and submit it for GPD approval.
If completing a thesis, work with an advisor to map out a plan for researching and writing the thesis prior to the start of the summer.
If completing a portfolio, work with an advisor to identify topic of 5V90 to be taken the fourth semester of study and obtain GPD approval.

Summer

Take: POR 5370-5371 (or other courses to fulfill the language requirement, if required)
Begin reading for comprehensive exams.
If completing a thesis, begin thesis research.

Third semester (Fall)

Take 9 hrs of coursework. (If completing a thesis, 3 hrs of these will be SPA 5V99.)
Teach one MWF section of SPA 1301 and one SPA 1301 LAB section.
Students completing a portfolio meet with an advisor to plan the project.
For students completing a thesis, the advisor submits the list of committee members to GPD for approval by the end of the semester.
Continue preparing reading lists for comprehensive exams.

Fourth semester (Spring)

Take 9 hrs of coursework. (If completing a thesis, 3 hrs of 5V99; if submitting a portfolio, 3 hrs of 5V90)
Teach one MWF section of SPA 1301.
Those writing a thesis submit a full draft to the committee, defend, and make a final submission in accordance with Graduate School deadlines.
Complete comprehensive exams.
Those submitting a portfolio complete and submit by the end of the semester.