World Languages and Cultures, B.A.~ Degree Requirements

Credits Required

Total credits: 120

Credits in residence at CSUMB: 30

Credits in the major: approximately 44

Outcomes, Courses, and Assessment

You officially begin the major by enrolling in the WLC 300 Major ProSeminar where you work with the instructor to develop an Individual Learning Plan (ILP) appropriate to your personal and professional goals. That ILP maps out how you will achieve each of the Major Learning Outcomes (MLOs) and other requirements mandated by the program.

You are also required to engage in at least one semester of service learning involving the language and culture that you have chosen to emphasize for the major. We recommend that you take this service learning course concurrently with WLC 300 Major ProSeminar during your first year in the major.

You conclude the major by enrolling in WLC 400 Senior Capstone and completing a Capstone project that displays your cumulative learning in the major. The Capstone represents your opportunity to demonstrate depth of knowledge and advanced linguistic skills. [Learn more at CSUMB.EDU/capstone].

Major Learning Outcomes

The eight WLC Major Learning Outcomes (MLOs) are a set of specialized skills and knowledge associated with the major. They help you develop the skills, knowledge, and understanding necessary to fulfill your personal, social, and professional goals.

WLC MLOs 1-4 Language Proficiency ~ Achieve and demonstrate Intermediate-High or Advanced proficiency in the four major skills (speaking, listening, reading and writing) of the world language you have chosen to emphasize.

To attain this level of proficiency, you should expect to enroll in 6-8 upper-division classes that are taught in your target language including a minimum of two upper-division language courses.
- Japanese emphasis majors must complete two of the following: JAPN 301-302 Advanced Japanese Language; JAPN 303 Business Japanese;JAPN 304 Technical Japanese; JAPN 401-402 Advanced Japanese III-IV
- Spanish emphasis majors must complete two of the following: SPAN 301 Composition and Oral Practice; SPAN 302:History and Phonetic Structure of the Spanish Language; SPAN 303 Advanced Spanish Grammar; SPAN 305 Spanish for the Professions
You will be assessed for your level of proficiency in the Senior Capstone seminar.

WLC MLO 5 Primary Cultural Knowledge ~ Develop a reasonable understanding of the ways of thinking (ideas, beliefs, attitudes, values, philosophies), the behavioral practices (patterns of social interactions), and the tangible/intangible cultural products (for example, art, history, literature, music) of the society or major cultures reflected by the language which you have chosen to study.

WLC MLO 6 Second Culture Knowledge ~ Demonstrate general knowledge of a sociocultural group other than the one emphasized for the major. Develop a basic understanding of the ways of thinking (ideas, beliefs, attitudes, values, philosophies), the behavioral practices (patterns of social interactions), and the tangible/intangible cultural products (for example, art, history, literature, music) of the second culture. The second culture studied must be totally different from the target culture and majority American culture.

Complete at least one upper-division class focusing on a sociocultural group not reflected by the language or culture emphasized for the major.
- Japanese emphasis majors choose from the following: SPAN 307 History And Politics Of Mexico; SPAN 308 History And Culture Of Aztlán: The Southwestern United States; SPAN 309 History and Politics of Latin America; SPAN 311 U.S. Foreign Policy in the Pacific Rim and The Third World; SPAN 325 Cinema of the Spanish Speaking World; SPAN 365 The Chicano Novel; SPAN 370 The Chicano Community; CHIN 305 Introduction to China & Tibet; ITAL 305 Introduction to Italian Culture and Civilization; KOR 395 Contemporary History of Korea; KOR 695 Political History of North Korea
- Spanish emphasis majors choose from the following:CHIN 305 Introduction to China & Tibet; ITAL 305 Introduction to Italian Culture and Civilization; JAPN 305 Introduction to Japanese Culture and Civilization; JAPN 306 The Japanese Mind; JAPN 307 The Japanese-American Experience; JAPN 308 Japanese Pop Culture, Anime, and Multimedia; JAPN 309 Japanese Literature in Translation; JAPN 310 Japanese Cinema; JAPN 311 Social Issues of Japan; JAPN 405 Economic History of Japan; JAPN 408:Business in Japan; KOR 395 Contemporary History of Korea; KOR 695 Political History of North Korea
- All majors may take a total of no more than two non-WLC courses to satisfy WLC MLOs. For this MLO choose from the following: HCOM 322 Asian American Literature; HCOM 324African American Literature; HCOM 326 Jewish Holocaust Literature; HCOM 328 Latina Life Stories; HCOM 329 Autobiografías; HCOM 344 Chicana / Latina Experiences; HCOM 345 Chicano Life and History; HCOM 346 African American Life and History; HCOM 455 Paradigms of the Chicano Community; LS 362 Southeast Asian History and Culture; SBS 325 Art of the Aztec Empire; SBS 348 Ancient Maya Civilization; SBS 365 The Black Civil Rights Movement in The South; SBS 369 Ancient Mesoamerica; SBS 381 Vietnam and the United States since 1880; SBS 382 History of Modern Africa; SBS 383 Ancient African Civilizations

WLC MLO 7 Cultural Praxis ~ Demonstrate that you have been actively immersed in and have internalized the culture of the chosen language at an intermediate level.

This is not a course-based outcome. You demonstrate your abilities and knowledge by participating in a study-abroad program for at least one semester; by having lived as an adult over an extended period of time in a country whose primary language and culture are those being emphasized by the student major; by living and working in a local heritage community over an extended period of time; or by participating in and completing ten cultural learning scenarios approved by the School for World Languages and Cultures.
Assessment of the Cultural Praxis learning outcome is completed via portfolio in which you document and verify the pathway chosen above.

WLC MLO 8 Technology Skills ~ Demonstrate an ability to use new multimedia technology and the World Wide Web to support interactive linkages and distance learning activities between the CSUMB community and individuals and organizations in the countries of the language chosen as a major.

This is not a course based outcome. You demonstrate your abilities and knowledge by exhibiting your Senior Capstone project in a technology-based format. Examples of such projects are culturally relevant PowerPoint presentations, webpages, and CD-ROMS.

Revised 5/26/05