2025/26 Undergraduate Module Catalogue

SPPO2215 Politics and Social Issues in the Contemporary Spanish-speaking World

20 Credits Class Size: 30

Module manager: Juan Muñoz López
Email: j.munoz@leeds.ac.uk

Taught: Semesters 1 & 2 (Sep to Jun) View Timetable

Year running 2025/26

Pre-requisites

SPPO1091 Pre-Intermediate Spanish Language (A2 of the CEFR)

Co-requisites

SPPO2220 Spanish Language Skills B1/B2

Mutually Exclusive

SPPO2010 Practical Lang Skill Spanish 2
SPPO2011 Pract Lang Skills in Spanish 2

Module replaces

SPPO2210

This module is not approved as a discovery module

Module summary

The aim of this module is to familiarise students with the key issues relating to the contemporary politics and societies of Spain and Latin America. This is also a language skills consolidation module. Therefore, A2 CEFR required as it is fully taught and assessed in Spanish. Learning outcomes will be assessed through an essay and an oral presentation plus Q&A in Semester 2, both in Spanish.

Objectives

The objectives of this module are:

- to consolidate students’ language skills in the target language through a focus on contextualisation, in support of their core language skills module;
- to encourage students to reflect on ideas such as the question of identity and culture in a contemporary socio-political and intercultural context;
- to develop students' skills in the analysis and discussion of a range of primary and secondary sources in the target language;
- to develop students' ability to craft their own arguments and use evidence to support them, in the target language.

Learning outcomes

On successful completion of the module students will have demonstrated the following learning outcomes relevant to the subject:

1- Demonstrate a basic understanding of the historical and political context of major social issues in Spanish-speaking countries, while analysing the impact of specific historical events on contemporary political and social structures within the Spanish-speaking world.
2- Compare and contrast social issues across different Spanish-speaking regions.
3- Express simple arguments in spoken Spanish on current political and social issues in the Spanish-speaking world, demonstrating awareness of different perspectives.
4- Communicate effectively by writing on topics related to politics and social issues in Spanish at a B1 level, using appropriate vocabulary and grammatical structures.

Skills Learning Outcomes

On successful completion of the module students will have demonstrated the following skills learning outcomes:

5- Demonstrate awareness and understanding of self and others including different cultures.
6- Search for, locate, extract, organise, evaluate and use or present information that is relevant to a particular topic.

Syllabus

Details of the syllabus will be provided on the Minerva organisation (or equivalent) for the module.

Teaching Methods

Delivery type Number Length hours Student hours
Lecture 10 2 20
Seminar 10 1 10
Private study hours 170
Total Contact hours 30
Total hours (100hr per 10 credits) 200

Opportunities for Formative Feedback

- Students will receive formative feedback from the tutor of their oral and written production during their lectures and seminars.
- Students will receive feedback on both summative components on Minerva and/or during office hours.

Methods of Assessment

Coursework
Assessment type Notes % of formal assessment
Coursework Written Task 50
Coursework Oral Task 50
Total percentage (Assessment Coursework) 100

Normally resits will be assessed by the same methodology as the first attempt, unless otherwise stated

Reading List

Check the module area in Minerva for your reading list

Last updated: 08/05/2025

Errors, omissions, failed links etc should be notified to the Catalogue Team