ÁùÉ«Íø

We provide a superior education in our academic disciplines by cultivating critical and creative thinking and refining communication skills in our students through rigorous study of language, texts, and contexts.

We reiterate our adherence to Cal Poly Pomona’s core values of Academic excellence and Diversity and affirm the following departmental core values:

1. Engagement with language. Language is at the heart of what we do. We value languages as tools for aesthetic expression, effective communication, self definition and thought shaping; as transmitters and manifestations of traditions and cultures; and emblems of our personal, communal, ethnic, and national identities. We affirm our commitment to language diversity in the study of literary, linguistic, and cultural phenomena.
2. Critical inquiry. We value critical thinking as a fundamental intellectual instrument and ethical stance that enables us to examine and challenge inherited beliefs, conceptual structures, and social structures, as well as to propose alternative viewpoints and frames of reference.   
3. Creative thinking. We value divergent and original thinking, multiple interpretations and solutions, and fresh perspectives. We take creative thought to be an indispensable resource in professional and civic life.
4. Analytical thinking. We understand that the ability to take a text or problem apart and look at its constituent parts gives insight into the whole.  Synthesizing, the opposite process, is equally important, and moving from examination of the pieces to examination of the whole leads to seeing the whole as more than the sum of its parts.
5. Professional formation. We embrace the pre-professional aspects of our programs. We are committed to preparing students for careers, leadership, and advanced study in a learn-by-doing mode through a variety of pre-professional training experiences.
6. Civic engagement. We strive to create opportunities to become involved with the community to address critical societal issues, to contribute to the public good, and to prepare educated and engaged citizens with an ethic of commitment to global responsibility and service.

Program learning outcomes are the key benchmarks students should meet upon graduation. Students graduating with a BA in Spanish will:

1. Communicate orally and in written in Spanish at the ACTFL (American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages) advance high proficiency level.
2. Read critically and analyze a variety of literary and cultural texts.
3. Demonstrate metalinguistic awareness and knowledge.
4. Appreciate linguistic, social, and cultural diversity, both at a local and a global level.
5. Be prepared to enter multiple professional environments that value advanced facility with communication, culture, and language.

Program learning outcomes are the key benchmarks students should meet upon graduation. 

English BA Core Student Learning Outcomes

1. Critical Reading: Students will critique—make and defend judgments based on internal evidence or external criteria—literary, expository, and/or linguistic texts.
2. Writing
   1. Students will write with an awareness of audience, purpose, form, and other rhetorical concepts.
   2. Students will know the conventions of Standard Written English.
3. Research
   1. Students will locate appropriate research using common databases.
   2. Students will synthesize research coherently to build effective arguments.
4. Linguistics: Students will understand the grammatical structure of language and how this knowledge is used in interpreting the structure of texts.
5. Literature: Students will be able to analyze how literary texts use language to achieve a purpose and convey the aesthetics/style of an author or period.

Option-specific learning outcomes:

Program learning outcomes are the key benchmarks students should meet upon graduation. Students graduating with an MA in English will: 

1. Respect the unique and overlapping contributions of Literature, Rhetoric and Composition, and Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL).
2. Conduct, analyze, and present original research in the field.  
3. Write and speak in clear, expertly-crafted prose, with the ability to convey complex ideas clearly, consistently, and logically.
4. Explain how categories of human diversity—i.e. race, gender, ethnicity, disability, etc.—are produced and perpetuated, both influencing personal identities as well as producing structures of inequality.  

Option-specific program learning outcomes are as follows: