Programme And Module Handbook
 
Programme Specification


Date Specification Approved 15/11/2022
College College Arts and Law
School Lan, Cult, Art Hist & Music
Department Modern Languages
Partner College and School Music
Collaborative Organisation and Form of Collaboration
Qualification and Programme Title B.A. Modern Languages and Music Full-time
Programme Code 767A
Delivery Location Campus
Language of Study English
Length of Programme 4 Year(s)
Accreditations This programme has no outside accreditations
Aims of the Programme Modern Languages:

To enable students to achieve the appropriate level of the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (specified by language under Learning Outcomes) through the systematic integration of language and content teaching.

To enable students to explain and assess critically the multi-disciplinary features and significance of the culture, history and society of their chosen language communities.

To enable students to be digitally literate. Students will be able to use appropriate, up-to-date technology in the effective learning of languages and to understand works of culture (understood in the broadest sense, to include history, society, politics, and other material covered in modules aligned with the Birmingham Languages Graduate).

To enable students to handle and analyse material relating to research projects based in the Department of Modern Languages.

To enable students to engage with appropriately adapted questions derived from research projects based in the Department of Modern Languages.

To enable students to become effective independent learners, with regular opportunities to develop skills in research, academic writing, and reflective learning.

To enable students to be competitively employable through the acquisition of direct and transferable skills as well as through: 1) appropriate integration of Modern Languages careers topics within core modules; 2) optional placement opportunities relating to Modern Languages (credit-bearing and non-credit-bearing); 3) non-credit bearing Modern Languages careers events.

To enable students to give a persuasive account of their degree and of why they have assembled their degree in a particular way.

To provide students with language and language-related transferable skills useful in a range of contexts, both educational and professional; and to respond to national and international needs for advanced strategic competence in a variety of world languages.

To enable students to acquire first-hand experience of living and studying and/or working abroad.

To enable students to develop a wide range of transferable skills, including the assimilation, analysis, organisation and synthesis of information and its effective communication in speech and writing, through the study of complex material, which can be applied in a variety of educational and professional contexts, thereby meeting a national and international need for competence in modern foreign languages.

Students undertake as many modules of practical language work as Single Honours students, but they take fewer cultural, historical or social modules and instead take modules in music.

They are expected to reach the same standards as Single Honours students in the modules that they follow.

Language combinations
Languages that can be studied include: Beginners or Advanced French; Advanced German; Beginners or Advanced Spanish, and Beginners or Advanced Russian

A compulsory period of residence abroad.

Music:

To enable students to combine the study of one modern foreign language with the study of music.

To continue to develop Music as a vital discipline in a rapidly changing society, and to seek out and forge links with neighbouring disciplines in the humanities and social sciences.

To provide students with a background in two fundamental aspects of the study of Music (musicology and performance) and to allow them to develop their strengths through specialisation in later stages of the programme.
Programme Outcomes
Students are expected to have Knowledge and Understanding of: Which will be gained through the following Teaching and Learning methods: and assessed using the following methods:
Modern Languages: The advanced strategic usage of one modern language, including the linguistic structures of the language(s). By final year students of French, German, Spanish and Russian should have achieved at least C1 level and normally C2 level within the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages.

*Students should be able to select and use appropriate, up-to-date technology in the effective learning of languages.
Modern Languages: The features and significance of the culture, history and society of their chosen language communities. Students should be able to use appropriate, up-to-date technology in such understanding. Dependent on the range of optional modules offered, specialised further topics within Modern Languages such as translation, interpreting, politics, linguistics, cinema, history, society or culture.
Modern Languages: Key methods and concepts used in the analysis of a range of fields relating to language and culture.
Modern Languages: Advanced knowledge of the society and culture of the countries where the language is spoken. The significance of language and languages to our connections to other peoples and places around the globe, and in our own lives. This understanding will (a) span multiple disciplines and (b) extend across times, places, and identities, including with regards to: 1. The historical and contemporary significance of different languages and cultures 2. Cultural responses to the urgent human problems of history and the contemporary period, and to the human condition more widely.
Music: Music and its cultures from approximately 800 to the present, with certain repertories being studied in greater depth according to staff expertise.
Music: The tools used to analyse the structure of music (e.g. form, harmony, instrumentation); students may be able to apply these methods to original work depending on the modules chosen in Stages I and H
Music: For students who elect to take the relevant modules, performing techniques, based primarily on the instruments/vocal studies they have undertaken during their programme of study
Music: The aesthetic, political and social issues relating to music, and the role of music and musicians in society today and throughout history
Music: For students who elect to take certain modules, a knowledge of issues relating to the physical production and applications of music.
Modern Languages:
Material is developed and delivered by a combination of native and non-native teaching staff, and involving a wide range of registers, contexts and modes (e.g. journalistic, literary, colloquial, translation, correspondence, administration) as well as unassessed assignments. Beginners follow an expanded, intensive course of language study. Extensive supporting material is available through Canvas and self-access facilities on the main campus. The Year Abroad provides students with the opportunity for a period of immersion in the language(s) studied (1)

Specialised core modules in all years, taught through the integration of language and content teaching involving plenaries and target language seminars and classes. The use of language learning technology is built in to all new core modules offered in Modern Languages (1)

Plenaries, seminars, tutorials, project supervision, guided and independent reading (2)

All core modules in Modern Languages. This learning outcome is a key criterion through which optional modules can also align with the BLG curriculum. Teaching and learning methods include particularly plenaries, seminars, tutorials, project supervision, guided and independent reading (2)

Plenaries, seminars, tutorials, project supervision, guided and independent reading (3)

All core modules in Modern Languages. This learning outcome is a key criterion through which optional modules can also align with the BLG curriculum. Teaching and learning methods particularly include plenaries (3)

Plenaries, seminars, tutorials, project supervision, language classes, guided and independent reading. Also through residence abroad (4)

All core modules in Modern Languages. This learning outcome is a key criterion through which optional modules can also align with the BLG curriculum. Teaching and learning methods include particularly plenaries, seminars, tutorials, project supervision, guided and independent reading (4)

Music:
Lectures, seminars, tutorials (1) Lectures, seminars, tutorials (2) Seminars, individual coaching, workshops, masterclasses (3) Lectures, seminars (4) Lectures, seminars, workshops (5)
Unseen written examinations, assessed coursework, essays, oral and aural examinations, tasks undertaken under timed conditions, assessments completed during the Year Abroad, and dissertation work including 20 40 credits of Independent Study (1)

Target language projects and e-assessment portfolios. Formative e- assessments and student-led research (1)

Coursework (essays, dissertation, project work, oral presentations, target language projects, e-assessment portfolios), unseen written examinations, oral/aural examinations. Formative e-assessments and student-led research (2)

Coursework (essays, dissertation, project work, oral presentations, target language projects, e-assessment portfolios), unseen written examinations, oral/aural examinations (3)

Coursework (essays, dissertation, project work, oral presentations, target language projects, e-assessment portfolios), unseen written examinations, oral/aural examinations. Formative e-assessments and student-led research (4)

Music:
Essays, unseen examinations, seminar presentations, dissertation (1)

Essays, technical exercises, seen and unseen examinations, aural work, seminar presentations, performance (2)

Public and private performance as soloist and as a member of a group (3)

Essays and presentations (4)

Portfolios of relevant work, essays, practical examinations (5)
Students are expected to have attained the following Skills and other Attributes: Which will be gained through the following Teaching and Learning methods: and assessed using the following methods:
Modern Languages: Comprehension, analysis, evaluation, distillation and contextualisation of information across a range of subject areas and the application of both generic and subject specific skills.
Modern Languages: The ability to use language in professional contexts.
Modern Languages: The ability to apply generic, practical and interpersonal skills to living, studying and/or working in a non-English-speaking country.
Modern Languages: Intercultural awareness, understanding and competence, especially the ability to function in another culture, and to engage critically with their own and other cultures
Modern Languages: Generic, transferable language-learning skills and the ability to use language reference materials such as grammars, standard and specialised dictionaries, and in some cases corpora to refine knowledge and understanding of register, nuances of meaning and language use.
Music: to be able to use musical language (i.e. notation and its equivalents in non-notated genres) to write and arrange music for its performance by themselves and others
Music: For students who elect to take the relevant modules, to show a measure of proficiency as a performer (the level of proficiency being dependent on the number of stages of the programme in which Performance was a chosen element)
Modern Languages and Music: Independent study skills (self-organisation, initiative and self-direction; time management; autonomous research skills; the ability to collect, organise, synthesise and evaluate information; planning, drafting and editing)
Modern Languages and Music: Transferable skills relevant to employment, including problem-solving, self-reliance, initiative, adaptability, flexibility, resilience, self-motivation, and competences such as note-taking, the ability to work under pressure and meet deadlines, ability to use and manipulate digital resources and to present information and ideas effectively using ICT.
Modern Languages and Music: Ability to summarise, synthesise, analyse and evaluate others’ arguments, and to formulate their own logical and structured arguments, normally both orally and in writing, with appropriate supporting evidence. both in English and in the target language(s)
Modern Languages and Music: Ability to work as a member of a team in a range of contexts, including the capacity to listen, to respond flexibly to feedback, to understand diverse perspectives, and to negotiate solutions collectively
Modern Languages

1. Attendance at plenaries and/or engagement with online environment, reading and contribution to seminars and tutorials, regular written exercises. Use of the University Library, IT and other information sources.

2. Target language seminars combined with extensive reading and other forms of exposure to and practice in the target language(s).
Residence abroad (– n/a for 3 year programme).. Attendance at plenaries and/or engagement with online environment, reading and contribution to seminars and tutorials, regular written exercises. Use of the University Library, IT and other information sources.
Coverage of Modern Languages professions is built into all core language modules. Opportunities for work experience may be acquired through non-credit bearing summer placements (Year 2) and/ or placements followed during the Year Abroad.

3. Residence abroad. – n/a for 3 year programme

4. Target language seminars combined with extensive reading and other forms of exposure to and practice in the target language(s).
Residence abroad (– n/a for 3 year programme). Attendance at lectures and/or engagement with online environment, reading and contribution to seminars and tutorials, regular written exercises. Use of the University Library, IT and other information sources.

5. Target language seminars combined with extensive reading and other forms of exposure to and practice in the target language(s). Attendance at lectures and/or engagement with online environment, reading and contribution to seminars and tutorials, regular written exercises. Use of the University Library, IT and other information sources.

Music

1. Lectures, seminars, tutorials and workshops

2. One-to-one lessons, participation in ensembles both small and large

Modern Languages and Music

1. Attendance at plenaries and/or engagement with online environment, reading and contribution to seminars and tutorials, regular written exercises. Use of the University Library, IT and other information sources; independent directed study.

2. By definition, language work and content modules involve new, ‘difficult’ material that requires the independent application and ownership of techniques taught in classes and lectures if it is to be understood fully and mastered. An emphasis on close analysis is intended to broaden the range and sophistication of students’ interpretations of material, and to allow students to produce not so much expositions as substantiated arguments and positions. Problem Based Learning (PBL) exercises, presentations, group project work and other forms of independent learning are germane to all parts of the programme. The Year Abroad offers a particular opportunity for the development of independent capability, personally as well as linguistically and intellectually. A range of formative assessment modes are used throughout the degree. Coverage of Modern Languages professions is built into all core language modules. Opportunities for work experience may be acquired through non-credit bearing summer placements (Year 2) and/ or placements followed during the Year Abroad. Lectures, seminars and tutorials; an individually supervised dissertation at LH.

3. Target language seminars combined with extensive reading and other forms of exposure to and practice in the target language(s). Residence abroad (– n/a for 3 year programme). Attendance at plenaries and/or engagement with online environment, reading and contribution to seminars and tutorials, regular written exercises. Use of the University Library, IT and other information sources. An individually supervised dissertation at LH

4. Contribution to seminars and tutorials; discussion of formative presentations, group work. Workshops, primarily in performance and composition
Modern Languages

1. Coursework (essays, dissertation, project work, oral presentations, target language projects, e-assessment portfolios), unseen written examinations, oral/aural examinations. Formative e-assessments and student-led research.

2. Coursework (essays, dissertation, project work, oral presentations, target language projects, e-assessment portfolios), unseen written examinations, oral/aural examinations. Formative e-assessments and student-led research.

3. Year Abroad coursework.

4. Coursework (essays, dissertation, project work, oral presentations, target language projects, e-assessment portfolios), unseen written examinations, oral/aural examinations. Formative e-assessments and student-led research.

5. Coursework (essays, dissertation, project work, oral presentations, target language projects, e-assessment portfolios), unseen written examinations, oral/aural examinations. Formative e-assessments and student-led research.

Music

1. Technical exercises, workshop examinations

2. Public and private performance as both soloist and ensemble member

Modern Languages and Music

1. Coursework (essays, dissertation, project work, oral presentations, target language projects, e-assessment portfolios), unseen written examinations, oral/aural examinations. Formative e-assessments and student-led research.

2. Coursework (essays, dissertation, project work, oral presentations, target language projects, e-assessment portfolios), unseen written examinations, oral/aural examinations. Formative e-assessments and student-led research. Public and private performance as both soloist and ensemble member

3. Coursework (essays, dissertation, project work, oral presentations, target language projects, e-assessment portfolios), unseen written examinations, oral/aural examinations. Formative e-assessments and student-led research.

4. Coursework (project work, group presentations, target language projects), Public and private performance of their own work and the work of others