LA HARBOR COLLEGE

Student Learning Outcomes (SLOs) Assessment Report

Course Assessment

Division: Communications Discipline/Program: Spanish

Course Number and Name: SPANISH 012 Contemporary Mexican Literature

Program Contact Person: ____William Hernandez______Phone: ______Ext 4081______

Reviewed by: Elena Reigadas, SLO Assessment Coordinator, Academic Dean______Date: January 2012

Attach additional pages as necessary.

Institutional Mission & Goals / Course Intended Outcomes / Means of Assessment and Criteria for Success / Summary of Data Collected / Use of Results
1.  Explain distinctive features of major writers, literary works, movements, trends and genres in Mexican Literature from the pre-colonial era through the 20th century. / Means: Students will complete an exercise that consists of describing the distinctive features of writer José Joaquín Fernández de Lizardi, the author’s picaresque novel, The Iching Parrot, and the time period in which it was written. The activity will be presented as an embedded exercise in an exam or given as a quiz.
Criteria: 70% of students will score a 70% on this activity.
2.  Apply techniques of literary analysis and use appropriate literary terminology to discuss and appraise literary works. / Means: Students will analyze Sonnet I by Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz. The analysis must include the name of the author(the poem will appear on the exam but without the athor’s name), the time period in which it was written, the type of poem it is, a summary of what the poem is about, the theme(s) of the poem, the use of language, metaphors, and the message of the poem.
The activity will be presented as an embedded exercise in an exam or given as a quiz.
Criteria: 70% of students will score a 70% on this activity.
3.  Discuss the relevance of historical periods and movements to Mexican literature. / Means: Students will analyze Mariano Azuela’s novel The Underdogs in terms of its perspective on the Mexican Revolution. Azuela presents its readers with more that one perspective on the purpose of the Mexican Revolution. He uses his characters of the novel to accomplish this. Students must mention at least three characters from the novel and how they viewed the purpose of the Mexican Revolution differently. Azuela also portrays the Mexican Revolution as an event that failed to accomplish its main objective. Students must explain how the author uses the overall structure of the novel to prove his point.
The activity will be presented as an embedded exercise in an exam or given as a quiz.
Criteria: 70% of students will score a 70% on this activity.
4.  Identify and explain the recurrent themes in Mexican literature. / Means: Students will be asked to identify and explain a minimum of four post Mexican Revolution social and political themes in Juan Rulfo’s short stories from his book entitled The Burning Plain and Other Stories.
The activity will be presented as an embedded exercise in an exam or given as a quiz.
Criteria: 70% of students will score a 70% on this activity. / In spring 2012, the SLO committee instructed the instructor teaching the only section of Spanish 12 to give this assessment to a total of 24 students, the enrollment number at the time of the assessment in Spanish 12. The committee randomly selected 17 exams of the 24, which constitutes 70% of the class enrollment. Furthermore, a scoring rubric was created, which allowed the committee to assess the SLO on the following two levels: 1) Students’ ability to identify and explain four post-Mexican Revolution themes in Juan Rulfo’s short stories. They would earn a maximum of 5 points for completing this portion with a grade of excellent, 4 for a grade of Very good, 3 for a grade of Good, 2 for a grade of Deficient, and 1 for a grade of Inadequate. 2) Students’ ability to provide specific examples from the stories to support their answers. They would earn a maximum of 5 points for completing this portion with a grade of excellent, 4 for a grade of Very good, 3 for a grade of Good, 2 for a grade of Deficient, and 1 for a grade of Inadequate. Students achieved an 81% overall. However, 2 students scored 60% and 2 scored 50% overall; this constitutes almost 25% of the total assessed population of 17 students. / The results enabled us, the committee, to see where students would need to improve and to make the following recommendations. The low scores were caused by students scoring low on the ability to provide specific examples that support their answers. Therefore, the committee recommends that the instructor teaching the class spend more time explaining to students how to properly cite examples when responding to an activity like the one described in the Means column. This assessment will be repeated in spring 2013 to compare the new results with the aforementioned ones. This will determine if any other major changes must be implemented.
5.  Discuss the influence of
socio-political issues in
the formation of Mexican
literature. / Means: Students will discuss the socio-political issues that influenced Juan Rulfo which are present in his short stories in The Burning Plain and Other Stories.
The activity will be presented as an embedded exercise in an exam or given as a quiz.
Criteria: 70% of students will score a 70% on this activity.

Date: January 2012

Attach additional pages as necessary.

Institutional Mission & Goals / Course Intended Outcomes / Means of Assessment and Criteria for Success / Summary of Data Collected / Use of Results
1.  Explain distinctive features of major writers, literary works, movements, trends and genres in Mexican Literature from the pre-colonial era through the 20th century. / Means: Students will complete an exercise that consists of describing the distinctive features of writer José Joaquín Fernández de Lizardi, the author’s picaresque novel, The Iching Parrot, and the time period in which it was written. The activity will be presented as an embedded exercise in an exam or given as a quiz.
Criteria: 70% of students will score a 70% on this activity.
2.  Apply techniques of literary analysis and use appropriate literary terminology to discuss and appraise literary works. / Means: Students will analyze Sonnet I by Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz. The analysis must include the name of the author(the poem will appear on the exam but without the athor’s name), the time period in which it was written, the type of poem it is, a summary of what the poem is about, the theme(s) of the poem, the use of language, metaphors, and the message of the poem.
The activity will be presented as an embedded exercise in an exam or given as a quiz.
Criteria: 70% of students will score a 70% on this activity.
3.  Discuss the relevance of historical periods and movements to Mexican literature. / Means: Students will analyze Mariano Azuela’s novel The Underdogs in terms of its perspective on the Mexican Revolution. Azuela presents its readers with more that one perspective on the purpose of the Mexican Revolution. He uses his characters of the novel to accomplish this. Students must mention at least three characters from the novel and how they viewed the purpose of the Mexican Revolution differently. Azuela also portrays the Mexican Revolution as an event that failed to accomplish its main objective. Students must explain how the author uses the overall structure of the novel to prove his point.
The activity will be presented as an embedded exercise in an exam or given as a quiz.
Criteria: 70% of students will score a 70% on this activity.
4.  Identify and explain the recurrent themes in Mexican literature. / Means: Students will be asked to identify and explain a minimum of four post Mexican Revolution social and political themes in Juan Rulfo’s short stories from his book entitled The Burning Plain and Other Stories.
The activity will be presented as an embedded exercise in an exam or given as a quiz.
Criteria: 70% of students will score a 70% on this activity.
5.  Discuss the influence of
socio-political issues in
the formation of Mexican
literature. / Means: Students will discuss the socio-political issues that influenced Juan Rulfo which are present in his short stories in The Burning Plain and Other Stories.
The activity will be presented as an embedded exercise in an exam or given as a quiz.
Criteria: 70% of students will score a 70% on this activity.