Lauren Halberstadt

This Multilingual and Intercultural Communication course will showcase the fundamental components of the intersection of language and culture through humanities and social science. The content of this course focuses on linguistic strategies for succeeding in multilingual environments as well as intercultural communication practices for navigating new environments. Students will learn how language and culture inform each other through the examination of cultures within the United States and internationally. Students interested in traveling to Spain and Italy for two weeks in May 2026 should email Lauren Halberstadt, Ph.D. at lyp5028@psu.edu for more information.

Through hands-on experiences, students will uncover how the scientific study of Spanish reveals the intricate patterns and principles behind the language. In this course, we will explore Spanish dialect varieties, language structures, and pronunciation — all while uncovering the science behind the language. In SPAN 215N: The Science of Spanish, students will conduct speech analysis, compare Spanish accents, and explore how technology can be used to learn and preserve indigenous and endangered Spanish varieties.

In SPAN 411, students will learn to understand the bilingual landscape of the Spanish-speaking world and its consequences for communities and individuals. SPAN 411 the ABCs of Bilingualism: Acquisition, Brain, and Community will showcase the fundamental components of bilingualism (first language acquisition, language mixing, language and society, language contact, and cognitive consequences of bilingualism) situating them in the Spanish speaking world. The course requires an introductory level understanding of linguistics and presupposes familiarity with Spanish at the 15-credit level or higher. The purpose of this course is to adopt an understanding of the underlying mechanisms of bilingualism and what it means to be a bilingual speaker, as well as understand the community-level impact of speaking multiple languages. Students will learn theories surrounding the study of bilingualism and apply linguistic knowledge to better understand bilingual communities that are new to them.