Students should have, or should acquire while at Cornell, near-native fluency in the language of specialization as well as reading knowledge of another language in which research in their area is written. Students receive instruction and practice in the application of linguistics to the teaching of one or more Romance languages. French, Hispanic, or Italian literature. The field offers a full complement of courses in French, Hispanic,or Italian literatures. It seeks to incorporate current, speculative, theoretical views of literature, often reflected in the review Diacritics, which since 1971 has been edited and published by faculty members and students in the Field of Romance Studies.
Students choose one national literature as their major concentration.
They are expected to acquire a working knowledge of the general history of that literature, to become conversant with the social and intellectual history, and to speak and write their major language fluently. They are trained in bibliographical, linguistic, and analytical skills basic to teaching and research in the interpretation of literature. Students are encouraged to study foreign languages other than the language of the major concentration, but such study is not required unless special linguistic competence is necessary for the student's research. Such need is determined by the student's Special Committee. A summer course in language teaching allows beginning assistants to observe and participate in classroom teaching and to attend lectures and discussion on theory and practice.