Spring 2027

Introduction to the Romance Languages

Introduction to structural similarities and differences in French, Italian, Portuguese, and Spanish, covering historical developments and features like phonology, morphology, syntax, and lexicon.

no offering record for this termCredits unavailable
Recorded instructors · Spring 2027 No instructors listed

Summary

1 / 6

Past student reviews · Thomas Cravens

Lectures were described as disorganized and not aimed at beginners, while exam content was unpredictable and sometimes unrelated to provided review sheets.

What you’ll be able to do

  • Recognize linguistic features within the Romance languages.

  • Apply these concepts and features to the linguistic analysis of language, in general, and of the Romance languages, in particular.

  • Analyze the structure and evolution of sounds, words and sentences in the Romance languages.

  • Assess critically different claims about how language is organized, how it is used, how it varies and how it changes over time (using specific examples from French, Italian, Spanish, and Portuguese).

Source: UW Guide 1 UW Guide 2 UW Guide 3 UW Guide 4

Grade history

↗
average GPA
letter grades
A
AB
B
BC
C
D
F

All recorded terms · compare terms & instructors

Prerequisites

Course map

SPANISH 226,FRENCH 228,ITALIAN 311, or PORTUG 226

FRENCH/ITALIAN/PORTUG/SPANISH 429 used by

“Used by” includes alternatives; linked courses may have other requirements. This is a best-effort interpretation; check the catalog requirements above.

Prerequisite text tree

Professors

Spring 2027

No instructors recorded for this selection.

Historical instructors & teaching patterns

FERNANDO TEJEDO-HERRERO is recorded teaching in Spring 2018, Spring 2019, Spring 2020, Spring 2023. Recorded history may be incomplete and does not establish a future schedule.

THOMAS CRAVENS is recorded teaching in Spring 2007, Spring 2008, Spring 2009, Spring 2010, Spring 2011, Spring 2012, Fall 2012, Spring 2013, Spring 2014, Fall 2016. Recorded history may be incomplete and does not establish a future schedule.

Recorded history may be incomplete and does not establish a future schedule.

Calendar & sections

Spring 2027

Schedule loads here as you scroll.

SectionModeEnrolled / capacityWaitlist

Times are Central. Select a meeting for details; export includes recorded dates for the selected sections.

Meeting source records

No records available.

Student experience

the class

Past student reviews · Fernando Tejedo-Herrero

Past students found the course fascinating, with Fernando Tejedo-Herrero's enthusiasm for the subject making the experience engaging and enjoyable.

Recent recorded grades — Spring 2019: 3.70 GPA, 73.2% A/AB (n=41 letter grades); Spring 2020: 3.40 GPA, 59.6% A/AB (n=47 letter grades); Spring 2023: 3.60 GPA, 74.3% A/AB (n=35 letter grades).

difficulty & workload

Past student reviews · Thomas Cravens

Lectures were described as disorganized and not aimed at beginners, while exam content was unpredictable and sometimes unrelated to provided review sheets.

Past student reviews · Fernando Tejedo-Herrero

One student found grading and question criteria unclear, leading to a frustrating experience, though another praised the fair exams and great lectures.

Topics

  • Structural similarities and differences among Romance languages
  • Historical developments of Romance languages
  • Phonology, morphology, syntax, and lexicon

Skills

  • Apply linguistic concepts to analyze Romance languages
  • Critically assess claims about language organization, use, variation, and change

Grades

Latest available · Spring 2023— not enough history to project Spring 2027.

average GPA
A / AB grades
letter grades
Instructor

Grade distribution · % of letter grades

A
AB
B
BC
C
D
F

Grades over time

Through Spring 2023

More grade details Grade mix, volume & source data

Where this course fits relative to

Latest available grades · Spring 2023 · all course levels

GPA

Higher than % of other courses in this group.

Course GPAs · red marks this course’s range

letter grades

More recorded grades than % of other courses in this group.

Typical course in this group: letter grades.

About this comparison

1185 courses over the same term, each with at least 30 recorded letter grades. Cross-listed courses count once. GPA is not a measure of difficulty or teaching quality. The typical course is the median by recorded grade count; tied values are not counted as lower. Grade counts describe course scale, not unique students or typical section size.

Descriptions compare GPA with this group’s average: at least 0.20 higher or lower; otherwise close to average. Section size uses median recorded enrollment: small up to 30, mid-sized 31–99, large 100+. Lectures and discussion/lab sections are described separately.

Sources & history

UW–Madison

Catalog & offerings

Descriptions, prerequisites, and recorded course offerings.

Catalog observation history

Observations at scan time; dates do not imply when a catalog change took effect.

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Selected offering source records

No offering records for the selected term.

Raw records 
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Student reviews

Original comments behind the course and instructor summaries.

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Madgrades

Grade history

Recorded grade distributions by term, section, and instructor.

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Dataset & model

Recorded 2026-10-14

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Model outputs & technical records
Qwen/Qwen3.8-27B
LLM outputs across runs
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Full model traces

Recorded model configuration, reasoning, and tool conversations.

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Model & dataset provenance 
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  "model": "Qwen/Qwen3.8-27B",
  "model_revision": "1d4bf0f2ff6012fd82039f2fa52739d0dd7c60c0",
  "task_version": "17",
  "output_id": "b88b525ef39ee3b425ad057aedeb424ac8c4d7540de01ec41e693a025a0f7947",
  "requirements_status": "valid",
  "dataset_revision": "fc1811fa52e581ea57a35c0cf3343f8740a8ffbf",
  "observed_at": "2026-10-14 17:50:09.728220+00:00"
}