The Faculty of Communication Sciences strengthens support for Catalan with propedeutic courses for first-year students

This year, the Faculty of Communication Sciences (FCC) of the UAB has launched the propedeutic Catalan courses aimed at first-class students. The initiative, which began in the 2025-2026 academic year within the framework of the Interlingua program of the Generalitat de Catalunya, aims to detect the main linguistic deficiencies of new students and offer them a specific reinforcement that allows them to face with more guarantees the subject of Catalan of the different degrees taught at the FCC.

The Faculty is currently the only centre with communication studies in our country that offers this type of propedeutic training in Catalan. The action is part of the Faculty's commitment to the linguistic competence of future communication professionals, especially in a field where oral and written command of the language is a fundamental tool for professional practice.

The process begins during the Welcome Days, with a Catalan level test aimed at first-year students of the five degrees of the Faculty: Journalism, Communication of Organizations, Advertising and Public Relations, Audiovisual Communication and Interactive Communication.

Last year, 438 of the 485 students convened took the test, which combined aloud reading with a pronunciation, grammar and lexicon test. The tests were adapted to the specific scope of each of the degrees. The results allowed to identify 215 students with shortcomings that could be worked on in a propedeutic course, 130 of whom enrolled in propedeutic courses and 116 completed them. The data for the first year show a positive evolution of academic results. In the different degrees in which the courses were taught, an increase in the average grades and a reduction in the number of students who failed or had to repeat the subject were observed. One of the most significant indicators is that 110 of the 116 students who completed the propedeutic courses subsequently passed the subject of Catalan, while only six failed it. The data point, therefore, to a favorable impact of linguistic reinforcement on the academic results of the students.

Aquest curs, durant les Jornades de Benvinguda, el professorat de català de la Facultat ha repetit les proves diagnòstiques amb els nous estudiants de primer, amb la voluntat de detectar novament les necessitats de reforç i orientar l’alumnat cap als recursos formatius més adequats. Els cursos, impartits igualment pel mateix professorat sota el nom Català, Ara Sí, estan pensats per treballar els aspectes més bàsics de la llengua catalana, amb especial atenció, com s’ha dit, a la pronunciació, la gramàtica i el lèxic. L’objectiu és facilitar que els estudiants puguin assolir un nivell proper al C1, que és el nivell de competència lingüística que es pressuposa en l’assignatura de català dels diferents graus.

This year, during the Welcome Days, the Catalan teachers of the Faculty have repeated the diagnostic tests with the new first-year students, with the aim of detecting again the needs of reinforcement and guiding the students towards the most appropriate training resources. The courses, also taught by the teachers under the name Català, Ara Sí, are designed to work on the most basic aspects of the Catalan language, with special attention, as has been said, to pronunciation, grammar and lexicon. The aim is to help students reach a level close to C1, which is the level of linguistic competence that is assumed in the subject of Catalan of the different degrees.

With the continuity of the courses, the Faculty, with the collaboration of the Vice-Principal for Culture and Language Policy, the UAB Language Service and the teaching staff of the Department of Catalan Philology, consolidates an initiative that combines early detection, linguistic reinforcement and monitoring of academic results, in order that students who arrive at the university with more difficulties in Catalan have, from the first moment, tools to improve their linguistic competence and face their training in Communication with greater guarantees.