Example programs for several types of future students are illustrated below.
1. Students at UH who are completing a masters or doctorate in foreign languages, linguistics, education, psychology, anthropology, SLS, or a related field and who wish to complement their regular graduate studies with a further special emphasis on second language studies. For such students, the AGC fills a role that might be called a “graduate minor.” Students may wish to profit from the additional research training opportunity provided by the AGC program, as part of its research-based courses and scholarly paper requirement. As examples:
a) An MA in Japanese student (thesis option) double counts 6 credits (SLS 660—Sociolinguistics and Second Languages and SLS 678—Microanalysis in Second Language Research), and takes three additional SLS or Japanese topics/seminars on pragmatics and JSL to write a paper, on acquisition of honorifics, distinct from the thesis, which is an historical survey of honorific use in Japan.
b) A PhD student in Linguistics double counts 6 credits (SLS 640—English Syntax, SLS 680-N—Discourse Analysis), takes three additional courses on L2 analysis and syntax, and writes a separate study on acquisition of Korean syntax.
2. Faculty members at other institutions who come as visitors to UH, either to re-specialize or to update their knowledge, possibly on sabbatical leave. Re-specialization is especially likely in the case of faculty with degrees in literature or linguistics who are in academic positions in which they find themselves responsible for teaching courses on or doing research in second language acquisition, or supervising language instruction programs. Updating of knowledge in this field is often necessary since faculty in second language studies frequently find themselves isolated in academic units with other disciplinary orientations. For example:
A Visiting Colleague from an Asian or Pacific University takes the following 15 credits and does a research paper on language testing and university placement exams in his/her country:
- SLS 671—Research in Language Testing
- [SLS 490 is a prerequisite, fulfilled by professor by own course work for doctorate]
- SLS 610—Introduction to Second Language Teaching
- SLS 630—Second Language Program Development
- SLS 730—Seminar in Second Language Testing
- EDEP 629—Educational Statistics
3. Students who have completed a masters degree and wish to apply for the SLS PhD program, but who do not have sufficient training to be considered for the PhD program. Often, these students have degrees from outside UH. A UH example might be:
An MA in ESL student (Plan B) who double counts 6 credits (e.g. SLS 610—Introduction to Second Language Teaching, SLS 614—Second Language Writing), but takes three additional topics/seminars on pedagogy and curriculum, conducts research on writing instruction that follows up on the Plan B Scholarly Paper on the same topic. (NB: To be able to double count credits, students need to be concurrently enrolled in the MA and AGC program for at least one semester.)
4. Professionals working in the sphere of public or private education, social agencies, employment training programs, or corporate training specialists, who work with second language populations and want to gain expertise on how to improve their services.
5. Scholars from non-U.S. institutions who want to learn about recent American work in second language studies. For example, these scholars may come to UH on government exchange programs.