I think SLS is a huge 'ohana (family) to me. It taught me a lot about the different perspectives of different cultures, and to me more understanding and aware of students' or teachers' perspectives.
Kallen Lin
SLS major, aspiring teacher, and multilingual speaker
Courses Needed for the SLS Major
The course requirements and electives for the SLS major total 33 credits. Listed below are the core and elective courses for those students who declared SLS as a major as of Spring 2023. To see when these are offered, please view our schedule of courses.
Major Requirements (24 credits/8 courses):
- SLS 301 - Basic Language Concepts
- SLS 302 - Second Language Learning (W)*
- SLS 303 - Second Language Teaching
- SLS 304 - Sociolinguistics of Multilingualism (DS, W)
- SLS 311 - Second Language Testing
- SLS 430 - Pidgin & Creole English in Hawai‘i (DS, H)
- SLS 480-alpha - Topics in SLS**
- SLS 485 - Professionalism in SLS (major only)
Electives (9 credits/3 courses):
- SLS 312 - Second Language Teaching: Reading & Writing (O)
- SLS 313 - Second Language Teaching: Listening & Speaking (O)
- SLS 408 - Multilingual Education (DS, W)
- SLS 418 - Instructional Media (O, W)
- SLS 460 - English Phonology (DS, O)
- SLS 475 - Practicum for Future Language Professionals
300- and 400-level courses from other fields of study may be used as electives, if approved by an SLS advisor.
More Information
*SLS 302 is the primary prerequisite course in the department. The official listing in the UH Manoa catalog says "prerequisite (or concurrent)". This means other SLS courses can be taken during the same semester as 302. Taking SLS introductory courses (SLS 130, 150, 218, and 280) prior to SLS 302 is fine as well. However, when taking SLS courses at the 300- or 400-level, be sure that SLS 302 is one of the courses you start with.
**Topic areas for SLS 480-alpha are:
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- 480P = Second Language Pedagogy
- 480R = Second Language Research
- 480U = Second Language Use
- 480N = Second Language Analysis
- 480E = Second Language Learning
If you have further questions or would like more information, please contact our academic advisors (slsba@hawaii.edu) by email or by phone (808-956-6131).