2007-2008 Program Requirements for UCLA Graduate Degrees

Applicable only to students admitted during the 2007-2008 academic year.

Applied Linguistics

Admission

Doctoral Degree

Advising

New students are assigned to a faculty adviser with whom they discuss a proposed course of study and research. Every quarter, students meet again with their faculty adviser to have their course enrollment approved for the quarter and to discuss their progress towards the degree. This process is intended to assist students in making satisfactory progress and to encourage a strong mentorship relationship between students and faculty.

Major Fields or Subdisciplines

Three general areas of research focus: language acquisition; language assessment; and discourse analysis. In addition, students work with faculty mentors to tailor their own programs of specialized research and study. Students also may receive training in culture, brain and development.  Interested students should consult the Center for Culture, Brain and Development website.

Foreign Language Requirement

Before advancement to candidacy, students must demonstrate effective knowledge of one foreign language. This may be demonstrated by means of (1) a reading examination; (2) a research paper based on extensive sources in the language; (3) a conversation examination showing knowledge in depth; (4) a UCLA Foreign Language Department Placement Test, showing equivalency to completion of level 6; or (5) completion of the sixth quarter of instruction in a foreign language at UCLA with a minimum grade of Satisfactory or a letter grade of B- or better. Non-native speakers of English may use English to fulfill the language requirement.

Course Requirements

Basic Preparation. Students must take Applied Linguistics and Teaching English as a Second Language 209 during their first quarter in the program.

Units and Courses. As a breadth requirement, students must take at least 32 units (eight courses) of graduate-level coursework (in the 200 or 500 series), determined in consultation with the student's faculty mentor. These 32 units may not include Applied Linguistics and Teaching English as a Second Language 400, or Applied Linguistics 597 or 599. No more than eight of the 32 units may be in 596 courses, and these should be in Applied Linguistics 596.

Appropriate graduate courses taken at UCLA after completion of the M.A. degree but before admission to the doctoral program may be applied toward the eight-course requirement for the Ph.D. degree. Credit may be transferred for up to two courses taken at another institution, but only for graduate-level courses taken after completion of the M.A. degree and preferably taken within the framework of Applied Linguistics 501.

Courses that may be taken on an S/U basis include undergraduate courses taken as prerequisites to required graduate courses, undergraduate courses not required, reading courses in a foreign language, graduate courses taken in addition to the required 32 units, Applied Linguistics 501, 597, 599, Applied Linguistics and Teaching English as a Second Language 209. All other courses must be taken for letter grades.

Teaching Experience

Not required.

Written and Oral Qualifying Examinations

Academic Senate regulations require all doctoral students to complete and pass University written and oral qualifying examinations prior to doctoral advancement to candidacy. Also, under Senate regulations the University oral qualifying examination is open only to the student and appointed members of the doctoral committee. In addition to University requirements, some graduate programs have other pre-candidacy examination requirements. What follows in this section is how students are required to fulfill all of these requirements for this doctoral program.

In lieu of a written qualifying examination, two Qualifying Papers that are original research papers of publishable quality are required. These two papers must (1) draw on different research literatures, (2) be based on different sets of data, and 3) employ different research approaches/methodologies. These papers may be revised or extended seminar papers but must be prepared after admission to the Ph.D. program. Students choose the topics of these papers in consultation with appropriate faculty members and with the consent of the Ph.D. program committee. Each of the finished papers is evaluated by two faculty members.

The doctoral committee administers the University Oral Qualifying Examination, the focus of which is a prospectus of the dissertation that must be submitted to the committee prior to the examination. The committee also has the responsibility for determining the adequacy of the student's preparation for writing the dissertation. If prospectus and preparation are judged adequate, the choice of the dissertation topic is thereby approved, and the student becomes eligible for advancement to doctoral candidacy. In case of failure, the doctoral committee determines whether or not the student may be reexamined and if further courses must be taken before the reexamination.

Advancement to Candidacy

Students are advanced to candidacy and awarded the Candidate in Philosophy (C.Phil.) degree upon successful completion of the written and oral qualifying examinations.

Doctoral Dissertation

Every doctoral degree program requires the completion of an approved dissertation that demonstrates the student's ability to perform original, independent research and constitutes a distinct contribution to knowledge in the principal field of study.

Final Oral Examination (Defense of Dissertation)

Not required for all students in the program. The decision as to whether a defense is required is made by the doctoral committee.

Time-to-Degree

From first enrollment in the doctoral program to advancement to candidacy: two to three years. From first enrollment to completion of degree: three to five years. The outside limit for the Ph.D. from start to finish, including leaves or interruptions of any kind, is seven calendar years from first enrollment. The approved normative time-to-degree for the Ph.D. is 15 quarters (five years).

Termination of Graduate Study and Appeal of Termination

University Policy

A student who fails to meet the above requirements may be recommended for termination of graduate study. A graduate student may be disqualified from continuing in the graduate program for a variety of reasons. The most common is failure to maintain the minimum cumulative grade point average (3.00) required by the Academic Senate to remain in good standing (some programs require a higher grade point average). Other examples include failure of examinations, lack of timely progress toward the degree and poor performance in core courses. Probationary students (those with cumulative grade point averages below 3.00) are subject to immediate dismissal upon the recommendation of their department. University guidelines governing termination of graduate students, including the appeal procedure, are outlined in Standards and Procedures for Graduate Study at UCLA.

Special Departmental or Program Policy

Master's Degree

The chair makes a recommendation for termination on the recommendation of a departmental committee set up to review the particular circumstances of a given case. The committee includes at least one student. Either the graduate adviser or a member of the faculty may initiate the process by informing the chair of the need to recommend a student for termination.

A student may appeal a recommendation for termination to the chair who reconvenes the ad hoc committee to reconsider the matter.

Doctoral Degree

A student who has not completed the degree within seven years will be recommended for termination. A student may appeal a recommendation for termination to the departmental committee that administers the program.

PAGE 1 -- Applied Linguistics & TESL Master's Degree
PAGE 3 -- TESL Master's Degree

Program Requirements

Applied Linguistics