The following constitutes introductory information regarding the graduate degree program. For a complete outline of degree requirements, see Program Requirements for UCLA Graduate Degrees available in the program office and accessible from the Graduate Division homepage at http://www.gdnet.ucla.edu.
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The basic requirement for admission to the doctoral program is the completion of the UCLA Master of Arts degree in Teaching English as a Second Language (TESL) or in Linguistics or the equivalent of one of these. Applicants with a graduate degree in TESL, linguistics, applied linguistics, psycholinguistics, or sociolinguistics from another recognized institution may be admitted provided they then make up the courses in one or the other of the two UCLA M.A. programs whose equivalents they have not yet taken. Applicants whose graduate degree is in other related disciplines (such as a foreign language, English, education, psychology, sociology, or anthropology) are advised to complete the UCLA M.A. in Linguistics or TESL before seeking admission to the Ph.D. program. Prospective candidates are required to submit the following items by the preceding December 15: (1) a statement of purpose describing their research background and the type of dissertation they hope to prepare; (2) three letters of recommendation from professors who are well acquainted with their academic background; (3) the M.A. thesis or related research papers; (4) Graduate Record Examination (GRE) scores. International applicants should also submit their Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL) scores.
The admissions committee considers all of the above criteria, as well as undergraduate and graduate grade-point averages, in deciding on the top candidates for the program.
Three areas of specialization are available: language acquisition, language assessment, and discourse/grammar analysis.
Basic Preparation. Any of the following courses not already taken must be completed as early as possible and before advancement to candidacy for the degree. For basic preparation in applied linguistics, students can choose either a phonetics and phonology track, a syntax and semantics track, or a discourse analysis track. For all tracks, students must take both Linguistics 120A, 120B, and Teaching English as a Second Language and Applied Linguistics 220. Under the phonetics and phonology track, students would then take Linguistics 165A or 200A, followed by Linguistics 201 or 203 or 204. Under the syntax and semantics track Linguistics 165B, and Linguistics 200B or 215 are taken. Under the discourse analysis track, students would take Teaching English as a Second Language and Applied Linguistics 260, followed by Teaching English as a Second Language and Applied Linguistics 271 or 274 or Sociology C244A or C244B or Anthropology 204 or 242.
Units and Courses. As a breadth requirement, students must take at least 32 units of graduate-level coursework (in the 200 or 500 series). These 32 units may not include courses taken while completing basic preparation courses, Linguistics 275, Teaching English as a Second Language and Applied Linguistics 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, if possible. The 32 units must include eight units in one area outside the area of specialization.
Appropriate graduate courses taken at UCLA after completion of the M.A. but before admission to the doctoral program may be applied toward the eight-course requirement for the Ph.D. 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. and preferably taken within the framework of UCLA's Applied Linguistics 501.
Within Graduate Division limits, courses that may be taken on an S/U basis include undergraduate courses taken as prerequisites to needed 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, Teaching English as a Second Language and Applied Linguistics 400, and Linguistics 275. All other courses must be taken for letter grades.
In lieu of a written qualifying examination, two original research papers of publishable quality in different areas of specialization are required. These may be revised or extended seminar papers but must be prepared after admission to the Ph.D. program. Students are to choose the topics of these papers in consultation with appropriate faculty members and with the consent of the Ph.D. program adviser. 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 which 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.