MA in APPLIED LINGUISTICS & TESL AT UCLA

Applied Linguistics

The faculty of the department of Applied Linguistics & TESL along with colleagues from other departments, such as Anthropology, Asian Languages and Cultures, Education, Linguistics, Neuroanatomy, Psychology, and Sociology, participate in the Master’s Program in Applied Linguistics & TESL. The Chair of the Department of Applied Linguistics & TESL, Prof. Lyle Bachman, heads the faculty advisory committee that shapes the Master’s program. Applied Linguistics & TESL staff provide the administrative functions for the program. Ms. Srey R.Ngov, the Graduate Student Advisor, is responsible for academic counseling of graduate students, coordinating graduate admissions, and processing graduate student support awards. Lyn is available to answer your questions and provide the help that you need. 

The faculty members who participate in the Master’s Program in Applied Linguistics & TESL represent a wide range of expertise and experience in language-related research. Their guidance and collaboration with students result in substantial research findings in the areas of specialization within the program, and their participation reinforces the interdisciplinary nature of applied linguistic research. Graduates of the program pursue academic and professional careers at the highest level of service and inquiry.

The M.A. Program in Applied Linguistics & TESL is designed as a first step in a research career in Applied Linguistics. It provides both breadth of knowledge in several areas of applied linguistics and the specialized knowledge and skills needed to plan and conduct research in one of three areas of specialization within Applied Linguistics. The program is designed to foster the mentorship relationship between students and faculty, as each student is assigned a faculty mentor with whom they work throughout the program. At UCLA, we provide mentorship in three Research Areas that we believe are integral to a thorough understanding of the field of Applied Linguistics: Language Acquisition, Language Assessment, and Discourse Analysis. Master’s students are encouraged to study themes within these Research Areas from a variety of perspectives.

Research Areas in Applied Linguistics at UCLA

Language Acquisition--Research in language acquisition seeks to (1) describe interlanguage systems; (2) examine underlying cognitive mechanisms that could account for these systems; (3) examine the social, affective, and neurobiological factors that influence second language development; and (4) explore the effect of instruction on the process. Additional areas of inquiry include (a) comparisons between native and nonnative linguistic systems and how speakers use them in natural discourse, and (b) explanations for variable success in second language acquisition in terms of the neural underpinnings of language as well as the neural basis for perception, attention, memory, and emotion.

One of the great strengths of the Master’s Program is its interdisciplinary organization. The faculty who work in the area of language acquisition have varying interests and expertise. As a result students have the opportunity to learn about many of the different facets of language acquisition: the social and cultural factors which lead to socialization into particular language/cultural communities; the acquisition of grammar (including morphosyntax, phonetics and phonology, semantics) and discourse processes; and the neurobiological underpinnings of language acquisition.

While the faculty focus on different aspects of acquisition, we share a commitment to crosslinguistic research and to the study of language acquisition in diverse populations. We share an interest in understanding the language particular and universal dimensions of language, as well as the complex relationships between mind, brain, language, and society.

Language Assessment--Language assessment is concerned with the empirical investigation of theoretical issues on the one hand, and with providing useful tools for assessment in applied linguistics on the other. Language assessment research has as its goals the formulation and empirical investigation of theories of language assessment performance and assessment use, and the empirical investigation of the ways in which performance on language assessments is related to communicative language use in its widest sense. Language assessment research is also concerned with investigating issues related to the validity of score-based interpreations and the fairness of the uses that are made of language assessment results. This involves both theoretical formulations for linking validity and fairness, and the empirical investigation of these formulations in practical assessments.

The goal of instruction and mentoring in the research area of language assessment is to engage students in thinking about and conducting research that is of current interest to the field, and in addressing the practical real-world needs for language assessment, such as undergraduate students entering foreign language programs, international students entering universities in the U.S., elementary and secondary school students whose limited language proficiency may adversely affect their performance on standardized tests of academic achievement. In the process of conducting this research, the aim is for students to acquire the knowledge, skills and research tools, both quantitative and qualitative, that will enable them to become productive scholar/researchers who will continue to enrich our basic understanding of language ability and its assessment, and to contribute to the development of useful language assessments for real world applications.

Discourse Analysis--Discourse Analysis is concerned with how language users produce and interpret language in context. Discourse analysts research the linguistic structures of speech acts, conversational sequences, speech activities, oral and literature registers, and stance (among other constructs) and seek to relate these constructs to social and cultural norms, preferences and expectations. The field articulates how lexico-grammar and discourse systematically vary across social situations and at the same time help to define those situations. Discourse analysis may be carried out as an end in itself or as a tool contributing to research in language acquisition or language assessment.

The distinctive accent of this research area is its integration of Functional Grammar and Discourse Analysis with complementary perspectives on culture and social interaction. Students in this research area analyze language use in ordinary circumstances across diverse settings. Participating faculty are drawn from Anthropology, Applied Linguistics, and Sociology, along with participation from other programs as relevant. A hallmark of Discourse Analysis is its capacity to situate language- related problems in their discursive contexts in the everyday world. Whether the issue is how to acquire a second language or how to understand multilingualism, literacy, language and culture maintenance and change, cross-cultural miscommunication, or any of the array of issues in applied linguistics, this track prepares students to probe them as discursively constituted phenomena.

The methodological emphasis of this research area combines traditional ethnographic field work with detailed analysis of video and audio recorded data. The thematic concerns pursued range across contexts such as the workplace, schools, medical offices, service encounters, religious institutions, domestic and recreational settings, etc. They range across languages as diverse as Finnish, German, Chinese, Korean, Japanese, Navajo, Thai, English, Papiamento, Swedish, African American English, Chicano dialects of English and Spanish, Dominican Spanish, Ladino, and American and New Zealand Sign Languages. They range across modalities, including speech, writing and manual languages, and across activities, from scientific discussions and presentations to counseling sessions (both professional and peer), from telephone conversations to political argumentation, from medical diagnoses to television commercials, and from writing tutorials to language assessment interviews.

The Discourse Analysis research area examines oral and written language practices across settings and communities around the world. Two analytic foci are 1) the relation of grammar to text/context and 2) the organization of discourse sequences, activities, and genres. In addition to analyzing how language structure is sensitive to semantic and pragmatic principles, research and teaching in this track emphasizes how grammar and discourse are integral to social and psychological competence across the life span. In this endeavor, we collaborate with the acquisition and assessment tracks (e.g. brain and discourse, language acquisition and socialization, assessment of written discourse, classroom pedagogy and authentic discourse practices).

Teaching English as a Second Language

Teaching English as a Second Language (TESL) is no longer the main focus of the department of Applied Linguistics & TESL. However, the department offers exceptional opportunities to students interested in pursuing this area as part of their academic program. The Department provides a first-class academic ESL program for UCLA students who are non-native speakers of English. The department also has an outstanding group of scholars and educators teaching courses designed to lay pedagogical and theoretical foundations in TESL for both novice and experienced ESL professionals.  MA students who choose to take these elective courses become familiar with the nature of language, the ways in which people acquire and use language in classroom settings, and effective second language teaching methods. 

The advantages of including TESL as part of the graduate curriculum are numerous.  These courses build on existing knowledge acquired in courses taken as part of the MA program, and provide students with guidance in applying theoretical constructs to real world classroom settings where language is taught and used.  TESL skills can also provide Applied Linguistics graduate students with a secure means of financial support for the duration of their graduate program.  More importantly, these skills may open doors to professional opportunities in academic and private sectors once the students have completed the degree program.

PROGRAM REQUIREMENTS