Department Resources

Ph.D. in Applied Linguistics Handbook

The Ph.D. in Applied Linguistics provides students with a broad theoretical grounding and research experiences in examining the nature of language and language learning, how language is used to construct our sociocultural worlds, and how, in varied learning contexts, we learn to use language and learn about the world through language.

1. Coursework

The program consists of a minimum of 45 credits beyond the M.A. degree. Up to 8 credits can be doctoral dissertation credits. The areas of study include foundations, language teaching and learning, language in society, and methods of language study/research. You are strongly encouraged to audit courses when you are writing the dissertation. You are also strongly encouraged to apply for outside dissertation grants as part of your program of study.

A. Foundations

7 credits. These courses are required for all students.

APLNG 580 Proseminar in APLNG
APLNG 582 Seminar in Approaches to Language in Use or equivalent
APLNG 591 Seminar in Second Language Acquisition or equivalent

B. Area of Concentration

You are required to take a minimum of 12 credits from one of the two areas of concentration and 6 credits from either area for a minimum total of 18 credits.

Area 1

Language Learning and Teaching

Possible topics on which courses can be taken include but are not limited to: classroom discourse; curriculum design/materials development; language learning theories; language testing; the teaching of L2 reading and writing; second/foreign language pedagogy; sociocultural theory; technology and language learning.

Courses that you may choose include the following:

APLNG 410 - Teaching American English Pronunciation
APLNG 412 - Teaching Second Language Writing
APLNG 570 - Second Language Reading
APLNG 571 - FL Materials Development
APLNG 572 - Communication in L2 Classrooms
APLNG 573 - Communicative Language Teaching
APLNG 583 - Methods of Language Assessment
APLNG 584 - Sociocultural Theory and L2 Learning
APLNG 588 - Computer-assisted Language Learning
APLNG 589 - Technology in FL/SL Education
other course with approval of your advisor

Area 2

Language in Society

Possible topics on which courses can be taken include but are not limited to: critical theories/poststructuralist theories of language; intercultural communication; language and gender; language ideologies; language and interaction; language, health and aging; language and social identity; language policy and planning; multilingualism; sociolinguistics; and world Englishes.

Courses that you may choose include the following:

APLNG 510 - Health and Aging in Multilingual Contexts
APLNG 511 - Applied Linguistics and Health Sciences
APLNG 512 - Language and Adult Lifespan Development
APLNG 575 - Language Ideology
APLNG 576 – Language Socialization across Home, School and Community
other course with approval of your advisor

C. Research Methodologies

You are required to take a minimum of 12 credits, part of which includes the 6-credit 2-course sequence:

APLNG 593: Research Methods in Applied Linguistics
APLNG 597: Language Analysis

You may choose a minimum of 6 additional credits in research methods from the following:

APLNG 581 - Discourse Analysis
APLNG 586 -Analyzing Classroom Discourse
other course with approval of your advisor

General Notes:

You must complete all work for each course for which you are registered within the semester during which the course is scheduled. Deferred grades (“incompletes”) are only permitted for extenuating circumstances and may not be used to extend a course beyond the end of the semester or to raise a grade. All deferred grades must be settled within 9 weeks of the beginning of the following semester for which the student is registered. Students are encouraged to consult the Graduate School Handbook concerning academic information and procedures relative to coursework and grading.

D. APLNG Research Roundtable

In addition to the above coursework, you are expected to participate in regularly scheduled departmental roundtable sessions and guest lecture series, the purpose of which is to provide you with regular opportunities for engagement in scholarly pursuits with faculty members. The sessions include presentations and discussions of research-in-progress by members of the APLNG community and visiting scholars. See News and Events on the department website for a schedule of events.

E. Teaching Apprenticeship

Teaching apprenticeships provide you with the opportunity to team-teach with faculty members. In these experiences, you work with your faculty mentors to design course materials, prepare classes and assess student learning. Teaching apprenticeships are limited to ABD students only and you must register for one credit of APLNG 602 in the semester you are team teaching.

2. Advisors and Committees

Initial Advisor Selection

Upon being admitted to the program, you are assigned a temporary advisor who assists in coursework selection and program plan progress. As much as possible assignments are made on the basis of shared research interests. Candidacy Examination Committee: Early in the semester of the candidacy examination, you select members of your candidacy committee, in consultation with your advisor. The committee consists of a chair (your faculty advisor) and a minimum of two faculty members with appointments in the department. You should contact faculty members directly to ask if they are willing to serve on the committee. Once you have selected the members, and they have agreed to serve, you and your advisor, in consultation with the other committee members, schedule a date and time for the exam. The departmental staff assistant can assist in scheduling the venue for the exam.

Permanent Advisor Selection

After being admitted to candidacy and at least one semester before you are to take the comprehensive exam, you must gain the agreement of a member of the department’s graduate faculty to serve as permanent advisor. This person may be your temporary advisor, but need not be. (If at some point after candidacy and prior to comps, you and your permanent advisor decide that you would be better served by selecting a new advisor, you must inform the Director of Graduate Studies of the change and select a new advisor within one month of having informed your current advisor of your intention to change advisors). Your permanent advisor serves as chair of the comprehensive examination and dissertation committee. Once you begin the comprehensive exam process, no changes to the advisor can be made except in unusual circumstances (e.g., the faculty member leaves the university). Any change requires written approval by the Director of Graduate Studies.

Comprehensive Exam and Dissertation Committee

This committee consists of three faculty members in addition to your advisor, who typically serves as chair of the committee. Three of the four committee members must be departmental faculty. One member must be from outside the department, with no budgetary or adjunct appointment in the department. Because this person represents the Graduate School, this outside member must be a member of the Graduate Faculty. Your advisor assists you in choosing committee members. You should contact faculty members directly to ask if they are willing to serve on the committee. Once you begin the comprehensive exam process, no changes in committee membership can be made except in unusual circumstances (e.g., a faculty member leaves the university). Any change requires written approval by the Director of Graduate Studies. A person not affiliated with Penn State who has particular expertise in your research area may be added as a fifth member, upon recommendation by the head of the department and approval of the graduate dean (via the Office of Graduate Enrollment Services).

3. Examinations

Candidacy Examination

You must pass a candidacy examination in the third semester of full-time graduate study. The purpose of the exam is to assess your competence as an academic writer, and your ability to do research and successfully complete the program. The exam is given orally and is not to exceed 60 minutes. During the hour, you will be asked questions about the papers, your program of study, and research plans. In the event that you do not schedule and pass the exam by the end of the third semester, you will be placed on probation and have until the end of the fourth semester to pass candidacy. Failure to pass candidacy by the end of the fourth semester will result in termination of your graduate assistantship.

Arranging the exam

One month prior to the date of the oral examination, you must submit to your advisor the following:

A program plan. This program timeline should detail semester by semester the courses you have already completed, those left to take, and a timeline for completing program requirements’
Two academic papers you produced in courses taken at Penn State, at least one of which should reveal your competence to conduct research. Both papers should follow the APA or LSA Style Sheet.

At least two weeks prior to the examination, you are to submit the program of study and papers to the rest of your committee members. Unless otherwise agreed upon by the committee, you must submit the documents in hard copy (rather than in electronic format).

Exam results

The outcome of the examination consists of one of the following recommendations:

Continue program; admitted as candidate
Do not continue the program

The chair of the committee is responsible for communicating the results of the exam to the Director of Graduate Studies within a week following the exam.

Note: The Graduate School will admit no student to Candidacy until she/he is of regular status. This means that all evidence of previous university degrees must be in order and no outstanding deferred grades remain on the transcript. Thus, even though you might pass the candidacy exam, you may be required to resolve any outstanding paperwork issues with the Graduate School. If this occurs, the Director of Graduate Studies will work with you to resolve the issue quickly. If you are not recommended to continue in the program, your status as a graduate student will be terminated at the end of the semester in which you take the exam.

Comprehensive Examination

This examination is designed to determine your competence to interpret the theoretical assumptions and research findings in your area of concentration and your ability to do research in that area. The exam consists of two components. The written component requires you to produce two scholarly papers based on two questions or problems proposed by your committee. The oral component is a question and answer session based on the two examination papers and your work to date in the program. Ordinarily, students are expected to take the comprehensive examination during their third year of full-time study. Failure to take and pass the exam by end of the sixth semester will result in termination of your assistantship. The comprehensive examination must be scheduled during the academic year (September-May) and may not be scheduled during the summer term.

Eligibility

To be eligible to take the comprehensive exam, you must 1) have completed all required coursework, 2) satisfied all language requirements, 3) have a minimum grade-point average of 3.00 for work done at Penn State, 4) have no deferred or missing grades, and 5) be registered as a full- or part-time student for the semester in which the examination is taken.

The Initial Comprehensive Exam Meeting

The purpose of this meeting is to generate the specific questions or problems for the papers and to set the time and date for the oral component of the exam. At least two weeks prior to this meeting, you must submit two papers from your area of concentration to committee members as a demonstration of your topic knowledge and specific research interests. At the meeting, in consultation with you, the committee will decide on two questions or issues that you are to address in your examination papers. One of these two papers must entail data analysis. Within two days of this meeting, your advisor will submit to you a formal statement of these problems. You will have 60 days from the time you are given the formal statement to write the papers. At the conclusion of this meeting, you must notify the Graduate School of the date of the oral exam. Consult with the departmental staff assistant for assistance in doing this.

Format of the Exam Papers

The exam papers are expected to be original, full-length papers using an established formatting style (APA, LSA) and they must include bibliographies of the references cited. The specific nature of the examination papers will be left to the discretion of the committee members. You must submit copies of the papers to your committee members by the end of 60-day period. Unless otherwise agreed upon by the committee, you must submit the documents in hard copy (rather than in electronic format).

The Oral Examination

The oral component of the exam is to take place within two weeks of completing the papers and is a question and answer session based on the two examination papers and your work to date in the program and lasts no longer than 90 minutes. You and at least three members of your committee (including the chair) must be physically present at the oral portion of the exam. No more than one member may participate via telephone.

Results of the Exam

A favorable vote by at least two-thirds of the members of the committee is required for passing. The Chair will inform you whether you have passed immediately following the oral component. The results are communicated to the Office of Graduate Enrollment Services by Director of Graduate Studies. If you fail the exam on the first attempt, you may repeat it once and you must do so in the subsequent semester. Candidates who fail the exam a second time will not be permitted to continue in the program.

Additional Language Competency

You must demonstrate competency in two additional languages other than English. One of these languages must reflect intermediate speaking proficiency; the other language may reflect reading proficiency only. The additional language competence requirement may be demonstrated in a variety of ways, including passing a 3rd semester language course, passing an appropriate graduate-level reading course offered in the additional language, passing a Reading Proficiency Examination consisting of a detailed written recall of a passage whose content is relevant to the candidate's area of specialization, and/or an oral interview with a relevant faculty member in the additional language, or equivalent.

Ph.D. Dissertation

Dissertation Proposal Defense Meeting

The purpose of this meeting is to defend the written proposal for your dissertation study. The proposal is typically 25-30 pages and includes the following sections: background and significance of the problem including an overview of the relevant literature, a statement of the research question(s), and an overview of the methodology to be used, including means for data collection and analysis. You must present the proposal to your committee members at least two weeks before you defend it. The proposal defense meeting must be scheduled at least two weeks after the comprehensive examination and must take place within one semester from the time you pass the comprehensive exam.

Continuous Registration

YOnce you have passed the comprehensive exam, you must register continuously for each fall and spring semester until the dissertation is accepted and approved by your committee. You can maintain registration by registering for credits in the usual way or by registering for APLNG 601. You may enroll in APLNG 601 plus up to 3 additional credits of audit by paying only the thesis fee. If you wish to take more than 3 additional credits of course work, you must register for APLNG 600 or 611. It is recommended that you register for APLNG 601 and work full-time on thesis preparation. This is the least expensive option and, for international students, it insures that they maintain full-time status.

Dissertation Writing Process

You are expected to consult with your chair and committee throughout the writing process. All committee members are expected to provide feedback on a complete draft of the dissertation once before the final draft is completed. In consultation with you, your chair will decide when the document or portions thereof is/are ready to be submitted to the committee for their feedback. The committee should be given four weeks to provide comments on this complete initial draft. Also in consultation with you, and after you have incorporated the comments of your committee, the chair will decide when the dissertation is complete and ready to be submitted to the committee for their final review and the oral examination.

Dissertation Submission and Timing of the Final Oral Examination

Normally, the final oral examination of the dissertation may not be scheduled until at least three months have elapsed after passing the comprehensive exam, although the Dean of the Graduate School may grant a waiver in appropriate cases. The Graduate School posts a calendar of deadlines every semester. The final oral examination of the dissertation must take place ten weeks before the end of the semester. As the precise date changes from semester to semester, the candidate should consult the Graduate School regarding the current deadlines. The deadline for the submission of the final draft of the dissertation to the Graduate School depends upon whether the candidate elects to submit the thesis electronically or in hard-copy form. It is best to consult the Thesis Guide regarding these responsibilities and the Graduate School calendar regarding all deadlines. The request for examination must be submitted to the Dean of the Graduate School for approval at least three weeks prior to the date of the exam.

The Final Oral Examination ("The Defense")

The oral defense of your dissertation is administered and evaluated by your entire doctoral committee. It typically consists of a 10-minute presentation of your findings and a period of questions and responses that lasts about 1½ - 2 hours. This exam is open to the public. You must send a written announcement to the Director of Graduate Studies at least three weeks before the exam takes place, who will be responsible for posting it to the department list-serv. You and at least three members of your committee (including the chair) must be physically present at the defense. No more than one member may participate via telephone; a second member can participate via PicTel. A request for exceptions must be submitted to the Graduate School for approval at least three weeks prior to the date of the exam.

Results of the Exam

A favorable vote by at least two-thirds of your committee is required to pass. The results are communicated to the Office of Graduate Enrollment Services by the Director of Graduate Studies. If you fail the exam on your first attempt, you may repeat it once. If you fail the exam a second time, you will be dropped from the program. The oral examination of the dissertation must be completed within six years from the time you pass the Comprehensive Exam. If more than six years have passed, you will be required to pass a second comprehensive examination before the final oral examination can be scheduled.

Penn State College of the Liberal Arts Department of Applied Linquistics