Online Masters Degree Requirements
The master’s in Applied Linguistics is a 30-credit program that must be completed over a four-semester period. Students must take nine credits (three classes) per semester for the first three semesters of the program and then one three-credit practicum for their final semester. Our program works with cohorts and therefore students are all required to follow the same coursework and take three courses per semester. Upon completion of all coursework, students must also complete a four-hour written comprehensive exam that assesses their understanding of and ability to use all of the content of the coursework of this program. Students must pass the comprehensive exam within two attempts to graduate from the program and receive their degree.The program has three components:
Core Requirements (students are required to take five courses):
APLING 601 Linguistics
APLING 603 Cross-Cultural Perspectives
APLING 605 Theories and Principles of Language Teaching
APLING 621 Psycholinguistics
APLING 623 Sociolinguistics
Choose a concentration from the two choices below and complete the three required courses for that concentration:
ESL Studies (ESL)
APLING 618 Teaching ESL: Methods and Approaches
APLING 614 Foundations of Bilingual/Multicultural Education
APLING 698 Practicum/Field Experience
Foreign Language Pedagogy (FL)
APLING 611 Methods and Materials in Foreign Language Instruction
APLING 612 Integrating Culture into the Language Curriculum
APLING 698 Practicum/Field Experience
Students must also take two courses as electives. These two courses may be in related disciplines that complement the student’s specialization in one of the two concentrations or may be courses from another track. The program offers a number of electives online including:
APLING 629 Structure of the English Language
APLING 669 Writing Theories in Second Language Instruction
APLING 670 Testing in the Bilingual/ESL Classroom
Final Exercise
All students who are degree candidates must successfully pass a four-hour long written comprehensive exam as part of their capstone project.
Practicum
The practicum is required of all students who have had no on-site teaching experience (paid teaching, supervised student teaching, or supervised teaching in an adult social or educational agency). This requirement can be satisfied through teaching in university undergraduate ESL classes, in a public school system, or at a community agency.
Transfer Credit
Applicants who have completed graduate course work at other accredited institutions may transfer toward the completion of a UMass Boston graduate degree up to 6 credits from such courses in which the applicant received a grade of B or higher. Applicants who have completed graduate course work at UMass Boston as a non-degree student may transfer toward the completion of a UMass Boston graduate degree up to 6 credits from such courses in which the applicant received a grade of B or higher. These courses may be accepted for transfer provided that they:
* have not been used to fulfill requirements for another degree, and
* were earned no more than seven years before matriculation in the program into which the student wishes to transfer credit.
The combined total of courses transferred from other institutions and from UMass Boston courses taken as a non-degree student may not exceed 12 credits. Accepted students who wish to take non-degree courses in the semester between acceptance and matriculation that will take them over the 6-credit transfer limit may petition their program director to grant them a Pre-Matriculation Transfer Waiver.
Transfer credit is subject to the final approval of the graduate program director and the Dean of Graduate Studies.