All candidates are required to complete 30 graduate credits (10 courses) together with a comprehensive examination to be taken once all course work has been completed.
The Applied Linguistics graduate program curriculum includes courses in basic theoretical and applied linguistics, together with ESL teaching methodologies, bilingual studies, foreign language pedagogy, evaluation and assessment, the interdisciplinary areas of psycholinguistics and sociolinguistics, and cross-cultural education. The program combines on-campus classroom work with on-site experience in ESL, bilingual, and foreign classroom settings.
The program has three components:
(1) Core requirements. Students are required to take four 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 three majors below and complete its required three courses:
Bilingual Studies Major
APLING 615 Methods and Materials in Bilingual Education
APLING 616 Curriculum Development in Bilingual Education
APLING 698 Practicum/Field Experience
ESL Studies Major
APLING 618 Teaching ESL: Methods and Approaches
APLING 614 Foundations of Bilingual/Multicultural Education**
APLING 698 Practicum/Field Experience
Foreign Language Pedagogy Major
APLING 611 Methods and Materials in Foreign Language Instruction
APLING 612 Integrating Culture into the Language Curriculum
APLING 698 Practicum/Field Experience** Students can take another Bilingual course in place of Apling 614
(2) Electives. Students have the option to take two courses as electives in related disciplines that complement their specialization in one of the three majors. The program offers more than two dozen elective courses to students in all three tracks. Students from one track may enroll in required courses from another track and count those credits toward their electives. With program approval, students may also enroll in graduate courses from other UMass departments or transfer up to six credits from other universities.
(3) Final Exercise
All students who are degree candidates must either successfully pass a four-hour long written comprehensive exam or write a thesis as part of their capstone project. Please review the capstone requirments for more information on the final exercise.
Practicum
The practicum is required of all students who have had no on-site teaching experience (paid teaching, supervised student teaching, 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.
Licensure
In conjunction with master's degree studies in any UMass Boston graduate program, students may pursue Massachusetts teacher licensure at the elementary or secondary levels in teaching English as a Second Language.
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.