Graduate Programs: SECOND LANGUAGE ACQUISITION AND TEACHER EDUCATION (SLATE)

NOTE: This document was generated from the 1995-1997 UIUC Programs of Study. Every effort has been made to ensure accuracy, but be advised that requirements may have changed since this book was published. Errors may have also been introduced in the conversion to a WWW document. Thus for items of importance, it might be wise to seek confirmation from either the paper version or a live human being.

Chair of SLATE Program: Molly Mack

Correspondence and Information: SLATE Program, 2090 Foreign Language Building , 707 South Mathews Avenue, Urbana, IL 61801

GRADUATE FACULTY

Professors: E. Bokamba, C. C. Cheng, W. Dickerson, A. O. Hadley, B. Kachru, Y. Kachru, H. Maclay, S. J. Savignon

Associate Professors: L. F. Bouton, J. R. Cowan, G. Cziko, J. F. Lalande II, J. F. Lee, M. Mack, E. McClure, J. Packard, B. VanPatten

Assistant Professors: D. Andrews, F. Davidson, A. M. Escobar, G. E. Garcia, R. Jimenez, N. Markee, D. Musumeci, S. Shinall

CERTIFICATE OF ADVANCED STUDY IN SECOND LANGUAGE ACQUISITION AND TEACHER

EDUCATION

This certificate is offered by the multidisciplinary program in SLATE in cooperation with various units. The Ph.D. program in SLATE is designed to provide advanced training for prospective teachers, researchers, and administrators concerned with second-language pedagogy, research, and theory. The SLATE program has the combined support of faculty members in a number of different units across the University. The supporting faculty hold appointments in various units in the Colleges of Education and Liberal Arts and Sciences, including the Departments of Curriculum and Instruction; East Asian Languages and Cultures; Educational Psychology; French; Germanic Languages and Literatures; Linguistics; and Spanish, Italian, and Portuguese; as well as in the Division of English as an International Language. Other units also provide valuable courses relevant to the SLATE certificate; hence, students in the SLATE program have access to a wide range of resources within the University.

The SLATE program is designed to meet the individual needs of its students. The course requirements in the affiliated units are generally flexible and allow freedom for students to conduct work in specialized subfields tailored to their academic interests and goals. In recent years, students have studied such topics as cognitive and affective factors in second-langauge (L2) learning and teaching; communicative competence; computer-assisted language instruction; curriculum development; L2 reading strategies; psycholinguistic and neurolinguistic aspects of second-language acquisition; and L2 speech perception and production. What unifies these various fields of specialization is the relatively young but rapidly growing discipline of second-language learning and teaching.

ADMISSION

Application to the SLATE program is made directly to one of the cooperating Ph.D. granting units listed above. (NOTE: SLATE students receive SLATE certification upon successful completion of the program's requirements in conjuction with the receipt of a departmentally based doctoral degree.) Admission is subject to all regulations of the Graduate College at the University of Illinois. The applicant must have an M.A., M.A.T., or the equivalent in an appropriate related field. For example, a master's degree in education, English as a second language, a foreign language, or linguistics is appropriate. The applicant must have a minimum grade-point average of 4.5 on a 5.0 scale (3.5 on a 4.0 scale) or the equivalent in previous graduate work. Foreign applicants for whom English is a non-native language must satisfy English proficiency requirements before admission can be granted. Some experience in teaching a second language is recommended.

FINANCIAL AID

Financial aid is granted only through individual departments. A limited number of teaching and research assistantships, tuition and fee waivers, and fellowships are available each year through cooperating departments. Applicants can indicate their desire for financial aid by checking appropriate boxes on the application for admission. Financial support for a limited number of qualified SLATE candidates may also be available through assignments in the Intensive English Institute, EOP Rhetoric Program, Language Learning Laboratory, or Office of Student Teaching. Applicants should contact these units directly for details. The SLATE Executive Committee itself administers no financial aid.

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