Department Name

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Arts & Humanities

Teachers College, Columbia University

Degrees Offered ◊ Doctor of Education (90 points)

The Applied Linguistics Program offers an Ed.D. requiring 90 points beyond the baccalaureate for students wishing to pursue empirical research in linguistic analysis, discourse analysis, sociolinguistics, cross-cultural and acquisitional pragmatics, second language acquisition, language pedagogy, and language assessment.

Students who did not receive their M.A. or Ed.M. from Teachers College will be expected to have completed all the required courses, or their equivalent, from these degree programs.

Doctoral students have three types of requirements: concentration requirements, research methods requirements, and doctoral preparation requirements.

Concentration Requirements:

Students are required to take content courses in their concentration. The exact courses should be decided in consultation with their advisor.

Research Methods Requirements (15 points):

To ensure that students have the skills to do scholarly research in an area of concentration, they are required to take a minimum of 15 points in research methods, statistics, and measurement. Depending on the type of dissertation, they may be asked to take additional courses in linguistic analysis, qualitative methods, or quantitative methods.

Three courses from the following:

• C&T 5502              Introduction to qualitative research in curriculum and teaching (2-3)
• HUDM 4050            Introduction to measurement (2-3)
• ORLJ 4009              Understanding behavioral research (3)
• HUDM 4122            Probability and statistical inference (3)
• ITSF 4092              Qualitative research and evaluation in international education (3)
• ITSF 5000              Methods of inquiry: Ethnography and participant observation (or ITSF 5001 or 5002) (3)
• HUDM 5122            Applied regression analysis (3)
• HUDM 5123            Linear models and experimental design (3)
• HUDM 6051-2         Psychometric theory I and II (3)
• HUDM 6055            Latent structure analysis (3)
• HUDM 6122            Multivariate analysis I (3)
• One of the qualitative research methods courses offered at the college (To be chosen with faculty advisor’s approval).
• Electives in TESOL or Applied  Linguistics (9): To be chosen with an advisor’s  approval.

Doctoral Preparation Requirements:

When doctoral students reach approximately 45 points in the program and have been at Teachers College for at least one year, they are required to register for and attend a doctoral seminar every semester.

Doctoral preparation involves three successive stages:

1. Exposure to basic research methods
2. Identification of a dissertation topic
3. Presentation of a prospectus

In order to progress through these stages, doctoral students are required to take a sequence of doctoral seminars at the 5500, 6500, 7500, and 8900 levels. Students begin to take these courses when they have reached approximately 45-50 points in the program and after they have been taking courses at Teachers College for a minimum of one year. After that, doctoral students are required to register for and attend doctoral seminars every semester.

Doctoral students are required to demonstrate research preparedness in a substantive area by passing the research paper at the 5500 level, the certification exam at the 6500 level, and the certification paper at the 6500 level. Then, as evidence that they are able to carry out original research under the guidance of a doctoral committee, language acquisition, and language pedagogy.