The Applied Linguistics major investigates linguistic issues relevant to the everyday world, shedding light on the nature of language and language use. Students will learn linguistic theory, the study of the structure of human language generally. With its focus on service learning, students will also learn linguistic practice, engaging in the community, schools, and work places of our geographic setting. Successful graduates will be well acquainted with language use from a variety of perspectives and experiences, and will be able to apply this knowledge to a wide variety of practices including language teaching, speech pathology, and translation and interpretation.

Learning Outcomes

The Applied Linguistics major has the following learning outcomes:

Ability to apply critical thinking skills through linguistic data analysis in phonetics, phonology, syntax, and at least one other subfield

Understanding of advanced theoretical concepts and/or analytical techniques in at least one subfield

Ability to write technical material in linguistics, including language description and theory-based analysis

Ability to access scholarly literature on language structure and use it in research

The Major

Required: Ten upper-division courses as follows: Linguistics 102 (or 103), 119A (or 120A), 119B (or 120B), 120C, 130 or C140, two courses selected from Linguistics 104, M141, 144, M146, 170, 191B, two upper-division elective courses taught in the Linguistics Department, and five courses selected from Anthropology 151, M152P, 152Q, 152R, 153, 154P, 154Q, M156, M157W, 159, Applied Linguistics 102W, 153, Arabic 180, 181, Armenian 110, Chicano and Chicano Studies 164SL, M167SL, M170SL, Communication 119, M125, M144A, French 105, German 140, Hebrew 180A, 180B, Iranian 131, Linguistics 114, M116, M146, M176A, M176B, M177, M178, Portuguese 100A, 100B, Slavic CM114, Spanish 100A, 100B, 160.

Only one course may be selected from Anthropology M152P through 154Q. No more than one service learning course may be applied. Only one language course beyond the second year may fulfill an elective requirement (e.g., Korean 100A can fulfill an elective requirement, but not Korean 100B or 100C). No more than one course from Linguistics 197, 198A, and 199 may be applied toward the major.