Program: Linguistics, M.A. - San Diego State University

Apr 17, 2025

2019/2020 University Catalog

At Least 30 Units

In addition to meeting the requirements for classified graduate standing and the basic requirements for the Master of Arts degree, as described in Part Four of this bulletin, the student must complete a graduate program of at least 30 units of 500-, 600-, and 700-level courses to include

LING 503 - Functions of Language Units: 3
LING 795 - Seminar in Linguistics Units: 3

Three Units From the Following

LING 502 - Language in Mind and Society Units: 3
LING 551 - Sociolinguistics Units: 3
LING 552 - Psycholinguistics Units: 3

A Prerequisite

A prerequisite to LING 502 , LING 503 , LING 551 , and LING 552 is completion of

LING 501 - Fundamentals of Linguistics Units: 3 or equivalent

A Minimum of 15 Units

A minimum of 15 units must be from 600- or 700-level courses. LING 505 does not count toward unit requirements for the Master of Arts degree in linguistics.

Students Selecting the General Linguistics Specialization Must Complete Either

LING 621 - Advanced English Phonology Units: 3
or
LING 622 - Discourse and Syntax Units: 3 But not both.

Six Units From the Following

LING 610 - Topics in Historical Linguistics Units: 3
LING 620 - Advanced Formal Syntax Units: 3
LING 626 - Pragmatics Units: 3
LING 654 - Language and Cognition Units: 3
LING 696 - Advanced Topics in Linguistics Units: 1-3 (with general linguistics content)

Students Selecting the Applied Linguistics (TESOL) Specialization Must Complete

LING 652 - Second Language Acquisition Units: 3
LING 656 - Quantitative Research Methods in Language Studies Units: 3

At Least Six Units From the Following

LING 650 - Materials Development in Applied Linguistics Units: 3
LING 653 - ESL Reading and Writing Units: 3
LING 655 - English for Specific Purposes and Content-Based Instruction Units: 3
LING 657 - Foundations of Language Assessment Units: 3

An Internship

An internship is required of all students selecting this specialization who have not taught ESL previously.

LING 740 - Internship in English as a Second Language and Foreign Language Teaching Units: 3

Students Selecting One Specialization

Students selecting one specialization may enroll in courses from the other specialization as electives.

A Maximum of Six Units

With the approval of the graduate adviser, a maximum of six units selected from the following courses will be accepted for graduate credit in linguistics:

ANTH 604 - Seminar in Linguistics Units: 3
CS 550 - Artificial Intelligence Units: 3
CS 560 - Algorithms and Their Analysis Units: 3
CS 562 - Automata Theory Units: 3
CS 596 - Advanced Topics in Computer Science Units: 1-4 (when offered with computational linguistics content)
CS 620 - Formal Languages and Syntactic Analysis I Units: 3
CS 696 - Selected Topics in Computer Science Units: 3 (when offered with computational linguistics content)
RWS 602 - Modern Rhetoric and Composition Studies Units: 3
SPAN 561 - Methods in Teaching Spanish as a Second Language Units: 3
SPAN 770 - Applied Spanish Linguistics for Teachers Units: 3
SLHS 790 - Seminar in Foundations of Language Science Units: 3
SLHS 793 - Seminar in Disorders of Language and Cognition/Children Units: 3

With Approval of the Graduate Adviser

In addition, with approval of the graduate adviser, a student must choose either a thesis (Plan A), or a written comprehensive examination (Plan B). Plan A students must select a committee of three faculty, two of whom are from the department, to supervise the thesis. In consultation with the graduate adviser, students select one of two options at the time of filing an official program of study.