MA with Major in Language and Culture Studies

MA with a Major in Language and Culture Studies

Degree Details

The MA with a major in Language & Culture Studies prepares students to work as specialists in their field across language and culture boundaries. The different concentrations allow students flexibility in choosing the program that best fits their interests and service opportunities. Our graduates serve as literacy specialists, language surveyors, Scripture engagement consultants, researchers, and a variety of other cross-cultural roles.

Students must complete the general core requirements (12 credit hours) and concentration specific requirements (24 credit hours) to complete this 36 credit graduate degree. Concentrations include Islamic Worldviews, Literacy, Language Survey, Scripture Engagement, and Sociolinguistics. For more information about this degree please see our current catalog.

Persons interested in this program should apply for Graduate Admission to Dallas International. If previously enrolled at Dallas International in anything other than “graduate admission status”, you will need to change your admission status.

Prerequisites

Prior to admission to the program, students must complete the following prerequisite requirements.

For concentrations in Literacy and Sociolinguistics, the following courses, or their equivalent, are required.

AA4350 Language and Society

AA4370 Cultural Anthropology

AA4505 Second Language and Culture Acquisition

AL4302 Principles of Articulatory and Acoustic Phonetics

AL4303 Principles of Phonological Analysis

AL4410a Principles of Grammatical Analysis (a)

AL4410b Principles of Grammatical Analysis (b)

For the Scripture Engagement program, the following courses, or their equivalent, are required.

AA4350 Language and Society

AA4370 Cultural Anthropology

AA4505 Second Language and Culture Acquisition

AL4304 Introduction to Language Structures

*Students may petition to waive these prerequisite requirements it they have taken equivalent courses elsewhere. Courses are evaluated on a course-by-course basis.

General Core Requirements

Courses (Four required with at least one from each category)	Hours
A. Research	3
WA5339 Research Methods in World Arts AA5340 Ethnographic Research Methods AA5341 Social Science Research Design and Methods	3
B. Training	3
AA5387 Training in Cross-Cultural Contexts	3
C. Language and Culture as Dynamic Systems	6
AA5353 Language Development and Planning AA5374 Christianity Across Cultures	6
Total core hours	12

Degree Concentrations

Islamic Worldviews

The following are the requirements for the Islamic Worldviews Concentration with a thesis or non-thesis option.

From the General Core:	Hours
A. Research (Choose one)	3
AA5340 Ethnographic Research Methods AA5341 Social Science Research Design and Methods AA5342 Statistical Methods	3
B. Training	3
AA5387 Training in Cross-Cultural Contexts	3
C. Language and Culture as Dynamic Systems (Choose 2)	6
AA5353 Language Development and Planning AA5354 Language Contact AA5374 Christianity Across Cultures AA5375 Culture Change & Minority Cultures	6
Total core hours	12

Islamic Worldviews Concentration specific courses:	Hours
AC5310 Core Components of Islam	3
AC5312 Islam in the 21^st Century	3
AC5314 Modern Islamic Religious and Political Movements	3
AC5316 Contextualization Issues Among Muslim Peoples	3
AC5318 Understanding the Qur’an	3
Thesis/Non-thesis options	9
Non-thesis option (comprehensive exam)
3 Electives (9 hours)
Thesis option
One Elective (3 hours)
Thesis (6 hours)
Total concentration hours	24

Literacy

The following are the requirements for the Literacy Concentration with a thesis or non-thesis option.

From the General Core:	Hours
A. Research	6
AA5341 Social Science Research Design and Methods AA5342 Statistical Methods	6
B. Training	3
AA5387 Training in Cross-Cultural Contexts	3
C. Language and Culture as Dynamic Systems	3
AA5354 Language Contact	3
Total core hours	12

Literacy Concentration specific courses:	Hours
AA5343 Principles of Multilingual Education	3
AA5353 Language Development and Planning	3
AA5375 Culture Change & Minority Cultures	3
AA5934 Literacy Megacourse	9
Thesis/Non-thesis options	6
Non-thesis option (comprehensive exam)
2 Electives (6 hours)
Thesis option
Thesis (6 hours)
Total concentration hours	24

Scripture Engagement

The following are the requirements for the Scripture Engagement Concentration with a thesis or non-thesis option.

Please note the following change: Graduate level World Arts courses will begin with WA instead of AA beginning in Spring 2018. This change is already reflected here. For example, AA5381: Arts for a Better Future is now listed as WA5381: Arts for a Better Future.

From the General Core:	Hours
A. Research (Choose one)	3
AA5340 Ethnographic Research Methods AA5341 Social Science Research Design and Methods	3
B. Training	3
AA5387 Training in Cross-Cultural Contexts	3
C. Language and Culture as Dynamic Systems	6
AA5353 Language Development and Planning AA5374 Christianity Across Cultures	6
Total core hours	12

Scripture Engagement Concentration specific courses:	Hours
AA5355 Scripture Engagement Strategy and Methods	3
AA5356 Current Issues in Scripture Engagement	3
AA5392 Scripture Engagement Practicum	3
Ideological Cluster (Choose one)	3
AA5373 Religion and Worldview AL5319 Biblical Backgrounds	3
Application Cluster (Choose one*)	3
AA5333 Principles of Literacy AA5354 Language Contact AA5357 Oral Tradition and Literature AA5364 Theories and Practices in Community Development AA5375 Culture Change & Minority Cultures WA5381 Arts for a Better Future WA5383 Arts and Trauma Healing OR an applied course approved by the student’s academic advisor	3
Thesis/Non-thesis options	9
Non-thesis option (comprehensive exam)
3 Electives (9 hours)
Thesis option
One Elective (3 hours)
Thesis (6 hours)
Total concentration hours	24

*Students may take an applied course approved by their academic advisor to fulfill the Application Cluster course requirement instead of one of the courses listed.

Sociolinguistics

The following are the requirements for the Sociolinguistics Concentration with a thesis or non-thesis option.

From the General Core:	Hours
A. Research	3
AA5341 Social Science Research Design and Methods	3
B. Training	3
AA5387 Training in Cross-Cultural Contexts	3
C. Language and Culture as Dynamic Systems	6
AA5353 Language Development and Planning AA5354 Language Contact	6
Total core hours	12

Sociolinguistics Concentration specific courses:	Hours
AA5321 Multicultural Teamwork OR AA5323 Multicultural Leadership	3
AA5352 Language Program Design and Management	3
AA5366 Theory and Practice of Sociolinguistics	3
AA5372 Social and Political Organization	3
AA5375 Cultural Change & Minority Cultures	3
Thesis/Non-thesis options	9
Non-thesis option (comprehensive exam)
AA5368 Seminar in Sociolinguistics
Two Electives (Recommended: AA5377 Area Studies)
Thesis option
One Elective (3 hours)
Thesis (6 hours)
Total concentration hours	24

Student-crafted

The student may elect to seek the Master of Arts degree in Language and Culture Studies without pursuing one of the pre-approved concentrations. The student must meet the general core requirements for the Language and Culture Studies major, then may generally select from any course offered by Dallas International to satisfy the concentration-specific requirements for the degree. In order to select this option, the student should discuss it with a graduate advisor and must satisfy the conditions required of all formal concentrations in Language and Culture Studies. PLUS:

A minimum of 50% of the courses incorporated into the concentration will be from the Applied Anthropology Department.