CMLL Applied Linguistics | Classical & Modern Languages & Literatures

Applied Linguistics Program

Introduction

Texas Tech University offers an M.A. in Languages & Cultures - Applied Linguistics. Our dedicated faculty conducts research on effective instruction for second languages, multiliteracies, discourse and interaction in the second language classroom, psycholinguistics, the processes of second language learning, heritage and second language speech, and Global Englishes.

Our graduates go on to advanced graduate programs in applied linguistics, foreign language, psychology, education, and media communications. Graduates have also become language teachers in high schools and colleges, language program directors, and language teacher trainers in the U.S. and around the world.

Why Applied Linguistics?

Students who study Applied Linguistics learn about how language works, from how language is structured, to how people use language, to how we learn languages, and what this means for how languages can be most effectively taught. We also offer a fully online graduate certificate in Teaching Second Languages in Local and Global Contexts.

Mission Statement

The division of Applied Linguistics within Classical and Modern Languages and Literatures seeks to promote the highest caliber research and teaching regarding both second language acquisition and second language instruction. We include under the term "second language" any language learned in addition to a first language, be it a language learned in childhood, adolescence or adulthood, regardless of the language learned and the context in which it is learned. While we are generally interested in how languages are learned and taught—examining how languages are learned and used in context, and how research-informed instructional approaches and curricular design can effectively support language acquisition--we specialize in the following cutting-edge topics within applied linguistics:

Action research in language classrooms
Collaborative writing and multimodal writing
Corpus linguistics
Eye tracking and L2 processing
Generative AI in language education and multilingual writing
Global Englishes
Heritage languages
Intercultural communication
Language assessment
Language variation and change
Language policy & politics in higher education
Multiliteracies pedagogies: Reading and writing
Research methodology
Second language speaking and listening
Task based language teaching

We are committed to interdisciplinary cooperation and to the pursuit of knowledge regarding second language acquisition and teaching as they are informed from a variety of disciplines. We engage in research in which a variety of linguistic approaches are used to examine real-world language problems.

We aim to expose students to this wide variety of approaches to language acquisition and teaching and to cultivate skills of independent inquiry that will serve them in their future careers in research, teaching, and/or program administration. Our approach to teaching involves socialization into the profession through numerous hands-on, applied activities in and beyond the graduate seminars.

Each student is assigned a faculty mentor with whom students consult about future course selections as well as general advice on successfully navigating graduate studies.

The Graduate Students in Applied Linguistics organization (GSAL) provides an infrastructure for co-curricular activities such as the annual graduate student conference (CALICHE), and many social opportunities among students in the program.

M.A. in Applied Linguistics

Online Graduate Certificate

Faculty in AL and SLS

Grad Students

CALICHE Students

Courses