• Linguistic knowledge (Second Language Acquisition, Psycholinguistics, Sociolinguistics, Phonetics/Phonology, Bilingualism/Multilingualism)

• Pedagogical knowledge (teaching practice and theory; curriculum design; multiliteracies)

• Translation and/or interpretation skills

• Research & Pedagogical Technology skills (Eye tracking, Praat, R, Eprime, PsychoPy, Qualtrics, Nvivo, Social tools, Social interaction tools)
• Professional skills (conference style presentations, tailoring skills to jobs outside of academia, L2 advocacy work)
• Advanced Spanish level (minimum) in all four skills for non-native Spanish speakers on the ACTFL proficiency scale

• Classroom-based action research

• Quantitative analysis (e.g., psycholinguistic, phonetic, statistics, sociolinguistic coding, data visualization)

• Qualitative analysis (e.g., discourse analysis, grounded theory, case study research, open coding, mixed methods research, ethnography, conversation analysis, narrative inquiry)

The M.A. requires 36 credits within the Spanish Program

•  Required courses:

1. LING 5322: Foundations of Language Teaching (i.e. Teaching Methods)
2. SPAN 5343: Introduction to SLA 
3. SPAN 5340: Introduction to Hispanic Linguistics OR LING 5312: Introduction to Linguistics

Other requirements:

• One SPAN Literature or Cultural Studies course
• 3rd language other than English and Spanish (or reading proficiency exam)
• Attend two professionalization workshops offered by either the Graduate School or the TLPDC per semester.
• In the fourth semester, either (1) three comprehensive exams or (2) an M.A. thesis 

Students take the comprehensive exams in their 4th semester 

For the comprehensive exams, students have two options:

1. Take three comprehensive exams, or:
2. Write a M.A. thesis with the supervision of a faculty mentor.

Note: Students will also have an oral exam no later than ten business days after the written exams.

Students should speak with faculty about which option would better serve their professional goals. 

Additionally, in the semester before taking the exams (a student's 3rd semester), students should speak directly with the professors who administer each exam so that students know exactly how to best study for each exam.

Linguistic students are required to take a Second Language Acquisition exam and all other exam areas are selected by students based on their own interests.

Once students have consulted with their linguistics faculty member, they should fill out the comprehensive exam committee form.

Reading lists for each comprehensive exam area:

Second Language Acquisition:

• General area
• L2 multiliteracies
• Intercultural Communicative Competence

Applied Linguistics:

• FL & SHL pedagogical perspectives

Psycholinguistics:

• Eye tracking

Phonetics & Phonology:

• Phonetics & Phonology

Sociolinguistics:

• Quantitative Sociolinguistics

Translation:

• Translation Theory & Practice

• Introduction to Hispanic Linguistics

•  

  Foundations of Language Teaching (Methods)

•  

  Introduction to SLA

•  

  Understanding the Heritage Speaker: Theoretical and Pedagogical Implications

•  

  Raciolinguistics

•  

  Instructed SLA

•  

  Multiliteracies: Digital Writing

•  

  Multimedia & SLA

•  

  Spanish Phonetics & Phonology

•  

  Spanish Quantitative Sociolinguistics

•  

  Language Ideologies

•  

  Linguistic Approaches to Translation 

•  

  Statistics for linguistics 

•  

  Bilingualism & Language Contact

•  

  Eye tracking I

•  

  Eye tracking II

Depending upon their level of teaching experience, new students either become a Teaching Assistant, or a Graduate Part Time Instructor.     
 -A Teaching Assistant (TA) position is supportive in nature, both on the employment and professional development levels. Teaching Assistants typically provide support to a faculty member’s instruction (completing a variety of duties) or may act as the leaders of discussion sections (which run in concert with large enrollment courses). Graduate students receive training, guidance, and mentoring on how to teach effectively in their discipline, manage a classroom, devise materials, and other important related tasks. A TA is not eligible to be the instructor of record for a course and commonly has less than 18 graduate credit hours in the subject area being taught.    

 -A Graduate Part-Time Instructor (GPTI) is usually an instructor of record, meaning that the individual is generally responsible for the teaching and care of his or her own class(es). GPTIs also receive training, guidance and further professional development. As opportunities allow, advanced Graduate students (i.e. Ph.D. students and ABDs) may have the opportunity to teach upper-level courses (beyond the lower-level two-year” language sequence).    

-The main difference is that the GPTI position requires that students have prior teaching experience, allows students to be the sole instructor of courses, and pays a bit more. In terms of specific funding amounts, please contact  Stephanie Santos, the CMLL Advisor.

  Depending on which level you are assigned, this is what your base annual stipend would be:  

Many of our students receive substantial additional funding in the form of competitive university-wide scholarships, so these numbers above are the base level. Students may also teach online language courses in the summer provided they have satisfactory student evaluations of teaching and have completed online teacher training. Summer teaching supplements graduate student income significantly. The Spanish graduate program has been fortunate to be able to award international students an additional scholarship to help pay for $1,500 of health insurance costs.  

Can I pursue the M.A. in Hispanic Linguistics as an online degree?
At the current moment we do not offer an online degree. Thus, all students need to be present in Lubbock, TX during the fall and spring semesters. 

When should I apply? When does the program begin?
For Fall 2026 admission, the priority deadline for applications is Monday January 5, 2026. While applications submitted after this date will be reviewed, priority is given to applications submitted prior to the deadline. The suggestion is to begin in the Fall semester (late August) as there are specific first-year courses offered in the fall semester. Additionally, there are several orientation programs prior to the first week of Fall courses that familiarizes new students with the Spanish & Portuguese program, the CMLL department, and the university.

What transcripts are required with the application?
Students must submit undergraduate degree transcripts, and when possible graduate degree transcripts. If these transcripts are in a language other than English, they will require an official translation.

What do I need to do to be considered for a fellowship or scholarship?
To receive a fellowship or an extra scholarship, all students have to do is apply to the program with all the required materials by the January deadline. The admissions committee will review these materials and decide which students to accept full time (which comes with a teaching fellowship) as well as decide which students with the most competitive applications receive additional scholarships.

Can I transfer any credits from another M.A. degree?
Graduate transfer credits are conferred upon the discretion of the faculty. For credit transfer consideration, upon receiving admission into the program, students must send course syllabi of previous graduate classes to the admissions committee. At this time the faculty will review the syllabi and decide which previous courses get credit.

Is it possible to teach in The Texas Tech University Center in Sevilla?
Students are encouraged to apply for the possibility to teach in a long-semester (Fall or Spring) or a summer session in Sevilla, Spain. For more information please click here and contact the Sevilla program director Dr. Idoia Elola with any questions.

While GRE scores are optional, how much does this matter for acceptance into the program?
In terms of admission into the program, the most important documents are the statement of purpose, a CV, strong letters of recommendation, and a writing sample. GRE scores are optional for our program and are given very little weight. Applicants should not feel pressure to take a GRE in order to apply.

How do I get assigned a Teaching Assistant (TA) position versus a Graduate Part-Time Instructor (GPTI) position?
In the application, students must fill out the CMLL Teaching Assistantship Application document. This allows the admissions committee to evaluate a student's prior teaching experience and determine which fellowship to award to each student. Students with prior teaching experience at the university-level are assigned to a GPTI position, while those with minimal teaching experience a TA2 position, and those with no previous teaching experience a TA1 position. Not only is there mobility from TA1 to TA2 to GPTI positions, but it is the goal of our program for students to move up as soon as possible for professional development. For example, if a student doesn't have prior teaching experience, they are normally assigned to the role of TA1 where they shadow faculty members and help with educational materials. The goal is that by their second semester this student would then move up to TA2 and be able to teach one Spanish course at the 1000 or 2000-level (intro or intermediate levels) while still having some shadowing experience. Then in year two (semesters 3 &4), the goal is that the student would then be a GPTI and teach two 3-credit courses per semester.

Application for M.A in Hispanic Linguistics at Texas Tech

Application materials required:

1. Personal Statement*
2. Writing Sample*
3. CV
4. CMLL Teaching Assistantship Application
5. Academic Transcripts
6. 2 Letters of Recommendation
7. TOEFL scores (for international students)
8. GRE scores (optional)

*Note: Given the importance of linguistic proficiency in both Spanish and English, the application requires that the personal statement is in on language, and the writing sample is in another language. Thus, if a student has as great writing sample in Spanish, then the personal statement should be in English. Or vice versa, if the student has a great writing sample in English, the personal statement should be in Spanish. 

• FL and SHL Classroom-Based Research Lab (Dr. Idoia Elola)
• Psycholinguistics Eye Tracking Lab (Dr. Jim Lee)
• Sociolinguistics & Bilingualism Research Lab (Dr. Brendan Regan)

Language Specialists in Industry speaker series, Spring 2025 

• Veronica Knight (Google)
• Dr. Carolina Archer (freelance translator and proofreader) 
• Dr. Brendan Regan (workshop on careers outside of academia)

Linguists in Industry speaker series, October-November 2023: 

• Dr. Emilie Zuniga (Multilingual Curriculum Designer) 
• Dr. Danielle Dionne (Learning Scientist at Duolingo) 
• Dr. Joshua Pongan (Portfolio Manager for World Languages at McGraw Hill) 
• Dr. Eric Wilbanks (NLP Engineer at Amazon) 

Linguists in Industry speaker series, October-November 2022 

• Dr. Belem López (Program Director at the National Cancer Institute) 
• Dr. Ashwini Ganeshan (Conversation Designer at LivePerson) 
• Dr. Franny Brogan Ball (Senior Quantitative UX Researcher at Tableau Software) 
• Dr. Avizia Long (Senior Research Strategist at Fusion Hill) 

Linguists in K-12 roundtable discussion with TTU linguistics alumni, Feb. 25, 2022: 

• Brittani Chaffin (Spanish Teacher at Hyde Park Middle School)
• José Antonio García Machado (Spanish Teacher at Denver School of Science and Technology)
• Laura Rieder (Multilingual Education Partner at Denver Public Schools)
• Yerko Sepulveda (Diversity Council Coordinator & Upper School Spanish Faculty at Hawken School)
• Robin Tieperman (Spanish Teacher at Hutchinson Middle School) 

Linguists in Industry Speaker Series, October-November 2021 (on Zoom): 

• Dr. Grant Berry (Villanova Univ./Amazon)
• Dr. James Leow (Duolingo)
• Dr. Ruth Martínez (MonkeyLearn)
• Dr. Adriano Trovato (Freelancer) 

Dr. Ariana Mikulski (Penn State University), Oct. 16 & Nov. 13, 2020 

• Workshop (Zoom): Understanding Spanish heritage language learners in the language classroom

Dr. Cindy Blanco (Duolingo), Sept. 25, 2020 

• Workshop (Zoom): Understanding and identifying your transferable skills: A workshop for students of language and linguistics

Dr. Mark Amengual (UC-Santa Cruz), Nov. 14 & 15, 2019 

• Talk: Cross-linguistic influence in bilingual and trilingual speech: static and dynamic interference
• Workshop: The Bilingual Language Profile (BLP): A tool for assessing bilingual language dominance

Dr. Miranda Scolari (Texas Tech University), Nov. 29, 2018 

• Workshop: An introduction to eye tracking: The way, Why and How

Dr. Daniel Erker (Boston University), September 26, 2018 

• Talk: Stability in the speech community: Why speaking Spanish in U.S. isn’t a zero-sum game

Dr. María Carreira (California State University), May 2, 2018 

• Talk: The State of Research on L2-Heritage learner interaction: Mixed results on mixed classes