MASTER OF ARTS IN APPLIED LINGUISTICS

(Area of Specialization: Language in Communication)

Approved via BOR Resolution 45, series 2023

Effective 1st Semester, A.Y. 2023-2024

COURSES & COURSE DESCRIPTION 

Institutionally-required Course (1 subject; 3 non-credit units) 

GSI201: Communicating Scientific Information for Graduate Students (3-unit non-credit course) 

This is a preparatory course that orients graduate students into the rudiments of technical communication and academic writing in their respective disciplines needed for them to gain transferable skills in research writing and reporting for graduate studies. It covers topics on expectations among graduate students, ethical conduct of research, approaches to developing a topic, documentation styles, delivering a paper presentation, and writing for journal publication and research grants. As a terminal requirement, students are expected to workshop a 1000 to 2000-word concept paper with peers on a topic related to their area of specialization or research interest. 

Notes: 

1   Must be taken upon entry into the graduate program 

2   Students who have publication experience in top-tiered journals in the discipline are exempted from taking this course. Doctoral students who have taken this or a similar course elsewhere during their Master’s may choose not to take this course. Evidences (e.g., published journal, MA/MS transcript of records, course syllabus) must be presented to the program chairperson and approved by the Dean of the Graduate School prior to enrolment to determine whether s/he is qualified for exemption. 

Core Courses (3 subjects; 9 units) 

MAL201: Language, Culture, and Communication (3 units) 

This course tackles innovations in theory and methods on the links between language, culture, and communication drawn from sociolinguistic and anthropological studies on language and communication. Students completing this course will be able to come up with applicable theories and methods for investigating communicative human activities relative to broader social, economic, and historical conditions. 

GSC202: Statistics for Graduate Students (3 units)

Study of the statistical procedures and techniques with particular focus on the treatment/analysis/interpretation of research data. It includes application of the statistical analysis on significant findings for recommendations. 

GSC203: Research Methods for Graduate Students (3 units)

This course is an adaptation of research methods and techniques to problems in education, administration/management and other disciplines with special emphasis on the appropriate methods in the preparation of a thesis and/or a Special Problem or project. This includes orientation on the prescribed format of a thesis, the criteria on the selection of a problem, the basis characteristics of a research process, common threats to internal validity, and the preparation of a research proposal. 

Major Courses (5 subjects; 15 units)

MAL301: Advanced Language Structures (3 units) 

The course proceeds from the undergraduate course on Introduction to Linguistics/ Language Studies, Phonology, Morphology, Syntax, and Semantics. It concentrates on the diverse and constantly growing range of theories, methods, issues, and recent developments in structural linguistics to prepare students to conduct, write and publish in-depth investigation on the role of language in real-world problems.

MAL302: Discourse, Communication and Development (3 units)

The course investigates language use and communication strategies in discourses that affect and effect development. 

MAL303: Multimodal Communication (3 units)

This course examines the various modes of communication that facilitate the delivery of knowledge and information to diverse audiences. It assesses the processes, methods and effectiveness of communication through multimodal means in multicultural contexts.

MAL304: Organizational Rhetoric and Communication (3 units)  

This course analyzes communication forms, processes and techniques in diverse organizational settings – government and non-government, urban and rural, formal and informal, and national and global.

MAL305: Special/Selected Topics (3 units)  

This course supports the need for specialization for research purposes. The topic to be covered shall be determined by the students’ areas of research for their thesis. The students’ individual output for this course shall be presented in a colloquium intended to prepare the students for focusing their research topics for their thesis.

Electives (2 subjects; 6 units) 

Note: Electives to be offered in a particular semester will depend on students’ needs relevant to their career tracks and professions. In consultation with the Program Adviser, students engaged in particular lines of work can take graduate-level courses from another College (e.g., College of Teacher Education for those in the teaching profession, College of Administration, Business, Hospitality, and Accountancy for those in business and public administration, College of Allied Medicine for those in public health, and College of Agriculture for those in environmental science). Those who are engaged in cultural work may take the following Departmental electives:

MAL306: Cultural Linguistics (3 units)  

This course will strengthen the student’s understanding of the established and emerging multidisciplinary research on the interrelation of language and culture. Methods of learning include thorough reading, discussion, and conduct of ethnographic fieldwork on language and communication issues in a site of their choice (community, institution, or organization).

MAL307: Intercultural Communication (3 units)  

This course develops an understanding of diverse cultures through the analysis of how people communicate in different ways across cultures.

Research (1 subject; 6 units) 

GSC400: Thesis Writing (6 units)