Certificate Program

CERTIFICATE IN THE EXPERIMENTAL STUDY OF LANGUAGE

Curriculum

            The proposed certificate requires the completion of a minimum of 26 credit hours, 20 credit hours in core requirements and 6 hours of courses selected from areas outside the student's major. Students must achieve a 3.00 grade average or better in Certificate courses by the time they graduate from the Certificate program. A student’s advisor will offer suggestions about the best sequencing of courses.

Core Requirements                                                                

Course                                                                   Credits      Prerequisites

LING 2700, The Nature of Language                        3          None                                                   

                        or

LING 3500, Introduction to Linguistics                       3          jr or sr or LING major
                       or
SPAN 3460, Introduction to Hispanic Linguistics      3           SPAN 3120

LING 3300, Intro to Psycholinguistics                         3          LING 2700

PSY 2210, Statistics for the Behavioral Sciences       4         MATH 1200

PSY 2120, Research Methods in Psychology             4         PSY 1010, PSY 2110

Individual Research Experience                              min 3

Thesis (one of the following)                                       3

      PSY 3940, Research in Psychology                    1-12     PSY 2120 or perm

      LING 4941, Directed Research                     1-3, max 6      permission

      SPAN 4930, Undergraduate Research           1-3, max 6      permission

      FR 4930, Undergraduate Research               1-3, max 6       permission

      GER 4930, Undergraduate Research            1-3, max 6       permission

      RUSS 4930, Undergraduate Research           1-3, max 6      permission  

      LING 4941, Special Studies in Linguistics     1-3, max 6      permission

      CSD 4940, Independent Reading                          1-12        permission

Areas of Study

Linguistics:

      LING 2750, Language and Culture                          3

      LING 2800, Language in America                           3

      LING 4610, Phonology and Morphology                 3

      LING 4700, Syntactic Description of English            3

      LING 4750, Language Learning                               3

      LING 4901, Sociolinguistics and Bilingualism          3

      LING 4860, Semantics and Pragmatics              3                                                                     

Modern Languages:

      FR 4437, Applied Phonetics                                      3

      FR 4439, Modern French Usage                                3

      GER 4437, Applied Phonetics                                   3

      GER 4439, Modern German Usage                           3

      GER 4930, Independent Study                                 1-3

      SPAN 3460, Intro to Spanish Linguistics                   3

      SPAN 4437, Applied Phonetics                                 3

      SPAN 4438, Hispanic Dialectology                            3

      SPAN 4439, Modern Spanish Usage                          3

Psychology:

      PSY 2310, Human Learn & Cogn Processes              3

      PSY 3110, Experimental Design and Analysis           4

Communication Sciences and Disorders:        

      CSD 2080, Phonetics                                                   3

      CSD 2500, Speech Science                                         3

      CSD 2530, Hearing Science                                         3

      CSD 3100, Language Development                             3

      CSD 4100, Language Science                                     3 

      CSD 4940, Research Methods in Communication

                               Sciences and Disorders                      1-12

Even though it is not a requirement for the certificate program, we encourage all students interested in the empirical study of language to complete two years of foreign language study.

Research Experience

            Each student in the program will be assigned a faculty mentor who is a member of the IESL and who will supervise the student’s research experience.  The student will participate in research being conducted either by the mentor or by other IESL members.  A student is required to have a minimum of three academic semesters of individual research experience. A student will sign up for one credit hour (for each of these semesters), using CSD 4940, LING 4941, SPAN 4930, or PSY 3940, depending on the program of the supervising IESL member. These research experiences will take place anytime during the student’s sophomore or junior year.  A student is encouraged to work with faculty members in current faculty research projects.  Each semester the student will move to a different faculty research project to maximize the variety of research experience.  The goal of these individual research experiences is to give the student interdisciplinary experience in research participation, on different topics, with differing methodologies, with differing kinds of equipment, etc.  The experiences build a student’s research expertise and enhance that student’s chances of being admitted to a doctoral program in a language science.  If a student participates in a research projected that is accepted for a conference presentation, the student will be encouraged, but not required, to attend the conference to better understand how the exchange of research ideas works at conferences.  Students may also be co-authors on research projects submitted for publication.

            During the senior year, the student, under the supervision of a faculty mentor from the IESL, will complete a senior thesis.  The thesis is an empirical research project designed to give the student experience and skills in conducting research on language.  The student’s proposal for the thesis must be approved by a committee composed of three faculty members:  the mentor, one other member of the IESL, and a third member with background appropriate to the student’s topic.  Following completion of the thesis, the student will present the thesis to the same committee for discussion and approval or disapproval.  Thesis students will register for the research course in their department for up to two hours per semester. The mentor for the student’s thesis may not be away on faculty fellowship or other leave, but must be on campus during that year to supervise the student’s thesis.

            All the courses in the certificate program are existing courses.  The sequencing of a student’s courses will be at the recommendation of a student’s mentor.  If a student has had a relevant course in a program at another college, and that course has been given transfer credit by Ohio University, then such credit will be accepted for the certificate.  Students entering the certificate program at the beginning of their sophomore year will only need to average 9 credit hours per year to complete the certificate on schedule. 

            The number of students enrolling in the certificate program will probably not be large enough to have a noticeable enrollment impact on the courses selected for the certificate program.

Curriculum Committee

A curriculum committee, chaired by the Associate Director for Training, will be responsible for additions, deletions, and modifications to the curriculum of the certificate program.  Two additional members of the committee will be elected from among the IESL members.  The committee will also handle adjustments to the programs of individual students which arise from unusual circumstances as well as course substitutions for program requirements.  The Associate Director for Training will be the point of contact for all certificate students who have questions about the program which cannot be answered by their advisors.  The curriculum committee reports to the Director of the IESL.

Faculty and Instruction

            The courses for the certificate are existing courses and are taught by existing faculty.  The minimal qualifications of faculty for the certificate program will be the qualifications set for faculty by the units participating in the Institute, namely, Linguistics, Modern Languages, Psychology, and Communication Sciences and Disorders.  Mentors who supervise the senior thesis will be permanent members of the IESL.  All are expected to hold a doctoral degree in one of the four participating disciplines in the IESL.

Admissions Requirements

            Undergraduate students enrolled in a degree program and having an overall GPA of at least 3.00 are eligible for admission to the certificate program.  Interested students must:

a.        apply for the certificate program by the end of their sophomore year.

b.      compose a statement of intent, two to three pages, that outlines their reasons for wanting to be admitted to the certificate program.  The statement of intent must be accompanied by a letter, addressed to the Associate Director for Training, asking for consideration for admission.

The admissions committee will give preference to students who:

a.        have been involved in language activities outside of academic coursework such as relevant volunteer experience (e.g., hospital or nursing home), volunteer work in a faculty member’s research lab, or membership in the CSD Undergraduate Research Club.

b.      are currently enrolled in one of the four academic programs in the IESL.

The greatest constraint on enrollments in the program will be our capacity to supervise senior theses.  If enrollments begin to threaten that capacity, the admissions committee will limit new enrollments appropriately.

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