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Master of Arts in Language and Culture Studies

Purpose
The Master of Arts degree with major in Language and Culture Studies is designed to produce graduates qualified to serve in specialist cross-cultural roles in Literacy, Sociolinguistics, Language Survey, Scripture Engagement.  Organizations, such as SIL, PBT, LBT, and others recognize graduates of this program as having completed the minimum academic training requirements to serve in these disciplines. (Please note that employers may require field experience or impose other requirements in addition to what is required for this degree.)

Prerequisites
Admission to the MA program in Language and Culture Studies requires that students have completed—at GIAL or elsewhere*—preparatory studies in Linguistics and related fields.

For concentrations in Literacy, Socio-linguistics, and Language Survey the following courses, or their equivalent, are required.For the Scripture Engagement program, the following courses, or their equivalent, are required.
AL4302 Principles of Phonetics
AL4303 Principles of Phonological Analysis
AL4410 Principles of Grammatical Analysis
AA4350 Language and Society
AA4370 Cultural Anthropology
AA4505 Second Language and Culture Acquisition		AL4304 Introduction to Language Structures
AA4350 Language and Society
AA4370 Cultural Anthropology
AA4505 Second Language and Culture Acquisition

* Undergraduate courses taken at other universities are not transferred into GIAL but students may petition, on a course-by-course basis with proper documentation, to waive prerequisite(s) based on equivalent course(s) taken elsewhere.

Curriculum
The Master of Arts degree with major in Language and Culture Studies requires a minimum of 36 semester hours. Of those hours, 18 are general core requirements expected of all students earning this degree, and 18 are concentration-specific courses and electives. 

Degree Requirements
To complete a Master of Arts degree with major in Language and Culture Studies (AA), every student is expected to complete (1) the general core requirements and (2) the requirements specific to his or her chosen concentration.   Each concentration has a set of “common courses,” specific to that concentration, that are expected of all students working on a degree in that concentration. In addition, all of the concentrations provide for students to select either a thesis track or a non-thesis track (comprehensive exam) for completing their degree.


DEGREE CORE COURSES
Four courses at least one from each category (12 hours) 		 
  1. Research
   
 AA5342  Statistical Methods 
 AA5340Ethnographic Research 
 AA5341Social Science Research Design and Methods 
  1. Training
   
 AA5387Training Across Cultures 
  1. Language and Culture as Dynamic Systems
   
 AA5353Language Development 
 AA5354Language Contact 
 AA5376Sustainable Development 
 AA5374Christianity Across Cultures 
 AA5375Culture Change 
  Total core hours               12
























Concentrations
The Master of Arts degree with a major in Language and Culture Studies has four concentrations: 
The following discussion details the concentration-specific requirements for each concentration.

Approved electives for Language and Culture Studies major, all concentrations:
Any course offered by GIAL may be used to satisfy the elective requirements for any concentration in Language and Culture Studies, provided the following conditions are all met:
  1. The course is included in a degree program of GIAL;
  2. The course has not already been specified as a core requirement for the Master of Arts degree with major in Language and Culture Studies; and
  3. The course has not already been specified as a concentration requirement.

LITERACY CONCENTRATION COURSES
From the degree core courses (12 hours)		 
  1. Research
   
 AA5342Statistical Methods 
 AA5341Social Science Research Design and Methods 
  1. Training
   
 AA5387Training Across Cultures 
  1. Language and Culture as Dynamic Systems
   
 AA5354Language Contact 
Concentration core courses (18 hours) 
 AA5934Literacy Megacourse 
 AA5343Principles of Multilingual Ed. 
 AA5353Language Development 
 AA5375Culture Change 
Thesis/Non-thesis (6 hours)  
  1. Thesis option
   
  Thesis (6 hours) 
B.   Non-thesis   
  Electives (6 hours) 
  Total hours         36
    
LANGUAGE SURVEY CONCENTRATION
From the degree core courses (12 hours)
  1. Research
   
 AA5342Statistical Methods 
  One More Research course 
  1. Training
   
 AA5387Training Across Cultures 
  1. Language and Culture as Dynamic Systems
   
 AA5354Language Contact 
Concentration Core Courses (12 hours) 
 AA5353Language Development and Planning 
 AA5366Theory and Practice of Sociolinguistics 
 AA5361Principles of Language Survey 
 AA5362Language Survey Methods 
Thesis/Non-Thesis (12 hours) 
  1. Thesis option
   
  Electives (6 hours) 
  Thesis (6 hours) 
  1. Non-thesis option
   
 AA5368Seminar in Sociolinguistics 
  Electives (9 hours) 
  Total hours36
    
    
    
SOCIOLINGUISTICS CONCENTRATION
From the degree core courses (12 hours)
  1. Research
   
 AA5342Statistical Methods 
  One more Research course 
  1. Training
   
 AA5387Training Across Cultures 
  1. Language and Culture as Dynamic Systems
   
 AA5354Language Contact 
Concentration core courses (12 hours) 
 AA5353Language Development and Planning 
 AA5366Theory and Practice of Sociolinguistics 
 AA5352Language Program Planning 
 AA5368Seminar in Sociolinguistics 
Thesis/Non-Thesis (12 hours)  
  1. Thesis Option
 Electives (6 hours) 
  1. Non-thesis option
 Thesis (6 hours) 
  Total hours36
    
    
    
SCRIPTURE ENGAGEMENT CONCENTRATION
Degree core requirements (12 hours)
  1. Research Choose One
   
 AA5340Ethnographic Research 
 AA5341Social Science Research 
  1. Training
   
 AA5387Training Across Cultures 
  1. Language and Culture as Dynamic Systems
   
 AA5353Language Development 
 AA5374Christianity Across Cultures 
 
Scripture Engagement Concentration (15 hours)		 
 AA5355Scripture Engagement Strategy and Methods 
 AA5356Current Issues in Scripture Engagement 
 AA5375Culture Change and Minority Cultures 
One of the following:   
 AA5373Religion and Worldview 
 AA5319Biblical Backgrounds 
One of the following:   
 AA5333Principles of Literacy 
 AA5357Oral Tradition and Literature 
 AA5383Applied Arts 
 AA5364Theories and Practices in Community Development 
 AA5354Language Contact 
Thesis/Non-Thesis (12 hours)  
  1. Thesis Option
 Electives (3 hours) + Thesis (6 hours) 
  1. Non-thesis option
 Electives (9 hours)  
  Total hours36
























































































































































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