Graduate programs

The Department of Modern Languages at Carnegie Mellon offers two graduate programs, a Ph.D. in Second Language Acquisition and our new Masters degree in Applied Second Language Acquisition.

The Masters in Applied Second Language Acquisition is a one-year, intensive program preparing U.S. and international students for careers in second language teaching in Chinese, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Spanish, and English as a Second Language (ESL). The program draws on strengths of the Department of Modern Languages at Carnegie Mellon in the areas of second-language acquisition, cultural studies, pedagogy, and technology-enhanced learning. MA graduates will be eligible for employment in institutions of higher learning, as well as in private schools or public (alternative-certification) secondary schools, and (especially in ESL) in a multitude of settings abroad. The MA in Applied SLA may also lead to further graduate work in second language studies

The Ph.D. in Second Language Acquisition (SLA) provides students and future professionals with a theoretical grounding in linguistics and cognitive psychology, coupled with broad training in qualitative and quantitative research methodology. The goal of the Ph.D. program in SLA is to create independent and insightful researchers capable of using analytical and empirical methods to illuminate and understand the acquisition, use, and maintenance of second languages.