Spanish Linguistics Program Guidelines

M.S. Degree                                                               Ph.D. Degree

1. Director of Graduate Studies                              1. Prerequisites
2. Course and Examination Requirements          2. Grad. Adviser; Dissertation Mentor
3. Qualifying Paper                                                   3. Courses
4. Academic Standing                                              4. Ph.D. Examinations
5. Language Requirements                                    5. Language Requirements
6. Annual Goal and Achievement Report             6. Teaching Requirement
                                                                                      7. Doctoral Candidacy and ABD
                                                                                      8. Dissertation Committee
                                                                                      9. Dissertation Proposal
                                                                                    10. Dissertation Defense
                                                                                    11. Deadline Extensions; Leaves of Absence
                                                                                    12. Annual Goal and Achievement Reports

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M.S. Degree (30 credits)

1. Director of Graduate Studies. Students should consult with the DGS, currently Professor Herburger, any time they have questions about the program. Students are responsible for checking with the DGS at least once per semester to make certain that they are not only taking the appropriate courses, but are also following the correct sequence of courses. New students must meet with the DGS prior to the beginning of the Fall semester. Continuing students must meet with the DGS during pre-registration. All students must meet again with her during add/drop period if changes to their registration are necessary, as students cannot change their course selection without prior approval from the DGS.

2. Course and Examination Requirements. The M.S. curriculum includes courses in the following five areas of specialization: Applied Linguistics, History/Dialectology, Phonology/Morphology, Syntax, and Semantics & Pragmatics. Courses are divided into two Tiers. Students must take all courses in Tier I and four courses from Tier II. Tier I courses need to be taken before Tier II courses, except for History of the Spanish Language and Spanish Dialectology, which can be taken in either order.

        The following five courses from Tier I:
        Spanish Teaching Methodology
        History of the Spanish Language
        Semantics & Pragmatics I
        Phonology and Morphology I
        Generative Syntax I  

        Any four courses from Tier II:
        Instructed Second Language Acquisition
        Spanish Dialectology
        Semantics & Pragmatics II
        Phonology and Morphology II
        Generative Syntax II

In addition to courses from Tiers I and II, students take one elective course in any field in linguistics or related area, such as philosophy, cognition, anthropology, or bilingual education. In the fourth semester students wishing to write a Qualifying Paper in order to continue to the PhD sign up for Continuous Registration (SPAN 999), in addition to two regular courses.

3. Qualifying Paper. The purpose of the Qualifying Paper (QP) is to give the student an opportunity to show that he or she is able to conduct the kind of independent research that is necessary to write a doctoral dissertation. The deadline for submission of the Qualifying Paper form which includes a title, topic, reference list and abstract is February 15th of the fourth semester of study. The paper must be submitted by the end of the candidate’s fourth semester of coursework. Students can apply for one extension, which must be approved by the Director of Graduate Studies and is generally only granted for medical reasons. The maximum time for an extension cannot exceed two weeks. The Qualifying Paper is evaluated by a committee made up of three Georgetown University faculty members with expertise in the subject area of the paper. Members of the committee are appointed by the Chair of the Department, two of the members must be faculty in the Spanish and Portuguese Department. The committee’s decision is reported to the Director of Graduate Studies, who announces it to the student, the Chair, the Registrar, and the Graduate School . Decisions are final. If the paper is satisfactory and the student has a general GPA higher than 3.5, and a GPA of 3.67 or higher in the chosen area of specialization, s/he is accepted into the Ph.D. Program. If the paper falls short of passing quality, the student is not allowed to continue to the Ph.D. program, but may be awarded a Master’s degree, provided all other requirements, including a minimum GPA of 3.0, are met. For detailed information on format and contents of the Qualifying Paper, please refer to the document ‘Guidelines for the Completion of the Qualifying Paper in Spanish Linguistics’. Also, students whose research will involve human subjects should contact the University's Institutional Review Board, IRB-C, or at (202) 687-5594 before the February 15th deadline.

Students not wishing to continue to the Ph.D. program need not complete a Qualifying Paper. After successful completion of all requirements for the Master’s degree, students accepted into the Ph.D. program may apply to the Graduate School to obtain the degree of Master’s of Science in passing.

4. Academic Standing. Students wishing to receive only a Master’s degree are expected to have a minimum GPA of 3.0. Students wishing to continue to the Ph.D. in Spanish Linguistics should see B1 below for prerequisites.

5. Language Requirement. All M.S. students must pass an oral proficiency exam in a language other than English or Spanish administered by a regular faculty member in one of the language departments. The language requirement must be satisfied by the end of the fourth semester, but students should plan ahead and contact language departments early in the semester. Since oral proficiency in a foreign language requires considerable practice, students are advised to start preparing for this requirement from their first semester.

6. Annual Goal and Achievement Report. [click here]

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Ph.D. Degree (18 credits beyond Master’s: Maximum 5 years)

1. Prerequisites. Students wishing to pursue the Ph.D. in Spanish Linguistics must have successfully completed the ten courses for the M.S. They must have compiled a minimum GPA of 3.5 and 3.67 in their chosen area of specialization. They must also have successfully completed the Qualifying Paper (see 3 above for procedure). Students who hold a Master’s degree from another institution may apply for Advanced Standing and be exempted from taking a maximum of three courses from the list of courses included under A2 above, provided they can demonstrate mastery of course content. Students must supply documentation (syllabi, reading lists, research papers) to the Director of Graduate Studies and the appropriate faculty member.

2. Selection of a graduate adviser and a dissertation mentor. By the end of the fourth semester in the program, the student must also select a graduate adviser. The student and the prospective graduate adviser will design a Ph.D. course plan (See B.3). After completion of the 16 courses and before the student takes the PhD exams, the student must also choose a dissertation mentor, who may or may not be the same person she had chosen as adviser.

3. Courses. Students authorized to pursue the Ph.D. must complete six further content courses beyond the M.S. chosen in consultation with their graduate adviser for a total of 16 courses (48 credits) beyond the B.A. (excluding all enrollments in Thesis Research). At least two of these courses must be seminars, and one must come from outside the student's area of specialization.

A student's Ph.D. program will typically be structured as follows (after completion of the M.S. requirements):

        Semester I:
        3 courses

        Semester II:
        3 courses

       Semester III:
       By October 1st:
       Student submits proposal for dissertation work and Reading Lists 1 and 2

       End of the semester:
       Take-Home Exam based on List 1
       Take-Home Exam based on List 2

       Semester IV:
       Student proposes Dissertation Committee
       Student works on Proposal
       Public defense of Dissertation Proposal

       Semester V or VI:
       Public defense of Doctoral Dissertation

4. Ph.D. Examinations. By the end of the first month of the third semester in the Ph.D. program, the student will present the mentor with a) a short document summarizing the student’s dissertation topic and b) two reading lists. For Theoretical Linguistics, List 1 is broad and comprehensive and includes the major strands of research in the candidate's dissertation field (syntax, semantics, phonology, historical linguistics, or dialectology). List 2 is narrowly focused on the specific topic (or topics) that will ultimately comprise the candidate's dissertation study. For Applied Linguistics, List 1 will be broad and comprehensive and will include the major strands of research in the candidate's dissertation area. The candidate uses the contents of List 1 to motivate the dissertation study itself. List 2 will be narrowly focused on the specific variables that will ultimately comprise the candidate's dissertation study. During the last month of the third semester in the Ph.D. program, and after submitting the department’s “Ph.D. examination form” to the DGS, the student must pass two four-day take-home examinations based on the readings from List 1 and List 2, respectively. Examination will be handed to the candidate on a Friday before noon and must be returned to the mentor before noon the following Tuesday. The examinations will be graded by the mentor and one other professor appointed by the chair. For the Applied Linguistics concentration, the examination must be at most 30 pages in length, not including references. To pass the Ph.D. Examination, the student must obtain a minimum grade of B+. Students are allowed one rewrite.

5. Language Requirement. Prior to taking the Ph.D. Examination, in addition to completing the requirements outlined under subsections 1, 2, 3 and 4. Ph.D. students must demonstrate reading proficiency in a language other than English, Spanish, and the one used to satisfy the language requirement for the Master's degree.

6. Teaching Requirement. Before graduation, all Ph.D. students are required to show proof of teaching experience. This requirement serves the purpose of furthering students' educational and professional development. Teaching experience is defined as two semesters of instruction at an institution of higher learning. This requirement may be fulfilled prior to entering or during the Ph.D. program and can be completed at Georgetown University or at another institution. High school teaching or acting as an assistant to a professor cannot be used to fulfill the requirement. Students requiring a waiver must submit a letter to the DGS and provide appropriate documentation.

7. Doctoral Candidacy and ABD. These terms refer to two different moments in the graduate student’s progress towards the Ph.D. Candidacy is defined as completion of 10 graduate courses with a minimum GPA of 3.5, and successful completion of a Qualifying Paper. A student becomes ABD (all but dissertation) when he has completed 16 graduate courses, passed the Ph.D. qualifying exams, and successfully defended her dissertation proposal.

8. Dissertation Committee. After successful completion of the Ph.D. exams, the student will propose a dissertation committee, which must consist minimally of three faculty members: a mentor and two readers.  At least two of the minimum three must be tenure-line Georgetown faculty, and one must be in the Department of Spanish & Portuguese. The readers may, but need not, be from outside the Department of Spanish and Portuguese, either from another Georgetown department or program, or from outside Georgetown University . Such outside readers are recommended whenever feasible. Readers from outside the University must hold a doctoral degree. They must also either be members of the faculty of another university or hold a professional appointment in a nonacademic research institution that is equivalent to the academic rank of assistant professor or above.

9. Dissertation Proposal. One semester after successful completion of the two Ph.D. exams, the student will draft a dissertation proposal to be defended publicly before the established dissertation committee. All committee members must be present, either in person or on a conference call. At least one week prior to the defense of the proposal, students must submit to the DGS the “Proposal Defense Form.” The proposal will be more than an overview of the topic; considerable research on the subject must be evident so that rigorous discussion may take place. For Theoretical Linguistics, the dissertation proposal comprises an Abstract, a Review of the literature, a Statement of the Problem with clearly formulated research questions, a discussion of the methodology used for data collection (if relevant), and a sketch of the proposed solution. For Applied Linguistics, the dissertation proposal comprises an Abstract, Introduction and Statement of the Problem, Review of the Literature with research questions, and a defendable Research Design and Methodology section to address the research questions. All treatment and testing materials must be included in the appendices. Upon approval of the proposal by the dissertation committee, the student will enroll in two successive semesters of Thesis Research in the last year of study, during which period the dissertation will be written.

10. Dissertation Defense. Upon completion of the dissertation, and before a dissertation defense can be scheduled, the student’s committee must certify unanimously that the dissertation is ready for defense, that is, that there is a reasonable expectation both a) that the student will be able to address any questions about or shortcomings in the dissertation, and b) that only minor revisions will be required after the defense. After the committee’s unanimous decision that the dissertation is ready for defense as certified by their signatures on the Graduate School Dissertation Defense Form, there will be a public presentation and defense of the dissertation in order to satisfy fully the requirements for conferral of the doctorate. The Graduate School requires that the defense be publicized through its web page and that the Dissertation Defense Form be filed at least one week prior to the defense. All committee members must be present, either in person or on a conference call at the defense. The candidate will be considered to have passed the dissertation defense when the committee certifies by majority vote that the defense was “successful.” That is, the committee must certify that the candidate has satisfactorily addressed any questions about and shortcomings in the dissertation, and that no major revisions are required. If a student’s dissertation has not been successfully defended and accepted by the Graduate School by the end of either the five- or seven-year time limit (see Section 1.3 of the Graduate Student Handbook), the student will be terminated from the graduate program, unless an extension of time to complete the degree has been approved.

11. Deadline Extensions and Leaves of Absence. Students may petition their graduate program and the Graduate School for an extension of the deadline to complete the Ph.D. The Graduate School will readily grant a first extension of up to one year on the recommendation of both the student’s mentor and the program’s Director of Graduate Studies (DGS). Further extensions will be granted only in extraordinary circumstances, and only on the recommendation of the mentor, the DGS, and a standing committee to be appointed by the Dean to review all such requests. Once candidacy has been achieved, the Graduate School will consider requests for a personal Leave of Absence (LOA) only if the reasons for requesting the leave would prevent the student from making significant progress on the dissertation. An LOA will not be granted simply for the purpose of extending the time permitted to complete the dissertation. “Personal Leave of Absence” is defined as any LOA other than one granted for medical reasons or to perform military service.

12. Annual Goal and Achievement Reports. By the end of the second month of each academic semester every student pursuing a graduate degree must file/update a “statement” to be approved by the DGS (MS students) or by the student’s mentor (Ph.D. students). In the statement, the student will list achievements, including all courses taken, examinations passed, presentations and publications, and will detail the progress made towards the Qualifying Paper and dissertation. These two reports will be kept on file for such purposes as writing letters of recommendation and teaching assignments, and will be considered by the Department’s Academic Progress Committee, which will then report to the Department Chair. This committee may recommend appropriate action.

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