Meeting Minutes

Wona Lee graduated from our department with an MA in Applied Linguistics. She is now at UC Santa Barbara pursuing a Ph.D. in Education, where she is investigating the language development of heritage Korean language learners.

She began her talk by distributing out “L” (for “linguistics”) shaped flashcards, asking all participants to write down their name and why they were attending this meeting (i.e. what each participant had hoped she would address). She later revealed that this was a method she uses as a teacher in order to involve the student and focus their attention.

Wona addressed the difficulties one may experience in getting into a Ph.D. program. In today’s economy, our universities have less money to fund Ph.D. students. Therefore, it is important that the Ph.D. applicant find a faculty member who is performing research that is very compatible with what the applicant wishes to do. Wona adds that you simply cannot rely with the research faculty list on their websites or research you find in recent journal articles–this research is the finished product and he/she may have moved on to a different topic. You may consider email correspondences in lieu of face-to-face communication (e.g. at conferences or at the university you are investigating, if it is possible to visit).

She also cites the importance of having research experience. She acknowledges that, while it may be difficult to find a research assistantship in our linguistics department, there is a lot of related research going on in different departments at SDSU (e.g. psychology, anthropology, speech-language pathology) as well as at UCSD. While you may not be fortunate enough to find a paid research assistantship as she had during her time at SDSU, no one will turn down a volunteer assistant. A volunteer assistantship can turn into a paid position or it might not; at the very least, you will have gained invaluable experience that could mean your acceptance into a Ph.D. program.

Although Wona has transplanted herself into the world of education, she still feels an affinity with linguistics, taking a number of linguistics courses as a part of her program of study. She is making her own interdisciplinary program by melding the words of linguistics and education, supplementing her studies even further by reading papers in related fields such as psychology and cognitive science.

Grant Barrett, co-host and co-producer of the national public radio show all about the English language, “A Way with Words,” presents the essence of his show in “What a Bridge Sounds Like.”

Annual Spring Colloquium

• Call for presentations (faculty and students from Linguistics and related departments, outreach to UCSD).
• Keynote speaker Dr. Ivan Sag (Stanford).
• Reserve room SS-1500 through Student Life & Leadership (after add/drop deadline).
• T-shirt profits will be put toward food costs.
• IRA funds will go towards room reservation and keynote speaker expenses/honorary.
• Promotion: Fliers, The Reader, LinguistList, Mailing lists (UCSD/SDSU).
• Pre-colloquium potluck will be at Dr. Malouf’s

• Contact alumni (career and Ph.D.)
• Date: Friday Feb 24 (time TBD)

• Visiting Comp. Ling Scholar from Korea
• Dr. Bigham‘s new Sociolinguistics project
• Dr. Choi’s sabbatical in Korea
• Dr. Gawron’s involvement with the interdepartmental project
• Contact other faculty to see if they have any recent research they’d like to present
• Grant Barret (co-host/co-producer) of A Way with Words

Attendees: 8

This MA Exam information session is from the point-of-view of former grad student Andrew McGladdery, who finished his MA in our Applied Linguistics program last year.

Reasons to choose the exam over thesis:

• You are interested in many areas of linguistics, not just one specialized area.
• Time and money are an important factor–generally takes less time to complete the MA exam (two 24-hour period writing prompts and one larger 7-day period writing prompt, with revision periods if necessary).
• You are in the Applied program and want to finish your program to go teach (although, taking the exam doesn’t ruin your chances into getting into a Ph.D. program if you decide you want to do that later).
• It allows you to reinforce what you learned in your classes by revisiting those subjects.
• Flexible time selections (window of dates you can choose from to best fit your schedule).

The process:

• Commit to Exam option
• Select three areas in which you have previously taken courses (one focus area, which will be your big 7-day writing period, and 2 sub-areas, which will be your shorter 24-hour writing periods)
• You are assigned professors for each area, who will prepare your writing prompt
• Meet with professors and discuss how you should prepare
• Eight week preparation period, during which you should review notes and texts from related coursework
• First 24-hour prompt received by e-mail; work on paper and submit within 24-hour time period.
• Second 24-hour prompt received by e-mail; work on paper and submit within 24-hour time period.
• If non-passing grades are received, you are allowed a revision. Meet with professor who gave the non-passing grade and discuss what needs to be changed in order to receive a pass.
• Seven-day prompt received by e-mail; work on paper and submit by 7-day deadline.
• Begin literature review
• Apply what you’ve learned from literature review

Suggestions:

• Make sure you communicate well with your professors; some will be more clear than others.
• Go to office hours and discuss what that professor expects out of the paper.
• Don’t be devastated if you receive a “no pass” after your initial submission; the revision period is meant to be a time when professors can give you  in depth feedback about your papers, which should set you on track for a passing mark.
• For your third, “big,” topic, make sure you pick a subject with a supervising professor who will work with you in terms of tailoring a prompt that will speak to your future goals.
• If, early on, you know you will select the Exam option, you can start choosing what subjects you might want to focus on and begin preparing as early as possible.
• As soon as you choose the Exam option, organize your life (even simple things like meals) and understand that you will not have much time for other things.
• Don’t try to be overly creative or go off on tangents about concepts superfluous to what is on the prompt. Stick to the point; answer what’s asked.
• Don’t feel locked-in. Sometimes life can get in the way of completing your thesis. In such a circumstance, you may wish to change to the exam option.

Misconceptions:

• Taking the exam will make you a less attractive job candidate.
  Not necessarily true. For Andrew, an Applied student whose goal was to teach ESL, the exam reinforced what he’d learned in the program and his 7-day prompt allowed him to invest time and thought into related activities such as syllabus creation. He was able to get a job right out of graduate school.
• Taking the exam will ruin your chances to get into a Ph.D. program.
  Not necessarily true, especially if it is your goal to work in the field first before you decide to return to school for a Ph.D. You should meet with the graduate advisor (currently Dr. Gregory Keating) to discuss what is the best path to take for your specific goals.
  

LSA Secretary Sara Kazemi gave a presentation creating Digital Talking Books (DTBs) using Dolphin Publisher as a part of LARC’s weekly Brown Bag series in the integration of technology with education. LARC is in the process of creating DTBs for foreign language learners, and as a Graduate Assistant at the lab, Sara has produced a Farsi-language DTB using simplified stories of the ancient set of epics, Ferdowsi’s Shahnameh. At the end of the presentation, she shares this DTB to demonstrate what a finished project produced by Dolphin Publisher might look like. Also showcased in an iOS mobile app that is capable of reading these project files, Read2Go.

The presentation was also broadcast over the web using Blackboard collaborate and the recorded archive file may be viewed here.

Anyone who is interested in producing DTBs for educational purposes (e.g. for a foreign language or an ESL class) is welcome to come to the LARC and use our licensed version of Dolphin Publisher to do so. We are currently investigating the prospect of a multi-user educational license for the Read2Go mobile app and are currently searching for a comparable Android OS app. If you have any questions, you can contact Sara.