About the Program
The Chinese and Japanese programs of the Department of Modern Languages and Linguistics (MLL) offer a two-year M.A. degree program in East Asian Languages and Cultures.
Emphasizing second language instruction and an extensive knowledge of Chinese and Japanese literatures and cultures, this program offers two majors: (1) Chinese Language and Culture and (2) Japanese Language and Culture. Students entering this program will elect one of these two majors.
EALC encourages students to pursue interdisciplinary interests, correlating linguistic knowledge with numerous intellectual disciplines.
Expertise of our core faculty and affiliated members is wide-ranging, including, for example: literary studies, religion, second-language acquisition, visual culture and film studies, and modern history. Our diverse curriculum, which emphasizes language and cultural proficiency, trains students who wish to continue studies in a compatible Ph.D. or professional program, and prepares students for work in federal and foreign service, NGO fields, and language instruction.
The M.A. degree in East Asian Languages and Cultures is expected to be completed in two years during which the student must successfully complete a minimum of 36 credit hours. At least 21 of these credit hours must be taken on a letter-grade basis. A minimum of 12 credit hours must be language courses. There are two primary majors within the EALC M.A. program: Chinese Language and Culture and Japanese Language and Culture. For each track, the student must take four language courses in their designated primary language area (Chinese or Japanese, for a minimum of 12 credit hours, [native speakers of Japanese or Chinese might fulfill this requirement with the other program language]), as well as East Asian Humanities (3 credit hours). All required courses must be taken on a letter-grade basis. During the last semester (usually the second spring semester of the two-year full-time M.A. study), the student chooses Option A (comprehensive examination) or Option B (significant research project) to complete the program.
In addition, students will also take 18 credit hours of elective courses (30 credit hours for native speakers of Japanese or Chinese). These courses should be graduate courses in the East Asian M.A. Program.
Please refer to the MLL Graduate Studies Handbook for more detailed guidelines.
To view current graduate East Asian Languages and Cultures courses and descriptions, visit the College of Arts and Sciences Bulletin and view courses beginning with prefixes ASN, CHI and CHW, and JPN, JPT and JPW.
Additional courses in the master's program include:
- LIN 5932 Special Topics
- Possible topics include:
- East Asian Linguistics
- East Asian Language Pedagogy
- East Asian Historical Linguistics
- Second Language Sentence Processing
- Second Language Acquisition of Chinese and Japanese
- Possible topics include:
Graduate Seminars in the Department
- † LIN 5744 Introduction to Language, Language Learning, and Language Instruction
- FOW 5025 Critical Theory and Its Application to Non-English Literatures
- FOW 5595 Transnational Literature
- Possible topics include: Studies in East Asian War Cinema
- FOT 5805 Translation Theory and Practice
* Required for all EALC students.
† Required for all EALC teaching assistants.