With Asian languages rapidly gaining global importance, there is a strong demand for competency in these languages and the required professional training. We are pleased to announce the start of a Master’s Degree Program in Teaching Asian Languages. The new M.A. program will offer diverse courses on the socio-cultural and linguistic foundation of Asian languages, best practices for teaching, learning, and using Asian languages, heritage and second language acquisition articulation of K-16 standards, assessment methods, and emerging trends in technology and Asian language teaching.
Entering M.A. students are expected to hold a bachelor’s degree in an academic discipline closely related to the proposed area of graduate study at UCLA, including a minimum of three years of modern Chinese, Japanese, or Korean. Applicants whose first language and language of instruction are not English also need to meet English language requirements.
The program covers selective fields of Teaching Asian Languages. These fields include Teaching Chinese, Teaching Korean, and Teaching Japanese.
Curriculum & Requirements
A total of nine courses (or a total of 36 units) are required for the degree. Students can fulfill the course requirements by completing four core courses (200-level) on Asian Language Pedagogy, by completing three courses (Asian 206A-B-C) on Teaching Practicum at local schools, and by supplementing two elective courses (upper division or 200-level). The two electives can be taken from the ALC Department and/or other department (e.g., School of Education). Specific elective courses are to be negotiated with adviser/committee. Two upper division courses are applied toward the University’s nine-course minimum requirement for the Master’s degrees. No 500-level courses may count toward degree requirements.
Foreign Language Requirement
Students in the M.A. program are required to have or develop proficiency in relevant languages as detailed below:
- Students in Teaching Chinese must demonstrate competence in modern Chinese (equivalent to successful completion of Chinese 101C)
- Students in Teaching Japanese must demonstrate competence in modern Japanese (equivalent to successful completion of Japanese 101C)
- Students in Teaching Korean must demonstrate competence in modern Korean (equivalent to successful completion of Korean 101C)
Field Experience Requirement
- Three courses (Asian 206A-B-C) on Teaching Practicum at local schools are required. Teaching practicum may take various forms, depending on the available opportunities.
Course Requirements
A total of nine courses (or a total of 36 units) are required for the degree
- Research Methods in East Asian Language Pedagogy (Asian 200)
- Issues and Practices in Teaching Asian Languages (Asian 204A, 204B)
- MA Practicum: Issues in Teaching Asian Languages and Classroom Practices (Asian 206A, 206B, 206C)
- One of the C/J/K linguistics courses (Chinese C240/Japanese C223/Korean C220)
- Remaining two elective courses (upper division or 200-level) may be chosen from the ALC Department, Linguistics, Applied Linguistics, or School of Education.
Capstone Plan
Students, in consultation with their faculty adviser, must submit three Capstone projects in any combination of academic papers or portfolios of pedagogical materials that the student has developed, including, but not limited to, curriculum design, course materials, and learning activities. These projects will be evaluated by the ad hoc committee chaired by the student’s principal adviser. One of the three papers or educational materials can be written in the target language, but this is optional.
The committee must be formally approved by the Director of Graduate Studies or the chair before the circulation of the research papers and the oral examination.
Please also refer to Division of Graduate Education website for specific Program Requirement information