The required curriculum includes 14 courses, including two foundation courses, three courses in the area of research methods, two courses in the area of language learning, two courses in the area of linguistics, and five courses in a student?s area of specialization. Students may specialize in language learning and postsecondary education, which includes a focus on technology in language acquisition and learning; or in linguistics and psycholinguistics, with focus on phonetics/phonology or on syntax in a particular second language.

Students may extend their interdisciplinary interests by taking relevant elective course work offered by the Departments of Communication Sciences and Disorders, French and Italian, German, Linguistics, Psychological and Brain Sciences, Rhetoric, Spanish and Portuguese, and Asian and Slavic Languages, Literatures, and Cultures in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences; and the Departments of Psychological and Quantitative Foundations, and Teaching and Learning in the College of Education. In addition, the Ph.D. requires successful completion and defense of a dissertation representing original research in second language acquisition.