Academic Year
2008-2009

TABLE OF CONTENTS

 Part I  

Introduction

TESL/Linguistics Program Overview

MA Specialization in Teaching English as a Second Language

Post-Baccalaureate Certificate in Teaching English as a Second Language

ESL Endorsement

Linguistics Minor Reading List

Advising

Flowchart for MA Program

Fellowships and Assistantships

Master’s Thesis Process at SIUE

Graduate School Deadlines

Part II

TESL Certificate and MA checklists

TESL/Linguistics Journals in the Lovejoy Library

TESL/Linguistics Journals available through Interlibrary Loan (ILL)

Introduction to TESL/Linguistics at SIUE

TESL (Teaching English as a Second Language ) is a field that offers great opportunities for employment, career satisfaction, and intercultural encounters.  TESL teachers are in great demand both domestically and worldwide, and many who engage in this career find their work challenging, but extraordinarily rewarding.  To be an effective teacher of English to speakers of other languages is not a simple task.  Professional training helps students acquire some expertise in the structure and uses of language, language teaching methods and intercultural communication. The TESL curriculum at SIUE attempts to help students gain a specialized understanding of how languages and language learning works, construct a working philosophy of language learning and teaching, gain awareness of the role of cultural and social variables in language learning, design, organize, conduct, and assess ESL instructional programs, and observe other teachers and participate in a practicum for hands-on-experience

Linguistics (sometimes defined as the scientific study of human language) is concerned with how human languages are structured, how they are used to communicate ideas and represent meaning, and how they change.  To address these kinds of questions involves a great deal of complexity and linguistic students study a broad array of topics such as phonetics (the production of sounds by the human vocal mechanisms), phonology (how these sounds form meaningful patterns in languages), morphology (word formation and combining processes), syntax (how sentences are structured), semantics (how meaning is assigned), pragmatics (how the various elements of language are used to communicate), and more. Linguistic study attempts to uncover both the universal and particular elements of all human languages, with the goal of arriving at important generalizations about human language and the way language is represented in the mind. Due to the nature of this task, linguists frequently become acquainted with a number of languages, but this does not mean linguists speak many languages.  For linguistic study, knowledge concerning the structure of languages is more important than achieving fluency in a large number of languages.

Program Overview

Our classes are offered during evenings and on weekdays during the regular and summer terms. Some are also offered online or in a distance education format. Master degree requirements can be completed in less than two years, though many students who work full- or part-time proceed at a more leisurely pace. Master specializations require from 30 to 36 hours of course work beyond the Bachelor of Arts degree; half of these courses must be at the 500 level.

The Master of Arts Degree in English, TESL Specialization

The Department of English Language and Literature offers studies leading to the Master of Arts degree in the teaching of English as a second language, requiring from 30 to 36 hours of course work beyond the Bachelor of Arts degree. This degree prepares the student for professional opportunities related to teaching English to non-native speakers or for advanced graduate programs in similar or related fields. A student completing this specialization will be able to teach English as a second or foreign language, develop curricula and teaching materials for second language learners, evaluate the English language capabilities of learners, and participate in the advising of students for whom English is not a first language. Detailed information about this program and its requirements may be found at http://www.siue.edu/ENGLISH/TESL/tesl_ma.html.

The Master of Science in Education

(in cooperation with the Department of Curriculum and Instruction)

Our program also offers an English teaching field as part of the Master of Science in Education degree. Students may participate in a jointly advised program ordinarily consisting of 15 hours in English, designed to take into account each student's background and interests. Throughout the program students must consult with their English adviser before signing up for any courses in English. The student must complete at least 42 semester hours in English (graduate and undergraduate work combined) in order to be eligible for the degree. Some programs will include more than 15 hours in English in order to satisfy this requirement. The student must achieve a 3.0 grade point average in English as well as an overall average of 3.0 (A=4.0). For further information about this program, please consult the School of Education's Department of Secondary Education (http://www.siue.edu/EDUCATION/c_and_i/secondarygrad.html.)

Post-Baccalaureate Certificate in TESL

The TESL certificate is designed for students seeking graduate work in TESL pedagogy and theory but not wishing to commit to a two-year MA program. The 18-hour program covers the same core areas that the full MA does, but its shorter duration allows students to pursue other graduate degrees or professional experiences. Students who are pursuing teaching certification, or who already hold a valid teaching certificate, may take a series of courses leading to an Illinois and/or Missouri ESL teaching endorsement.

Linguistics Minor

The linguistics minor requires a minimum of 18 hours. Students are required to complete an introduction the field of linguistics (English 400) and one course in each of the following major areas of linguistic study: semantics and pragmatics (English 405), phonetics and phonology (English 408), and syntax (English 409). Students must also select two electives from the following courses: English 370, 403, 416, 468, and 474. Students who are considering the linguistic minor are encouraged to take English 207 as part of their general education coursework. A minor in linguistics may be combined with a major in English. English majors who satisfy the linguistics minor requirements may substitute any English elective for the three-hour language systems requirement.

Four Required Courses :

ENG 400 - Principles of Linguistics
ENG 405 - Pragmatics
ENG 408 - Phonological Analysis
ENG 409 - Syntactic Analysis

Two electives, chosen from among the following courses:

MA Specialization in Teaching of English as a Second Language (TESL)

This program is designed to provide students with preparation for professional academic opportunities related to teaching English to non-native speakers or for advanced graduate programs in similar or related fields.

Students completing this specialization will be able to teach English as a second or foreign language, to develop curricula and teaching materials for second language learners, to evaluate the English language capabilities of such learners, and to participate in the advising of students for whom English is not a first language.

Two examination options are available for the completion of this specialization: the thesis option, or the examination option (recommended for students with no previous or current TESL experience). For both options, all of the following courses are required:

Required Core Courses (3 hours each):
ENG 400 - Principles of Linguistics
ENG 416 - Language and Culture
ENG 468 - Second Language Acquisition
ENG 542 - Methods for Teaching English as a Second Language

Students taking ENG 595 to complete their exit requirement are required to complete 5 non-core courses from the following list, and students electing the thesis option must complete 4 of the non-core courses. For all students, at least 3 of the non-core courses must be at the 500 level.

ENG 405 - Pragmatics
ENG 408 - Phonological Analysis
ENG 409 - Syntactic Analysis
ENG 470 - Methods and Materials for K-12 ESL Teaching
ENG 472 - Assessment and Testing in ESL
ENG 474 - Bilingualism and Bilingual Education
ENG 540 - Seminar in Second Language Acquisition
ENG 541 - Discourse Analysis
ENG 543 - Grammar Pedagogy
ENG 544 - Reading and Writing Pedagogy in TESL
ENG 597 - Readings in English Studies 

Additionally, students may, with the written approval of their advisor and of the Director of Graduate Studies, choose ONE elective from another SIUE Department; use the Graduate Student Request Form to obtain approval prior to registration in any such course.

Exit requirement: Students must complete one of the following:

ENG 599-Thesis (6 hours)
ENG 595- Professional Development Seminar (3 hours)

EXIT EXAMINATION:

The mode of final examination is dependent on the culminating activity selected by the student. A student who elects the thesis option must successfully complete a one-hour oral examination based on the thesis. A student who elects to enroll in 595 must attain at least a B in that course and successfully complete an examination responding to questions submitted by a committee of TESL faculty.

The above requirements are available on the next page as a printable checklist, or you may obtain a copy of the checklist from the information rack outside the office of the Director of Graduate Studies.

Post-Baccalaureate Certificate in the Teaching of English as a Second Language (TESL)  

The TESL certificate is designed for students seeking graduate work in TESL pedagogy and theory but not wishing to commit to a two-year MA program. The program covers the same core areas that the full MA does, but can be completed in a shorter amount of time, allowing students to pursue other graduate degrees or professional experiences.

The program requires 18 hours of coursework for completion.

Required courses:
ENG 400 - Principles of Linguistics
ENG 416 - Language and Culture
ENG 468 - Second Language Acquisition
ENG 542 - Methods for Teaching English as a Second Language

Electives selected from:
ENG 540- Seminar in Second Language Acquisition
ENG 541- Discourse Analysis
ENG 543- Grammar Pedagogy
ENG 544- Reading and Writing Pedagogy in TESL
ENG 597- Readings in English Studies

Please note that, per University policy, "No substitution or waiver of courses . . . is permissible for a certificate program."

The above requirements are available on the next page as a printable checklist. You will need to submit a hardcopy version of the completed checklist to the Director of Graduate Studies before the Post-Baccalaureate Certificate can be officially awarded.

ESL Endorsement

Students who are pursuing elementary or secondary certification, or who already hold a valid teaching certificate, may take a series of courses leading to Illinois and/or Missouri ESL (English as a Second Language) teaching approval. All the courses meet once a week at night, and can be taken for undergraduate or graduate credit (except ENG 542, which is for graduate credit only). These courses are:

ENG 400 - Principles of Linguistics
ENG 409 - Syntactic Analysis
ENG 416 - Language and Society
ENG 468 - Second Language Acquisition
ENG 470 - Methods and Materials for K-12 ESL Teaching
ENG 472 - Assessment and Testing in ESL
ENG 474 - Bilingualism and Bilingual Education
ENG 476 - Practicum in ESL (required for Missouri approval only)
ENG 542 - Methods for Teaching ESL

The above courses meet the state requirements as outlined in the tables below.

 Introductory

 Bauer, Laurie and Peter Trudgill (eds). 1998. Language Myths. London: Penguin Books.

Chomsky, Noam. 1986. Knowledge of language: its nature, origins and use. New York: Praeger.

Fromkin , Victoria A. (ed.). 2000. Linguistics: An Introduction to Linguistic Theory. Malden : MA, Blackwell Publishers.

O'Grady, W., Dobrovolsky, M., & Aronoff, M. 2001. Contemporary Linguistics, Fourth Edition . Boston: Bedford/St. Martin’s.

Pinker, Steve. 1994. The Language Instinct: How the Mind Creates Language. New York : W. Morrow and Co.

History of Linguistics

 Hockett, Charles F. (ed.) 1970. A Leonard Bloomfield anthology. Chicago & London: University of Chicago Press.

Matthews, P.H. 1993. Grammatical theory in the United States from Bloomfield to Chomsky . Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Newmeyer, Frederick J. 1986. Linguistic theory in America, (2nd edn.). Orlando & London : Academic Press.

Phonetics/Phonology

 Geigerich, Heinz J. 1992. English Phonology. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Goldsmith, John A. 1999. Phonological theory, the essential readings. Oxford: Blackwell.

Ladefoged, Peter. 2000. Vowels and consonants: an introduction to the sounds of language . Oxford: Blackwell.

 Morphology

Booij, Gert. 2005. The Grammar of Words: An Introduction to Linguistic Morphology. Oxford : Oxford University Press.

Spencer, Andrew. 2001. ‘Morphology in Linguistics.’ In: N. J. Smelser and Paul B. Baltes (eds) International Encyclopedia of the Social & Behavioral Sciences. Oxford: Pergamon Press, 1047 - 1053, 2001.

Spencer, Andrew. 1991. Morphological Theory. Oxford: Blackwell Publishers.

Syntax

Culicover, Peter W. 1999. Syntactic nuts: hard cases, syntactic theory and language acquisition. Oxford : Oxford University Press.

Culicover, Peter W. and Ray Jackendoff. 2005. Simpler Syntax. Oxford: OxfordUniversity Press.

Haegeman, Liliane. 2006. Thinking Syntactically. Malden, MA: Blackwell Publishing.

Radford, Andrew. 1997. Syntactic Theory and the Structure of English: A Minimalist Approach . Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Cook, Vivian J. and Mark Newson. 1988. Chomsky’s Universal Grammar: An Introduction . Malden, MA: Blackwell Publishers.

Discourse Studies and Pragmatics

Clark, Herbert H. 1996. Using Language. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Cruse, Alan. 2004. Meaning in Language: An Introduction to Semantics and Pragmatics. (2 nd edn.) Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Dijk, Teun A. (ed). 1997. Discourse Studies: A Multidisciplinary Introduction. (2 vols.) London : Sage Publications.

Jaworski, Adam and Nikolas Coupland (eds) 1999. The discourse reader. London: Routledge.

Levinson, Stephen C. 1995. ‘Three levels of meaning.’ In Palmer, Frank (ed.) Grammar and meaning . Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Sperber, Dan and Deirdre Wilson. 1986. Relevance: Communication and Cognition. Malden : MA, Blackwell Publishing

Language Acquisition

Cook, V.J. 1991. ‘The poverty-of-stimulus argument and multicompetence.’ Second Language Research 7, 2, 103-117.

Cook, Vivian 1996. Second language learning and language teaching, (2nd edn). London : Arnold.

DeVilliers, J.G. & DeVilliers, P.A. 1985. ‘The acquisition of English.’ In D. Slobin (Ed .),The crosslinguistic study of language acquisition , volume 1: The data (pp. 27- 139). Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.

Ellis, Rod. 1994. The Study of Second Language Acquisition. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Fromkin, V., Krashen, S., Curtiss, S., Rigler, D., & Rigler, M. (1984). ‘The development of language in Genie: A case of language acquisition beyond the "critical period."’ Brain and Language , 1, 81-107.

Hawkins, Roger. 2001. Second language syntax. A generative introduction. Oxford: Blackwell.

Romaine, S. 1989. Bilingualism. Cambridge, MA: Blackwell.   

Historical linguistics

Fennell, Barbara A. 2001. A History of English: A Sociolinguistic Approach. Malden, MA: Blackwell Publishers.

Hopper, Paul and Elizabeth Traugott. 2003. Grammaticalization. (2 nd edn.) Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Leith, Dick. 1997. A social history of English. (2 nd edn.) London: Routledge.  

MacMahon, April. 1994. Understanding language change. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Language and Culture

 Bonvillain, N . 2000. Language, culture, and communication. Third Edition. New York: Prentice Hall.

Heath, S. B . 1983. Ways with words. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Kochman, T. 1990. ‘Force fields in black and white communication.’ In D. Carbaugh (ed.), Cultural communication and intercultural contact (pp.193-217). Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.

Language origins and evolution

 Bickerton, Derek. 1990. Language and species. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

Calvin, William H. and Derek Bickerton. 2000. Lingua ex machina: reconciling Darwin and Chomsky with the human brain. Cambridge , MA & London: The MIT Press.

Carstairs-McCarthy, Andrew. 1999. The origins of complex language: an enquiry into the evolutionary beginnings of sentences, syllables and truth. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Brain, Mind and Language

 Damasio, A.R. & Damasio, H. 1992. September. Brain and language. Scientific American , 89-95.

Hunt, E. & Agnoli, F . 1991. The Whorfian hypothesis: A cognitive psychology perspective. Psychological Review, 98, 377-89.

Slobin, D. 1996. ‘From “thought and language” to “thinking for speaking.”’ In J. Gumperz and S.C. Levinson (Eds.), Rethinking linguistic relativity (pp. 70-96). Cambridge : Cambridge University Press.

Whorf, B.L . 1960:1993. The relation of habitual thought and behavior to language. In L.M. Cleary & M.D. Linn (Eds.), Linguistics for language teachers (pp. 79-99). New York : McGraw-Hill.

Wolkomir, R. 1998. American Sign Language: “It’s Not Mouth Stuff—It’s Brain Stuff.” In D. Oaks (Ed.), Linguistics at Work: A Reader of Applications (pp. 311-20). Fort Worth : Harcourt Brace & Company.

Sociolinguistics

Kachru, B.B . 1990. World Englishes and applied linguistics. World Englishes, 9, 3-20.

Leap, W. L. 1993. American Indian English and its implications for bilingual education. In L.M. Cleary & M.D. Linn (Eds.), Linguistics for language teachers (pp. 207- 19). New York: McGraw-Hill.

Wardhaugh, Ronald. 1986. An Introduction to Sociolinguistics, 2 nd ed. Malden, MA: Blackwell Publishers

Wolfram, W. & Schilling-Estes, N.(1998). American English:Dialects and Variation. Malden , MA : Blackwell Publishers.

General

Nettle, Daniel and Suzanne Romaine. 2000. Vanishing voices: the extinction of the world's languages. Oxford : Oxford University Press.

Skutnabb-Kangas, Tove and Robert Phillipson (eds) 1995. Linguistic human rights. Berlin : Mouton de Gruyter.

Stainton, Robert J. 1996. Philosophical Perspectives on Language. Ontario, Canada: Broadview Press.

Tannen, D., ed . 1993. Gender and conversational interaction. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Advising

The following applies to all TESL graduate students and Linguistic Minor undergraduates

All TESL graduate students and Linguistic Minors are assigned to advisors on the basis of the letter of the alphabet with which a student's last name begins. Please note that your advisor may change throughout the course of your program, so you should check here each semester for the most current information.

Advisors for the 2008-2009 Academic Year are as follows:

If your last name begins with A-K ... Your advisor is Joel Hardman (jhardma@siue.edu)

If your last name begins with L-Z ... Your advisor is Seran Dogancay-Aktuna (saktuna@siue.edu)

Please email or meet with your advisor...

...when you want to discuss any problems that are affecting your academic performance.

...when you would like to discuss your academic progress or anticipate when to take courses that are offered infrequently.

...when you are deciding whether to pursue the thesis or examination options for the completion of your specialization.

...when you are preparing for your TESL exit exam.

...when you are getting close to the end of your program and need to apply for graduation.

...when you want to discuss career considerations.

...when you need letters of recommendation.

...when you are selecting courses for the upcoming semester or considering adding or dropping courses.

[Note: students are notified via our TESL-ling listserv when registration becomes available each semester. If you are not yet on this listserv, contact Dr. Joel Hardman at jhardma@siue.edu]

Getting An MA Specializing in TESL

Fellowships and Assistantships

Graduate students seeking financial assistance have two general options for support from SIUE: (1) University Support; and (2) Departmental Support.

1) University Support

One of the most attractive support options offered by SIUE is the Competitive Graduate Award, granted through the Graduate School. These fellowships include a modest stipend and remission of tuition and some fees. Fellowship recipients are required to carry a minimum of nine hours of graduate credit (three courses) each semester and remain in good academic standing; there is no teaching or other work obligation. More information about this award, including deadlines and application information, may be found at the SIUE Graduate School's Competitive Graduate Award page at http://www.siue.edu/GRADUATE/award/cgaguide.html. (Please note that the CGA requires students to carry 9 credit hours at the graduate level; any 100-, 200-, or 300-level courses taken to help meet a language requirement or other undergraduate deficiency will not count toward this CGA requirement.)

The Graduate School's website also features information on other financial assistance programs, including some specifically designed for minorities.

2) Departmental Support

The English Department has one financial support program: Graduate Assistantships (GAs). English Department GAs usually teach composition and work in the Writing Center, and anywhere from 5 to 10 such "teaching GAs" are hired annually. Additionally, the Department employs two GAs to assist the editors of Sou'wester and Drumvoices Revue; these GA positions are available irregularly. Students interested in serving as an editing GA must contact, prior to the GA application deadline, the editors of the journal in which they are interested, and must make sure their application materials clearly indicate their interest in editorial work.

Graduate Assistantships are for the nine-month academic year and provide both a modest stipend and a waiver of tuition, including one summer semester. Assistants must take two graduate-level classes each semester; teaching load is usually one course in one semester and two courses in the other, with some work in the Writing Center during the semester in which a GA is teaching only one course. It is possible to complete the MA program in two years while working as a GA, since the Department offers graduate-level courses in the summer term. English GAs are limited to two years' employment, and must be classified, not unclassified, graduate students.

DEADLINE: Applications for assistantships must be completed and received in the English Department by February 1.

The SIUE Graduate School website has more information on Graduate Assistantships, including course load requirements at http://www.siue.edu/GRADUATE/award/gradassist.html. Note that, as with the Competitive Graduate Award, only graduate-level classes (those at the 400 or 500 level) count toward meeting the minimum course-load requirement for Graduate Assistantships, which is two classes (six credit hours) per term. Please note that graduate students from outside the United States are generally not awarded assistantships for their first year of graduate study.


NOTE: students applying simultaneously to the English Graduate Program and for a Graduate Assistantship must submit TWO SEPARATE application dossiers: one for the Graduate Program, and a separate one for the Graduate Assistantship. As explained in more detail on the Graduate Assistantship Application Form (http://www.siue.edu/ENGLISH/Grad/ga_app.pdf), the GA dossier, like the graduate program dossier, consists of an application form, transcripts, a personal statement and/or writing sample, and three letters of recommendation accompanied by access waiver forms. While these two dossiers may be identical, it is to your advantage to "tailor" them; your GA application dossier, for example, may be stronger if it contains letters of recommendation that address your prospects for teaching success (or editing skills, if applicable), while letters in the Graduate Program application dossier may wish to stress the likelihood of your success in academic research and writing. Your personal statements could also reflect those different concerns. Students applying for a Competitive Graduate Award are also encouraged to get letters specifically tailored to that award.

The Master’s Thesis Process at SIUE  

If you have decided to pursue the thesis option for your M.A., you'll need to do several things in order to ensure that you're beginning the process in a way that will facilitate a smooth and relatively trouble-free experience.

ENG 599: Thesis

This is the course in which you enroll when you are ready to begin serious work on your thesis. While the Director of Graduate Studies will be the "instructor of record" for this course, you will work closely with your committee and committee chair during the time you are enrolled in the course.

ENG 599 may be taken twice, for a total of 6 credit hours. While most students take the course for 3 hours in two different semesters, you may enroll for all 6 hours in one term if you wish.

It is not unusual, frankly, for students to underestimate the amount of time and energy required for the writing of a thesis, which is, after all, typically 60-75 pages in length, at least. If after taking ENG 599 for 6 credit hours your thesis is still not complete, you may in subsequent semesters enroll in UNIV 500, a low-cost (currently $37.50) course that carries no credit hours, but allows you to maintain access to various campus resources, including the library and computer labs. Your transcript will show a "DE" ("deferred") grade for ENG 599 until your thesis has been successfully defended and all the paperwork processed. This grade does not affect your GPA.

The Committee

Establishing a committee comes first, and the first step in this process is selecting a committee chair. Typically your thesis committee chair will be a professor with whom you have taken at least one class, who has expertise in your intended field of research, and with whom you have a very good working relationship. It is standard procedure for the student to approach the faculty member directly (and preferably in person) about serving as committee chair.

Once your committee chair is in place, you need to line up the other members of the committee. Thesis committees must consist of at least three faculty members. It is not necessary for three members of the committee to be from the Department of English, but all three members must be SIUE faculty. If you wish to add a faculty member from another university, that person will have to be a fourth committee member.

Selecting the other members of your thesis committee is best done in consultation with the committee chair. You will probably have some sense of faculty members you wish to work with, but your chair may be able to suggest other possibilities. You and and your thesis will be best served by having a committee whose members have expertise that is at least close to your intended research area.

Some thesis committee chairs may wish to approach these other potential committee members themselves, while others will encourage you to make that contact directly. Each particular situation is different, and depends upon a number of variables. What is most important, in this matter and throughout the entire thesis process, is that your committee chair be kept closely informed.

Once a committee has been established, the next step is to discuss your project with your committee. Ideally, you and your chair will have several discussions or email exchanges in which you begin to refine and focus your thesis project, and it is most helpful if your entire committee is involved at some point. A successful thesis experience involves many things, and one of those is having committee members who are never surprised and who never feel left out.

The Prospectus

While the Department does not require students to submit a formal Prospectus, and while at no point during the process do you need any approvals from the Department Chair or Director of Graduate Studies, it is likely that your committee will require you to write a Prospectus (typically these are about 5 pages long) and perhaps produce a Bibliography as a way of establishing the necessary focus and definition of your project.

Registration of Thesis Title

Once the Prospectus has been approved by your committee and/or they have otherwise signaled their approval of the project, you are ready to complete the Registration of Thesis Title form, available online at http://www.siue.edu/GRADUATE/student/forms/REGTHES.pdf. This form is due in Graduate Records the first day of the semester in which you plan to defend your thesis unless you are planning to do all of your thesis research, writing, and coursework in one term (rarely a good idea), you should complete and submit this form as soon as you have your committee assembled. Specific deadline dates may be found on page http://www.siue.edu/ENGLISH/Grad/grad_deadlines.pdf.

The Registration of Thesis form requires you to supply the title of your thesis, among other things, so make sure that your title is chosen wisely: should you later decide to change it, this form will need to be filled out and submitted again. You will also need to have all members of your committee sign the form. You do not need to submit a Prospectus or a Bibliography as part of the Registration of Thesis Title form.

This form also requires that you explain the "Nature of Research" in your project. For most graduate students in TESL this is likely to have a "field work" component. If you are going to travel to conduct research, indicate that as well. As for the requirement that you explain your "information gathering method and sources," that's usually covered by explaining that you'll be using the library and inter-library loan. Of course indicate any other methods or procedures you'll be using.

Note: If you indicate that you will be interviewing (even by email) people as part of your research, your project will fall under the "human subjects" provision; if you are studying classroom behavior or teaching styles, you will of course be using "human subjects." If your project uses human subjects in any capacity -- and the Graduate School interprets this phrase very broadly -- you will have to fill out a number of additional forms and take online training. For more information on this requirement, please contact Linda Skeltonat lskelto@siue.edu.

Once the Registration of Thesis Title form is complete, submit it to the Department's Director of Graduate Studies, who will then pass it along to the Graduate School.

The Work in Progress

Once your committee is in place and you've registered your thesis title, you're ready to begin work. While the specifics will vary, it is expected that you will meet with your committee chair, if not the entire committee, on a regular basis. Again, a successful thesis-writing experience is one that has no surprises. Maintain regular contact with your chair and committee members, making sure they are receiving drafts of your materials and that they are seeing how you are responding to and incorporating their suggestions.

As you work on your thesis, review the Graduate School's Guidelines for the Preparation of a Thesis at http://www.siue.edu/GRADUATE/student/forms/ThesisGuidelines.pdf, which provides some general guidelines and, most importantly, all of the layout and mechanical requirements of the final thesis. The Graduate School is strict about holding theses to the requirements spelled out in this document; careful reading of it is not optional.

Finishing Up  

Here is what you will need to do to complete the thesis process, once you and your committee have agreed that your thesis has reached final form and is ready to be defended.

To meet Graduate School requirements, you will need to have filed for graduation at the beginning of the term in which you plan to graduate, which is typically the semester in which you will be defending your thesis.

The Thesis Defense

You and your entire committee will need to agree upon a date and time for the thesis defense. Typically these last one hour.

After determining a suitable date, you or (more typically) your thesis advisor will notify the Department's Director of Graduate Studies of the proposed thesis defense; the Director will then reserve a room for the defense. (Defenses are commonly held either in seminar classrooms or in conference rooms in the offices of the Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences, on the 3rd floor of Peck Hall.) Thesis defenses are open to the public, and may be attended by the Director of Graduate Studies, the Department Chair, other interested faculty, and other graduate students. In fact, you may want to consider attending a defense sometime before your own, to better get a feel for the process; talk with your committee chair about this.

A typical thesis defense will begin with a brief (10 to 15 minute) presentation by the candidate of his or her research findings; this is essentially a summary of the thesis, although it may cover other topics as well. This is followed, usually, by a question-and-answer period for the remainder of the hour.

Two Critical Forms

Once your thesis advisor has notified the Director of Graduate Studies, the Director will (after reserving a room) prepare a "Summary of Completion Form" and give it to your thesis advisor. This is a critical piece of paperwork.

You should also obtain, fill in, and print out the "Thesis Approval Form," which is required by the Graduate School to be part of your submitted final thesis draft. You will want to print this form on the same high-quality "bond" paper on which you plan to print (or copy) your thesis, per the Graduate School's requirement. Take the form to your defense and, if all goes well, ask your committee members to sign it when they sign the "Summary of Completion" form. This will save you the trouble of trying to track down your committee members again later. The "Thesis Approval Form" may be downloaded from the Graduate Studies and Research Electronic Forms page: http://www.siue.edu/GRADUATE/faculty/gsforms.html.

Please Note: two weeks before your scheduled thesis defense, you must place a copy of your completed thesis in the English Department office, where it is available for review by English faculty and students. One copy of the thesis (on standard quality paper) is due in the Graduate Records office one week prior to the end of finals week; this copy will be checked for format and you will be notified of the need for any changes. For more on Graduate School formatting requirements, see below.

Once a defense is successfully completed, the committee will sign the "Summary of Completion Form" which the Director of Graduate Studies will have previously filled out and given to your committee chair. This form, which is critical in the bureaucratic processing of degree completion, must be returned to the Director of Graduate Studies for a signature and further processing. The "Thesis Approval Form" should also be signed at this time.

It is fairly common for students to be instructed, at the defense, to make further minor changes to the thesis. Once those emendations are made, confirm their satisfactory completion with your committee or committee chair before submitting the finished thesis (two copies: one on high-quality "bond" paper and the other on standard quality paper) to the Graduate School. Be sure to read carefully and follow scrupulously the Guidelines for the Preparation of a Thesis when preparing and submitting your thesis: http://www.siue.edu/GRADUATE/student/forms/ThesisGuidelines.pdf.

Once the final thesis is submitted to and accepted by the Graduate School, the thesis part of your M. A. program is complete. Final granting of the degree will follow the resolving of any issues noted on your graduation check, including the completion of any outstanding requirements (such as a DE grade from ENG 599).

Graduate Student Deadlines