Dr. Laurel Stvan presenting on nominal determination at a 2006 conference in Ottawa

Department of Linguistics & TESOL | The University of Texas at Arlington

Student Advising:

Basic Information about Exams

To find out the date when the exam will be given, go to the News page. There you'll also find details about exam informational meetings and forms that must be submitted in preparation for the exam.

Description of the Examination

The examination is a closed-book (no notes), typed essay exam. You will have 6 hours total for the exam.

Objectives of the Examination

The objective of the M.A. comprehensive examination (i.e., for both Linguistics and TESOL graduate students) and the Ph.D. Diagnostic examination is to determine whether graduate students entering their final semesters before graduation or, in the case of doctoral students, before advancing to more focused doctoral studies, have developed a "Working Expertise" in their fields of study (Apple & Krumsieg 2001). "Working Expertise" is defined as a graduate student's ability to:

  1. analyze the specific aspects of a problematic issue or question in the three content areas of the comprehensive examination (e.g., language in context, TESOL pedagogy, etc.);
  2. synthesize information acquired within and across these content areas (i.e., identify linkages between common concepts, themes, questions, and issues), developing well-supported and well-reasoned generalizations or conclusions with regard to that problematic question or issue; and,
  3. articulate such generalizations or conclusions effectively to a broadly defined audience of language professionals with diverse areas of interests and background knowledge in fields of study related to linguistics and TESOL.

Parts of the Linguistics Examination

For both the M.A. Comprehensive and Ph.D. Diagnostic Examination in Linguistics, these are the three content areas, along with the some of the relevant courses upon which you might draw to answer exam questions. You will be given a choice of two questions in each content area, from which you will select one and write your response.

Sound Structure
  • LING 5300 (Linguistic Analysis)
  • LING 5307 (Pedagogical Phonology of English)
  • LING 5320 (Phonological Theory)
  • LING 5321 (Advanced Phonological Theory)
  • LING 5322 (Laboratory Phonology)
  • LING 5334 (Morphology)
  • LING 5370 (Survey of Linguistic Theories)
Meaning and Use
  • LING 5347 (Pragmatics)
  • LING 5332 (Discourse Grammar)
  • LING 5345 (Semantics)
  • LING 5350 (Text Analysis)
  • LING 5351 (Spoken Discourse)
Grammatical Structure
  • LING 5300 (Linguistic Analysis)
  • LING 5330 (Formal Syntax)
  • LING 5331 (Advanced Formal Syntax)
  • LING 5334 (Morphology)
  • LING 5332 (Discourse Grammar)
  • LING 5333 (Functional Typological Grammar)
  • LING 5370 (Survey of Linguistic Theories)

Parts of the TESOL Examination

For the M.A. TESOL Comprehensive Examination, these are the three content areas, along with the some of the relevant courses upon which you might draw to answer exam questions. You will be given a choice of two questions in each content area, from which you will select one and write your response.

Linguistic Analysis
  • LING 5300 (Linguistic Analysis)
  • LING 5304 (Pedagogical Grammar)
  • LING 5307 (Pedagogical Phonology)
  • LING 5350 (Text Analysis), etc.
Second Language Acquisition
  • LING 5305 (Second Language Acquisition)
  • LING 5303 (Interlanguage Analysis)
  • LING 5347 (Pragmatics), etc.
TESOL Methodology
  • LING 5301 (TESOL Methods I)
  • LING 5302 (TESOL Methods II)
  • LING 5304 (Pedagogical Grammar)
  • LING 5307 (Pedagogical Phonology)
  • LING 5306 (Curriculum Design), etc.

NOTE: While there is at least one course you've taken in each of the content areas, the exam, indeed, is meant to be comprehensive, so you should consider incorporating information from anywhere in the whole of your graduate career if it relates to a topic, even including outside readings that you might have done. For example, in answering your Linguistic Analysis question, you might think of an example or a bit of data from your course in phonology, your course in non-Western languages, second language acquisition, your TESOL practicum observations, or even data from your own research – if it is relevant.

Evaluation/Grading of Examinee Responses

The questions will be jointly written by all the linguistics faculty. Exam raters may be drawn from the Linguistics faculty and from outside the department but from fields of study related to linguistics and TESOL who are familiar with the specific content areas. Your exams will be graded anonymously.

The raters will give each question one of the following grades:

F (fail)

LP (low pass)

P (pass)

HP (high pass)

Each of the three questions you answer will be equally weighted.

The following two paragraphs give the grading scheme used in previous years (when the exam had four parts instead of three). The exam grading system is currently under revision.

To pass the M.A. comprehensive exam, you must earn no more that 2 fails on any one question and no more than 3 fails total.

To pass the Ph.D. comprehensive exam, of the 12 evaluations received for the entire examination (i.e. three evaluations for each of the three sections), at least 8 must be either Pass or High Pass; moreover, no more that 1 of the 12 evaluations may be a Fail.

See the Evaluation Rubric that Raters Use in Scoring Your Exam (on the Exams FAQ page).

When scores are officially released, students will make an appointment with the graduate advisor for a short conference. Paperwork related to the exam will be handled by the Linguistics & TESOL office.

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