Mar 29, 2024  
Graduate Catalog | 2020-2021 
    
Graduate Catalog | 2020-2021 Previous Edition

Applied Linguistics, Graduate Certificate


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The Graduate Certificate in Applied Linguistics enables professionals to focus and solidify or update their work with language teaching, with applications in the language industry, or with research.  The coursework leading to this certificate grounds the participants in theory and practice, providing linguistic expertise to anyone with related degrees and professional aspirations, and helping to prepare students for work in diverse professions, including:

  • Intelligence gathering
  • Human-machine interfaces (improving text-to-speech, speech recognition, and integrating language processing and real-world knowledge)
  • Profiling
  • Data mining
  • Therapy
  • Standardization of industrial terminology
  • Localization of international products for a specific market or culture
  • Forensics
  • Translation/interpreting

Even in jobs that are not primarily language-oriented, this certificate can help students develop important market skills:

  • Increased pragmatic awareness - the skill of recognizing how language works in social contexts, including how different cultures handle verbal behaviors such as requests, negotiations, conventions of politeness, and persuasion.
  • Application - the ability to make the connection between theoretical knowledge and putting it to effective use, such as understanding how social power imposes specific constraints on grammar, word choice, and pronunciation.
  • Clarity - the mastery of tailoring a message e towards a specific audience with maximum impact, including subliminal techniques (e.g. in advertising).
  • Pattern extraction - the knowledge of how to identify and find specific patterns in very large bodies of data.
  • Explication - understanding the difference between inductive modeling and deductive hypothesis forming, and the interplay between them.

This certificate is good for students interested in how people are swayed by framing a narrative one way or another, how to prepare materials for adult learners of language, how speech is produced, or how it is learned.  It is also a good complement to several master’s degree programs at UNC Charlotte such as psychology, computer science, or anthropology.

Admission Requirements


  • Statement of purpose
  • Three letters of recommendation (preferably from professors)
  • Writing sample
  • GPA 2.75 or higher

Transfer credits are not accepted in this certificate program. 

Certificate Requirements


The Graduate Certificate in Linguistics requires 15 credit hours in approved courses, including a minimum of 6 credit hours at the 6000-level.  All coursework must be completed within five years from the time of first enrollment in a certificate course.

Students can orient their program towards either applied linguistics or the study of second-language research.  Appropriate substitutions from other graduate programs on campus (i.e., not transfer credits) can be authorized by the Graduate Program Director of Applied Linguistics in the Department of English (if different) and by the director of the M.A. emphasis in Applied Linguistics.  They will also act as advisors to those enrolled in this certificate program.

Students seeking licensure for the teaching of English at levels K-12 should consult the College of Education.

Total = 15 Credit Hours


Grade Requirements


Students must earn a B or above in all courses presented to the certificate.

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