SLS-related questions
What kind of jobs do people with SLS degrees get? (and where can I find them?)
As you know, we have two undergraduate minors, a BA, an MA, and a PhD program. Holders of these degrees tend to get different jobs or similar jobs at different levels.
SLS Minors
Students majoring in languages or area studies may choose an SLS minor if their post-graduation interest is in working in a country connected to that language or area. The minor in language teaching provides an overview of skills and a knowledge base of language learning that allows you to find a job teaching English or another language to learners of any age and proficiency level.
BA
Considering teaching first: BA degree holders are highly eligible for positions in domestic and international language schools, cram schools, k-12 private schools (with multilingual students), JET/EPIK programs, Peace Corps and similar international volunteer programs. If they also acquire state licensure in an area like TESOL, then of course they may find employment in k-12 public and or state schools.
There are also opportunities in any employment sectors that require multilingual and multicultural abilities and awareness, and serve multilingual populations, whether immigrants or tourists or anything in between, most obviously business enterprises that have an international dimension.
And finally, in our case at least one-third of our students quickly go on to seek higher degrees, entering related graduate programs.
MA
Similar responses apply to MA holders; many of our MA graduates have found employment in domestic and international language schools, immigrant service programs, but in addition, the entire post-secondary sector, with its international students, domestic (1.5 generation) students with academic English needs, has been a natural home for many of our MA graduates. The MA degree plays out particularly well in the US community college sector, and also those parts of the international higher education sector that do not require a PhD. International higher education around the globe, has obvious needs for specialists in second or additional languages in a wide variety of positions. This quickly reaches beyond the classroom, to curriculum development, materials writing, program design and eventually administration, including student services and recruitment (at least).
PhD
As the full list of alumni of our PhD program (active since 1988) shows, graduates with a PhD degree usually find employment in conventional academic positions in universities (again, around the world). Perhaps recent years have demonstrated that beyond academia, positions exist in language-related parts of the private sector (DuoLingo, ETS), or in roles in universities that draw on research skills but are not conventionally professorial, such as program evaluation and institutional research.
What is Second Language Studies?
SLS is an exciting interdisciplinary field which studies a wide range of theoretical and practical issues related to learning, using, and teaching second and foreign languages, in local and global contexts and societies. For more information, read about the SLS major.
Is this major only for people who want to teach English?
Absolutely not. In coursework in our Department, English is often drawn upon or used to refer to issues in the learning, teaching or use of second languages that are shared across languages. However, many SLS students do presentations, lesson plans, and other projects with a focus on other languages of interest to them. We take the position that much in the use, teaching and learning of additional languages is not language-specific. The knowledge gained during the course of your degree will be applicable to second languages in general. Many students in the Department of SLS go on to teach and work with a variety of second and foreign languages both within the U.S. and abroad.
How is a degree in SLS different from a degree in TESOL (Teaching English to speakers of other languages)?
Unlike a degree in TESOL, SLS is not limited only to English, nor is it limited to teaching. Throughout the course of obtaining a degree in SLS, students engage in a broader understanding of second languages, including how people acquire languages, the role of multiculturalism, intercultural communication, how technology and language interact, identity and second languages, and more. Of course, majors in SLS also have plenty of opportunities to learn how to be effective language teachers and learners.
What is the difference between TESOL and SLS?
TESOL means Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages. It is almost identical to TESL (Teaching English as a Second Language) and TEFL (Teaching English as a Foreign Language), taken together. TESOL and SLS share the short-hand use of “second”. In this case, ʻsecondʻ is short for second, foreign, additional, heritage, auxiliary and (in some cases) indigenous. TESOL is a very widely used term, but its most obvious difference from SLS is the “E”, that is, English, and its apparent tighter focus, on ʻteachingʻ. Actually, TESOL as a field does depend on a knowledge of how English is not only taught but also used and learned. Thus it overlaps or is overlapped by, Second Language Studies, which likewise is interested in how an additional language is learned, taught, and used (not to mention analyzed). But SLS simply does not confine itself to a single language, English. Admittedly, SLS is not as widely used a term as TESOL.
Is SLS similar to Applied Linguistics?
Yes, in many ways. Applied Linguistics is usually defined as the application of studies of languages to real-world problems. This takes in less well-known areas of applied linguistics such as “forensic linguistics”, the study of language and the law, and how second language users in courtrooms are often at a disadvantage, for example.
What other terms relate to this area?
While remembering that SLS goes way beyond teaching (considering use, learning, and analysis), and does not confine itself to any one language, nevertheless here are some related but narrower terms and fields:
ELT, which stands for English Language Teaching. But it really means teaching English in cases where it is an additional, second, or foreign language. It is perhaps more widely used in parts of the world where instruction in English as an additional language is influenced by British publishers and researchers more than US ones (though the US-based publishing house Routledge uses it in US titles).
TEAL: Teaching English as an Additional Language is a term that is becoming more popular recently, perhaps particularly in Canada.
LOTE: Languages Other Than English. This occurs in various places, including Australia, to refer to the teaching, research, and study of additional (second, world, heritage, possibly indigenous) languages. So it is the language-specific parts of applied linguistics that concern any languages other than English… which means that Second Language Studies must overlap with LOTE.
Multilingual Learners. If you have arrived at this website because of a search involving the term multilingual learners, welcome and we hope you find a home here. This is a newer term that has come into use particularly in k-12 settings, to replace the older terms ESL and LEP. Second language users and learners in school settings arrive here from elsewhere, and bring in preexisting strengths that their monolingual fellow-students do not have. So this should be recognized. They are not in any obvious way deficient, and it should be acknowledged that they are multilingually competent, or developing as such. One of our courses, SLS 408, uses the word multilingual in its title (Multilingual Education) and has these kind of students in mind, as well as the larger world. Multilingualism should be considered the default setting, and goes hand in hand with Second Language Studies.