Welcome to Second Language Studies Ph.D Program at MSU

Second Language Studies is an interdisciplinary Doctoral Degree Program in the Applied Linguistics Program within the Department of Linguistics, Languages, and Cultures in the College of Arts & Letters. Along with the SLS Ph.D. Program, the TESOL Program is also within the Applied Linguistics Program. The TESOL Program offers a Minor and a MA. The SLS Ph.D. Degree Program is for researchers and teacher-researchers interested in second language acquisition (SLA) and applied linguistics, and how those fields intersect with bilingualism, corpus linguistics, sociolinguistics, psycholinguistics, educational linguistics, pragmatics, and language assessment. If you have questions or want to join the SLS Ph.D. Program, contact us! Paula Winke, SLS Program Director winke@msu.edu

Core Faculty

Affiliated Faculty

Students

Alumni

Events

Visiting Scholars

Fulbright Scholar

Our faculty committee reviews select Visiting Scholar applications from the Fulbright Program.

Faculty Invite

We invite visitors to work on specific projects with SLS faculty. These scholars come through arrangements with individual SLS faculty members, and are officially hosted by the member’s home unit (LiLaC, RCS, or the ELC).

International Visitors

Come join us for an entire year! Be a “Visiting International Professional” through the Second Language Studies Specialized Global Professional Educational Program.

Visiting Scholars

Fullbright Scholar

Our faculty committee reviews select visiting scholar applications from the Fulbright program.

Faculty Invite

We invite visitors to work on specific projects or to share their research. These scholars come through individual arrangements with faculty.

Unsolicited Applications

Faculty welcomes unsolicited applications through the SLS Ambassador Visiting Scholar (AVS) Program

SLS Weekly Digest

The SLS Weekly Digest is an email regarding job postings, conference information, calls for papers and publications.

MSU's "Working Papers in SLS" Journal

“Working Papers in SLS” is an online, peer-reviewed journal dedicated to the broad fields of second language studies, second language acquisition, applied linguistics, TESOL, and their related disciplines. Visit the journal to learn more.

featured News

Dylan Burton explores how language learners’ non-verbal behaviors during speaking tests might influence the scores the evaluators assign them

Dylan Burton joined Michigan State University’s Second Language Studies (SLS) program in May of 2019 after 15 years working in the field of language teaching and assessment in Europe and East Asia. He worked in a number of roles, including language education, teacher training, test development, speaking and writing examining, conference planning, and assessment policy […]

Yingzhao Chen explores how language learners use interactive tools to best learn new vocabulary when reading online

Yingzhao Chen joined Michigan State University’s Second Language Studies (SLS) program in Fall 2018 with a focus on interdisciplinary research centered around second language learning and processing, as well as cross-linguistic influence. She is particularly interested in what types of instruction improve vocabulary learning and how the types of instruction may impact the lexical representations […]

Robert Randez’s research focuses on the learning of languages and the development of agency and identity by neurodivergent multilingual children

Robert Randez, a fourth-year student in Michigan State University’s Second Language Studies (SLS) PhD program, is an educational linguist interested in the experiences of neurodivergent multilinguals and those who teach them. Prior to joining the SLS program, Robert received his BA and MA from the University of Texas at San Antonio, and has taught learners […]