Second Language Studies Ph.D.

The Second Language Studies concentration within the School of Education Ph.D. Program prepares students to be researchers and teacher-researchers of second/foreign language acquisition, psycholinguistics, sociolinguistics, bilingualism, and assessment who work in regional, national, or international universities or in other educational institutions and corporations. The program of study engages Ph.D. students in rigorous theory- and research-based exploration of various contributors/factors that impact second/foreign language learning and teaching, from early childhood through adulthood, with emphasis on cognitive development, social opportunities, and educational access.

Ph.D. students in the Second Language Studies concentration receive rigorous training through coursework, individualized mentored research experience, and other professional development activities such as conference presentations and scholarly publications.  Through intensive scientific training, students acquire and consolidate knowledge and skills essential for critical evaluation of existing knowledge and development of new knowledge in second language studies. Ph.D. students are expected to be active members of scholarly communities at regional, national, and international levels through their contribution to and leadership in the field.

Research Experience

Second Language Studies Ph.D. students also have opportunities to gain research experience through various programs and research centers in the School of Education and across the University. There are also ample opportunities to gain teaching experience through the Center for English as a Second Language, ELS, and several other English language institutes, schools, and programs in the region.

An SLS Ph.D. student’s advisor will be a faculty member of the Second Language Studies concentration.  Under the supervision of a faculty advisory committee, students design programs of study that suit their unique research interests, expertise, and professional goals. This can be achieved through a combination of required courses and electives. At least one year of the program of study must be completed through full time study. 

Program & Application Requirements
Headshot of Haiyang Ai

Haiyang Ai

Assoc Professor, CECH Literacy & Second Language Studies

615P Teachers College

Haiyang Ai is an Associate Professor in the Literacy and Second Language Studies program in the School of Education at the University of Cincinnati. As an applied corpus linguist, he has focused his scholarship on compiling, annotating, and analyzing native and learner corpus, and exploiting natural language processing techniques in developing intelligent computer-assisted language learning systems and computational tools to facilitate investigation of important theoretical constructs such as lexical and syntactic complexity in second language writing and second language acquisition, as well as language processing in bilingual speakers. He has published in a variety of scholarly journals, including Journal of Second Language Writing, ReCALL, Language Testing, World Englishes, Language and Sociocultural Theory, Journal of Psycholinguistic Research, Foreign Language Annals, International Journal of Learner Corpus Research, Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology, and International Journal of Asian Language Processing.
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Hye Pae

Professor (F2), CECH Literacy & Second Language Studies

615R Teachers College

Hye K. Pae, Ph.D. is a Professor of Psycholinguistics and Applied Linguistics in the Literacy and Second Language Studies program at the University of Cincinnati (UC). She received her doctorate from Georgia State University. Her research interests center on psycholinguistics, second-language acquisition, bilingualism, prevention of and intervention for reading difficulties, assessment challenges across cultures, and reading disabilities in children and adult learners. She is particularly interested in psychometric properties of measurement tools, L1 effects on L2 reading acquisition, dual-language processing, and assessment.  She has published numerous research articles in SSCI journals, such as Assessment, Annals of Dyslexia, Journal of Research in Reading, Language Assessment Quarterly, Reading and Writing: An Interdisciplinary Journal, and more, as well as authored and edited books.  Her research in bilingualism and biliteracy has been expanded with collaborative work in Korea.  She is currently serving as Faculty Director for the TESOL Endorsement Program. 
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Dong-shin Shin

Assoc Professor, CECH Literacy & Second Language Studies

Teachers College

513-556-2332

Dong-shin Shin is an associate professor in the Literacy and Second Language Studies program. She earned a doctorate (Language, Literacy, and Culture program) from University of Massachusetts Amherst. Adopting sociocultural perspectives on language, literacy, and learning, she investigates the literacy development of English language learners in the contexts of digital literacies and socialization practices. She conducts research on academic writing and disciplinary literacies that draws on systemic functional linguistics. She is also interested in researching multimodal writing and language teacher development. Her work has appeared in Bilingual Research Journal, Computers and Composition, Journal of International and Intercultural Communication, Journal of Second Language Writing, Language and Education, Language Learning & Technology, CALICO Journal, The Urban Review, Written Communication, and others. For full publications, check this site.
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Fengyang Ma

Assoc Professor - Educator (F2), CECH Center for English as a Second Lang

610C Teachers College

Dr. Fengyang Ma is currently an associate professor - Educator in the Center for English as a Second Language in the School of Education at University of Cincinnati. She was awarded her Ph.D. degree in Foreign Languages and Literatures from Tsinghua University. She then received her post-doctoral training at the Center for Langauge Science at Pennsylvania State University. Her research interests center on the Psycholinguistic investigation of bilingualism. She is interested in examining different aspects of bilingual lexical processing with both behavioral and Neuroscience techniques, including event-related potentials (ERPs) and functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI).
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