Table of Contents
All information in the PhD guide, below, is specific to the LLS program for doctoral studies.
Doctoral Seminar
Doctoral Seminars are experiences you’ll have across your years in the program. They typically occur monthly. Topics include community building gatherings; preparing for reviews, exams and dissertation; conducting academic research, writing and publishing academic articles; wellness; critical issues in academia; and preparation for life in academia. At some point during your program, we expect you’ll join other students and faculty as part of the planning committee for Doctoral Seminar. All seminars are planned by a committee consisting of one or more faculty members and 3-5 doctoral students.
Language and Literacy Program Reviews
The Language and Literacy studies (LLS) program reviews are checkpoints designed to help you and the faculty ensure you are on track to successfully complete the program, and that you are prepared to teach at the university level, conduct independent research, and meet your personal career goals.
For each review, students will prepare a set of materials to guide the conversation. See the descriptions in each section, and use previous student materials as a guide. (You may ask more advanced students for physical or electronic copies of their portfolios.) Arrange a meeting with your assigned LLS faculty advisor for advice on preparing for each review and your portfolio. You should turn in a draft of your review materials to your assigned LLS faculty advisor at least three weeks before the date of the review. Your advisor will provide you with feedback. Turn in your final materials in electronic form to your faculty advisor at least one week before the review. Your advisor will forward your materials to the LLS faculty. The LLS program’s graduate advisor will send out a notice to students about the reviews schedule each semester. (If you don’t receive a message, please contact the advisor). It is ultimately your responsibility to sign up for reviews in a timely fashion. Here is the timeline:
New Student Check-in: End of the first semester of coursework
First Review: As soon as possible after completing 18 hours of coursework
Mid-Program Review: After completing between 27 and 36 hours of coursework
Comprehensive Exams: After completion of coursework, in the final semester of coursework, or with one course remaining
New Student Check-in with the Language and Literacy Faculty
The New Student Check-in will occur at the end of the first semester of coursework in the doctoral program, and is required of all first year students.
Purpose and Procedure
The purpose of the New Student Check-in is for you to meet face-to-face with all LLS faculty at a scheduled time to: a) discuss your goals within the program and to take a status check on the first semester; b) explain faculty goals for your involvement in research; and c) clarify expectations in both directions. The check-in will be scheduled for 15 minutes during which you will start with a two-minute overview of your materials. Meet with your assigned LLS faculty advisor and prepare the following materials:
Portfolio Contents
Vita
A list of current courses and professors, and those planned for the upcoming semester
Brief revised statement of purpose for entering the program, including goals for studying in this program and burgeoning curiosities/research interests (up to two double-spaced pages).
A brief statement (a paragraph or so) of participation in Doctoral Seminar.
Possible Outcomes
You will have an opportunity to share your experiences thus far in the program, ask questions, meet the faculty, receive advice on coursework, and be introduced to various research, teaching, and other professional opportunities in the program.
First Review
This 20 minutes review should take place as soon as possible after you have completed 18 semester hours of coursework. Before the First Review, you should have completed:
(a) 18 hours of coursework with no grade lower than a B; (b) at least one course in research methodology at The University of Texas; (c) at least one course with a Language and Literacy faculty member
Purpose and Procedure
The purpose of this review is to assess your progress in coursework and in ongoing research and teaching activity. At this review, you will talk about your academic interests, your research and teaching experiences thus far, and your goals for the program and the future. Through your portfolio contents and the oral review, we expect you to be able to articulate clearly your purposes, interests, and learning in subject matter. You should be able to discuss theorists, researchers, ideas, and topics across language and literacy and other coursework areas that have become important in your thinking so far. The faculty will suggest courses and experiences based on the expectations of the program combined with your personal interests. If you are currently enrolled as a part-time student, we will discuss with you a strategic plan for a residency of at least one year. During the semesters leading up to the First Review, you should take research methods coursework as outlined in the program of work, and become involved in research activity, such as through working on faculty research projects. You should also seek out ways to gain college teaching experience including, for example, being a teaching assistant for a language and literacy class.
Portfolio Contents
Vita
List of courses and professors enrolled with thus far and those planned for the upcoming semester
Revised statement of purpose for entering the program with a discussion of coursework, research, teaching, and other experiences that have contributed to your learning, thinking, and development thus far as a scholar and teacher educator. Also include a brief description of participation in doctoral seminar. The statement should not exceed five double-spaced pages.
After the First Review you will receive a brief letter from your faculty advisor reviewing the faculty response to their meeting with you and your materials. Below is the possible range of responses from the faculty.
Possible Outcomes
Progressing in the program as expected. The faculty will applaud your progress thus far but may also recommend future coursework, research, and teaching activities and experiences that you will benefit from pursuing.
Progressing in the program adequately but with some modifications recommended. The faculty will applaud your areas of progress and make specific recommendations about coursework, research, and teaching experiences for the coming academic year. This outcome indicates that your progress is adequate and that the faculty have specific advice about the direction of your program.
Progress in the program is unsatisfactory. The faculty will note areas of specific concern about your progress and performance in the program and will make recommendations for significant modifications within a specified time period. The Graduate Advisor of the Curriculum and Instruction Department will be notified, and you will be asked to repeat the First Review after completing the faculty’s recommendations. If the second attempt at First Review is not satisfactory, the faculty may recommend to the Graduate School that you be dismissed from the program, in accordance with the guidelines in the University Student Catalogue.
Mid-Program Review
This 30 minutes review will be scheduled for no later than one year and one long semester from the First Review. To participate in the Mid-Program Review, you should have completed between 27 and 36 hours of coursework.
Leading up to the Mid-Program review, use every opportunity in coursework selection to explore your areas of professional interest. That is, start to focus your work so you can be thinking toward an area of specialization and a dissertation topic. Develop these interests by engaging in independent studies and engaging with faculty members who are doing research of interest to you (through participating in their research projects as well as through doing your own directed research projects that they supervise).
Purpose and Procedure
The Mid-Program Review allows faculty to monitor, evaluate, and further guide your progress in the doctoral program. During the Mid-Program review, you will discuss with the faculty your coursework, teaching, and research experiences, presenting evidence that you have engaged in research and learning beyond course requirements and have taken steps toward independence as a teacher educator and research scholar. That evidence will be drawn from a range of materials you will compile in a portfolio (see below) and from our conversation during your review. By the time of your Mid-Program Review, you should have begun to develop a focus for your dissertation, and will have the opportunity at that meeting to discuss your ideas.
By this point in your doctoral program, we expect that you will have engaged in research- related activities, including scholarly writing. These activities will include at least some of the following: (a) contribute to work in a research team, (b) pursue your own ideas for extending a faculty study in which you have been involved, (c) plan and carry out your own study, (d) refine class papers for submission to a journal, (e) submit a proposal to a conference, (f) become familiar with regulations covering Research on Human Subjects. (If you conduct a study, you will need approval.) See http://www.utexas.edu/research/rsc/humanresearch/
Portfolio Contents
Vita
List of courses and professors enrolled in thus far and planned for the upcoming semester
A statement discussing coursework, research, teaching, and other experiences that have contributed to your learning, thinking, and development thus far as a scholar and teacher educator, and that are advancing your career goals. Include a discussion of your research experiences since you started the program, addressing all aspects of research and how your ideas have changed as a result of your coursework and research experiences. The statement should provide evidence you are thinking beyond coursework and research with faculty and beginning to develop (and plan and pursue) your own research interests. Describe and explain your thoughts about the topic and methodology for your dissertation. This document should not exceed five double-spaced pages.
Research Materials. In addition to your statement, please include a list of the artifacts that display developing independence as a researcher/scholar and writer (you do not have to include the artifacts themselves.). Your list would include items that might not show up on your CV. The list should include:
Conference proposals, presentations, and/or papers
Manuscripts (research-based or conceptual) submitted for publication or in the preparation phase
Published papers (if you have them)
IRB proposal(s) under consideration, or accepted
Class papers that you have “taken to the next level” (i.e., refined with the help of a faculty member and submitted to a journal)
*For any published papers, manuscripts, conference proposals or papers on which you are co-author or co-presenter with faculty, you should explain the nature of your involvement and contributions to those pieces of work.
A brief statement of participation in Doctoral Seminar (no more than one double-spaced page)
Possible Outcomes
After the Mid-Program Review, you will receive a letter from your faculty advisor, summarizing the response to your materials and the review meeting. The range of possible responses from the faculty is described below:
Progressing in the program as expected. The faculty will applaud your progress to date and may also make recommendations for courses and specific research experiences that may help you to prepare for your dissertation, and for teaching or other professional experiences that will advance your career goals.
Progressing in the program adequately but with some modifications recommended. The faculty will applaud your areas of progress and make specific recommendations about coursework and research experiences you need to complete to prepare for the dissertation, teaching, or other professional experiences you should pursue to advance your career goals.
Progress in the program is unsatisfactory. The faculty will note areas of specific concern about your progress and performance in the program and will make recommendations for significant modifications to be completed within a specified time period. The Graduate Advisor of the Curriculum and Instruction Department will be notified, and you will be asked to repeat the Mid-Program Review after completing the faculty’s recommendations. If the second attempt at Mid-Program Review is not satisfactory, the faculty may recommend to the Graduate School that you be dismissed from the program in accordance with the guidelines stated in the University of Texas Student Catalog.
Candidacy Examination
To be admitted for candidacy for the Ph.D., students are evaluated by the Area faculty through written exams followed by a scheduled oral defense of the written exams.
Scheduling
You are eligible to schedule an examination after completing coursework, in the final semester of coursework or if one course is remaining. (That course will likely be completed in the next long semester). You should schedule the exam (written and oral) no longer than one semester after coursework is completed. You are responsible for attending course meetings as a student during the week of the exam.
Purposes
Evaluate your understanding of theories, research, and instructional practices pertinent to the field of language and literacy education; and
Evaluate your understanding of the processes of research related to the field of language and literacy education.
Candidacy Examination Committee Constituency
The Candidacy Examination committee will consist of the Dissertation Chair, selected by the student, and two other faculty members with the following stipulations.
The Chair must be a faculty member in the Language and Literacy Program Area. You will select the Chair for your exam committee soon after the successful completion of the mid-program review.
The Area Coordinator will assign the other two members of the committee. This assignment will be determined based on a rotation of faculty to committees. The Chair will initiate this process by requesting the assignment of the two additional committee members.
When you have received notice of the three faculty members serving on the Candidacy Examination Committee, you will pick up from the Graduate Coordinator in Education Building 406 the following two forms: 1) Intent to Take C&I Doctoral Candidacy Exam, and 2) Program of Work. The Intent form asks for a listing of the names of the Candidacy Examinations Committee members. Both the Intent form and the Program of Work should be returned to the Graduate Coordinator before qualifying exams.
Components of the Candidacy Examination
The Candidacy Examination for the Language and Literacy Program Area is designed to assess your understanding of the field of language and literacy education. It has two parts, the written exam and oral defense. The Oral Defense is designed to give you the opportunity to expand on your thinking and give the faculty an opportunity to explore more fully the concepts presented in your written exam.
Areas of Focus
The Exam has five major areas:
Theoretical Perspectives on Literacy: Theories commonly drawn upon to understand literacy and language education, for example theories of literacy and orality; mechanistic/technical-rational/autonomous perspectives of literacy, language and literacy as social practice; critical and multimodal processes of literacy; and theoretical models of reading, writing and literacies.
Instruction, Curriculum, Materials, Assessment and their Contexts: Research and theory that addresses the field’s understanding of: literacy teaching practices, including how to teach and assess literacy, select and evaluate materials, as well as construct/deconstruct curriculum with teachers inside and outside the classroom and across its forms; of historical and contemporary controversies and scholarly disagreements over approaches, methodologies and philosophies; of the sources of influence (e.g., ideologies, economics) and the impact of policy initiatives on teaching (e.g., high stakes testing; curriculum mandates).
Literacy Research: Methodologies and analytic methods commonly used in literacy research; affordances and constraints of various methodologies; critical examination of exemplars using various methodologies.
The Learner: Research and theory that addresses the field’s understandings of literacy learners; social construction of learners; constructs of identity; resources that individuals (including students) bring to reading, writing, and/or literacy events; constructs of ability and disability; race, gender, class, and other groupings.
Literacy Teacher Education: Research and theory that addresses the field’s understanding of literacy teacher preparation and the continued learning and professional development of literacy educators. This area may also include research about teacher education more broadly, but should include a focus on literacy teacher education. This area includes attention to the candidate’s work in literacy teacher preparation in our program and the research base associated with this work.
Preparation
Plan for a preparation period of study during which you will create a comprehensive list of readings you have done in each of the five areas. These readings should include not only course readings but also readings associated with research projects and course teaching. This is intended to be an examination of your knowledge in the field, not (yet) a focusing toward specialized research interests. Although the list does not have to be exhaustive, it should be comprehensive and represent your broad reading.
Organize the readings they have identified for each of the major areas into sub- groups/areas. A very brief rationale for these sub-groupings should be included as a preface for the listings of readings for each of the five major areas. The sub- groupings are not predetermined but must come from you. You may (or may not) plan meetings with their chair during this initial preparation time.
Once you and the Chair are comfortable with the document describing readings, the Chair will distribute that document and call together the exam committee.
The three-person exam committee will meet to discuss your document. The committee may (or may not) suggest some additional readings to fill out your readings list. In some cases the committee may ask you to continue to develop the readings list and require that you resubmit your revised materials for review.
The committee will identify the topical content of the exam questions in accordance with the lists submitted. However, the exam committee may ask additional questions in the Oral Exam about any material submitted in the lists.
No more than one month ahead of the examination, the Chair will meet with you to describe the topical content of each question to make sure it is clear what the committee is thinking. After this meeting, it is expected that you will prepare for
the exam according to the UT honor code, on your own, and without further discussion of the exam’s content with faculty or other students.
As time for the written exam draws near, the committee will draft five questions (one for each area) matching the topics that your Chair shared with you and that can be answered drawing on the agreed-upon list of readings. You will not be given the questions in advance of the exam.
Written Examination
The exam will be administered through the department’s graduate coordinator. You will schedule the exam with the graduate coordinator, and your chair will submit the five exam questions to the graduate coordinator prior to the exam date.
The graduate coordinator will provide you with the exam questions and the exam will be a take home exam (one week). You may access library and reference materials online during this period, but you should not have any contact with or feedback from other graduate students, faculty or other people related to writing the exam. Only you may edit the exam. The UT Code of Honor applies.
The exam should be in a word document written in APA style. The references for each question should appear at the end of each of the response to that question. There is a ten- page limit (double spaced; not including references) for each question.
You will submit answers to four of the five questions. The fifth question will be addressed in the Oral Defense.
The audience is your Candidacy Exam Committee, but you should also consider your writing on the topics as something that could be shared with other professionals in our field and regarded as timely, thoughtful, accurate and insightful work.
Oral Defense
The Oral Defense is a two-hour oral examination conducted by your Candidacy Examination Committee.
Evaluating the Candidacy Examinations
Fourteen days before the Oral Examination, the student will complete the written exam and the committee will receive the written portion. The written exam will be read and evaluated by the Candidacy Examination Committee. Committee Members will read the question responses and forward their assessment to the Chair four days before the scheduled Oral Defense so that no fewer than two days prior to the Oral Examination, the Chair can notify the student of the decision:
Pass and proceed to Oral Defense. In the case of pass and proceed to Oral Defense, the Candidacy Examination Committee will also conduct the Oral Examination.
Acceptable/pass, pass with modest revisions prior to the Oral Defense or pass with modest revisions after the Oral Defense.
In the case of a recommendation to do such revisions to the exam, you will be given specific suggestions on how to strengthen areas of weakness.
In the case of revisions prior to the Oral Examination, the Chair will provide the student with a due date. The possible outcomes are 1. Pass and proceed to Oral Examination or 2. Unacceptable/do not pass. The student will be notified of a decision within 10 days of the Committee receiving the revisions.
Unacceptable/do not pass. A decision of not unacceptable/do not pass will carry the recommendation either that you be dismissed from the program or that you retake the written Candidacy Examination. If a retake is recommended, one retake is permitted according to Graduate Studies Committee policy.
Once your Oral Examination is completed, the committee will discuss your performance on the written Candidacy Examination and Oral Examination and determine the outcome. There are several possible outcomes for The Candidacy Examination:
Pass and proceed to dissertation (proposal).
Pass with Conditions: Rewrite parts or all of the written exam and submit to the Committee without an Oral Re-examination or with an Oral Re-examination.
Do not pass and discontinue from the program.
A decision of pass on both the Written and Oral Examination means you will be allowed to submit an application for candidacy.
A decision of pass with conditions means you will be allowed to advance to candidacy as soon as specified conditions are met. The imposition of these conditions is intended to help you strengthen areas that are of concern to the faculty (e.g., additional research coursework, additional involvement in research projects, additional courses in content areas). The Candidacy Examination Committee chair is usually responsible for monitoring student work on the conditions set.
Reporting Procedures
You will be told following the Oral Defense whether you are being recommended for advancement to candidacy without conditions, advancement with conditions, asked to retake the examination in total or in part, or dismissed from the program.
The Candidacy Committee Chair will report results of deliberation to the Graduate Advisor’s office. The Graduate Studies Committee in the Department of Curriculum and Instruction will vote on the recommendation. The Curriculum and Instruction Graduate Coordinator will then notify you of the results and guide the preparation and submission of candidacy papers. Please contact the Graduate Coordinator if you have questions.
Previous Coursework Policy
The CI faculty recently passed a policy regarding the transfer and credit of Masters-level courses for use on a PhD program of work (POW). Essentially this means that if you are a doctoral student, you may petition to use between 2-4, 3-credit courses (between 6-12 credits) to be “counted” as part of your PhD POW. This means you could meet your POW requirements taking slightly fewer courses as a doctoral student. The specific policy is stated at the top of the instructions in the links below. We have created a process for doctoral students to request credit for your courses that involves (a) meeting with your adviser (optional) and program area adviser (required) and (b) filling out a DocuSign form and attaching required materials (if applicable, for non-UT Masters).
As of Fall 2020, only new doctoral students may engage in this process, and it must be completed in the first year of a doctoral program.
The instructions and the number of courses we will allow are different if you received your Masters degree from UT or from outside UT. The policy, instructions, and links to the DocuSign form will be sent to you by the Graduate Coordinator. Again: read through all the instructions.
If you have questions about this process, please see or contact Graduate Coordinator, Jeffrey Grimes, (jgrimes@austin.utexas.edu) in SZB 436.
For students with a UT masters: https://wikis.utexas.edu/display/CGSR/UT+Master%27s+to+PhD+Course+Transfer+via
+DocuSign
For students with a non-UT masters: https://wikis.utexas.edu/display/CGSR/Non- UT+Master%27s+to+PhD+Course+Transfer+via+DocuSign
In addition to these policies, the LLS faculty will also continue to monitor your progress as follows.
For Students Completing a Master's degree in Language and Literacy at UT-Austin
Upon admission, previous coursework from MA programs at UT Austin will be considered.
- At admission, the faculty of LLS will review courses the student is coming in with and number of hours (a maximum of 12) to tentatively count toward the PhD program. Decisions are dependent upon how recently the student completed the MA, alignment of graduate programs between MA and PhD, relevancy of the coursework, grades, their projected advancement to candidacy.
- Advisors will meet with students to plan forward the revised program of work, including how those credits will be distributed across the POW.
- At first and mid-program reviews, program faculty will revisit the student’s progression in coursework and make recommendations for adjustments and recommendations as needed.
- The examination committee and the Graduate Studies Committee (GSC) of the Department of Curriculum and Instruction will review the program of work before the student is able to advance to candidacy.
- At admission, the faculty of LLS will review courses the student is coming in with and number of hours (a maximum of 6) to tentatively count toward the PhD program. Decisions are dependent upon how recently the student completed the MA, alignment of graduate programs between MA and PhD, relevancy of the coursework, grades, and projected advancement to candidacy.
- Advisors will meet with students to plan the revised program of work, including how those credits will be distributed across the Program of Work (POW). Courses cannot be counted towards out-of-department requirements.
- At first and mid-program reviews, program faculty will revisit the student’s progression in coursework and make recommendations for adjustments and recommendations as needed.
- The examination committee and the Graduate Studies Committee (GSC) of the Department of Curriculum and Instruction will review the program of work before the student is able to advance to candidacy.
For Students Completing a Master’s degree at another institution
- At admission, the faculty of LLS will review courses the student is coming in with and number of hours (a maximum of 6) to tentatively count toward the PhD program. Decisions are dependent upon how recently the student completed the MA, alignment of graduate programs between MA and PhD, relevancy of the coursework, grades, and projected advancement to candidacy.
- Advisors will meet with students to plan the revised program of work, including how those credits will be distributed across the Program of Work (POW). Courses cannot be counted towards out-of-department requirements.
- At first and mid-program reviews, program faculty will revisit the student’s progression in coursework and make recommendations for adjustments and recommendations as needed.
- The examination committee and the Graduate Studies Committee (GSC) of the Department of Curriculum and Instruction will review the program of work before the student is able to advance to candidacy.
Frequently Asked Questions
Directed Research and Independent Study
What is a directed research (396T) and what are the rules?
A directed research is a guided experience, with faculty, in any part of the research process: Design, proposal writing including IRB, data collection, analysis and writing for publication. Typically students do one directed research with a faculty member prior to their proposal and dissertation that is focused on the students’ area of interest, but this is not required.
What is an Independent Study (396?) and what are the rules?
A independent study is a guided experience, with faculty, in which you explore a topic of interest through reading and writing. Typically students prepare a written product such as a literature review or conceptual paper as a product of the independent study. This work can be part of the Candidacy Exam preparation process. There is variation but faculty members may meet with you less regularly than in an organized course.
May I work with a faculty member outside of LLS? Outside of the department?
Yes, with permission of your advisor, and as long as the supervisor is a tenured or tenure- track faculty member.
Exams
When do I take exams?
Exams are taken at the end of coursework. You may take them in the semester in which you are finishing coursework or if you have one course remaining.
Is it okay to ask other students about the exams?
You may consult with students that have already taken exams about the process, but not the content of the exams.
Are there sample exam responses I can access?
Your advisor or Chair can talk through previously submitted, successful exam responses with you but you will not be provided with copies of those documents.