Student Research

In the final semesters of their studies, MASPC students engage in a wide variety of research topics in the form of a thesis or a research presentation (for the comprehensive exams option). Students work closely with faculty mentors to investigate areas of study in second language acquisition, policy and culture that relate to their personal professional interests and goals. Below is a selective list of some of the research areas that students have explored in recent years. 

Sample MASPC Thesis topics:  

• Awareness of Diversity in Interracial Communication: The importance of social acceptance toward an “outsider.”  
• Re-entry Experience: How does Study Abroad Influence International Students’ Linguistic and Cultural Identities? 
• Improvisation in Second Language Acquisition. 
• Cultural Identity Interceptors in Language Immersion Programs. 
• Global Simulation in French Immersion Programs. 
  
  

Sample Research Topics for MASPC Comprehensive Exams:  

• Teaching English in Saudi Arabia. 
• Effects of Using Video Games in the Classroom on EFL Learners’ improvement in Vocabulary Learning. 
• Effective Strategies for Overcoming Oral Language Anxiety of Japanese EFL Learners. 
• Face Theory: The Chinese Experience. 
• An Evaluation of Culture Lessons in an Intermediate German textbook. 
• A Comprehensive Review of a University Intensive English Program.  
• Examining the Dynamic Nature of Willingness to Communicate during Group and Pair Work in the L2 Classroom.  
• Arab Muslim Families in the US, Children Bilingualism and Identity Maintenance Through Religious Institutions. 
• Acculturation and Homogeneity? Observations of Acculturation in Japanese Schools in America.  
• Success in Higher Education: The Needs of Latinx Students on Campus.