Requirements (Doctoral Program)


General Requirements

To complete the doctoral degree, a candidate must;

  1. Earn 78 credit hours for academic work beyond the bachelor's level (this equals a Master's degree plus 48 semester hours of graduate-level course work),
  2. Pass a comprehensive examination upon completion of all course work,
  3. Write a dissertation, and
  4. Pass an oral defense of the dissertation.

Course Requirements

The doctoral curriculum consists of four areas;

  1. Core courses that are prescribed by the College of Education,
  2. Core courses that are prescribed by the Department of CITE,
  3. Courses that are directed to the central theme of the program—language acquisition research, and
  4. Courses that are electives, in topics related to TESOL.

I. Courses Required by the College of Education

Degree candidates will take five courses in subjects defined as a core by the College of Education. This core curriculum includes;

  1. One course in statistics,
  2. One course in educational research design,
  3. One course in psychological studies in education,
  4. One course in the context of education, and
  5. One course in curriculum.

II. Courses Required by the Department of CITE

Candidates will take five courses that have been defined as the departmental core: one course each in;

  1. Curriculum Planning and Evaluation,
  2. Current Instructional Practice,
  3. Technology in Education,
  4. Advanced Statistics and Research, and
  5. Implementation of Research Findings Into Practice.

III. Courses Required for the TESOL Specialization

Three courses (doctoral seminars) are required in subjects specifically related to language acquisition research, the central concentration for the degree. A total of nine semester hours of credit are devoted to this language-acquisition core.


IV. Elective Credits in TESOL

Three courses (nine semester hours) are electives which can be chosen from the graduate TESOL courses regularly offered at TUJ, including the Distinguished Lecturer Series.


Preliminary Examination

The preliminary (i.e., comprehensive) examination tests the candidate's breadth of knowledge within the area of TESOL studies and the areas covered by courses in the College and Departmental cores. The examination may be written and/or oral and frequently occupies two or more days. Usually candidates are not permitted to take this examination until they have completed the course requirements.


Dissertation

The dissertation is expected to exhibit scholarship, reflect mastery of technique, and make a distinctive contribution to the field of language acquisition research. A sponsoring committee of at least three members, composed of the major professor and at least two other graduate faculty members, is responsible for the general supervision of the doctoral dissertation.

Candidates for the doctorate are required to prepare a dissertation proposal, which must be approved and signed by the sponsoring committee. Five copies of the completed dissertation must be submitted two weeks prior to the oral examination.


Dissertation Defense

Candidates who have fulfilled all other requirements will, on the recommendation of the major professor and other members of the sponsoring committee, be admitted to the final doctoral dissertation examination. This examination is conducted by the sponsoring committee and two other members of the graduate faculty.

After approval of the dissertation by the examining committee, the candidate must submit two copies of the work to the Graduate School for deposit in the University Library and for microfilming. In addition, two copies of an abstract no more than 350 words long which indicates the scope of the work, materials used, and results obtained must be submitted to the Graduate School.


Note:
Please note that above information is only for 2008 cohorts.

For more information, please contact us at the Osaka center.
E-mail: tesol@tuj.ac.jp / Tel: 06-6343-0005

Application Materials

Official application materials are available in the Graduate Office at TUJ Tokyo. Please request them through the online request form or via e-mail at tesol-edd@tuj.ac.jp.