Explore Graduate Programs

Ready to make a difference in the world of language learning?

Georgia State University's graduate certificate in Advanced Language and Literacy Science (ALLS) will equip you to make a real difference in the lives of those struggling with language and literacy. You'll be able to help a diverse group of language learners including children in poverty, individuals with intellectual or developmental disabilities, autism, learning disabilities, those who are deaf or hard of hearing, people with communication impairments and multilingual learners.

Graduate students who want to engage in the interdisciplinary study of Black people in the United States, Africa and in the African diaspora will work closely with our faculty in this program.

Our faculty have expertise in the domestic and global study of race and Blackness in the traditional disciplines of African-American Studies, Anthropology, Art History, History, Interdisciplinary Studies, Social Work and Public Health. There are few departments or programs that match our strengths in:

• Scholar-activism
• Diasporic studies in Black popular and mass culture
• Culturally relevant pedagogy
• Community empowerment
• Gender, sexuality and social relationships

While we have particular emphasis on Social Justice and Community Responsibility in the United States, we support and encourage the study and liberation of Black people everywhere in the world.

Africana Studies offers a master’s degree with competitive funding, which includes a tuition waiver and moderate stipend.

The Concentration in Museum Anthropology is an option for students enrolled in the M.A. in Anthropology program. In adopting an anthropological approach to museums, this concentration is distinct from generalized museum studies in examining curation, exhibition and museum practice from a comparative and global perspective that sees museums as dynamic institutions embedded in particular social and cultural contexts.

In this concentration, students interrogate the ways in which museums not only represent but also construct notions of cultural patrimony, identity, nationalism and cultural meaning. Emphasis is on the role of museums in disseminating and producing anthropological knowledge, using anthropological theory to contextualize and critique museums' practices in diverse settings and working with a collection or exhibits to gain new knowledge.

The Concentration in Museum Anthropology offers theoretical tools and professional skills related to:

• Obtaining critical perspectives on anthropology and museums in the past and present.
• Gaining practical experience in museum collections/exhibition space/curation.
• Developing skillsets for curation and museum exhibition creation based on the interests of the student.

A highlight of the concentration is the course Museum Experience, which is tailored to the student’s interests. In Museum Experience, students critically engage in a hands-on opportunity at a museum, library, archive, lab or other institution or repository. Projects can also include principles of curation, display or analyses of  visual/virtual/material/aural culture, data collection at a museum or a museum internship. Students will develop an appreciation of how museum space is constructed, proficiency in data collection or other responsibilities as appropriate and working knowledge of museum materials, including curated and/or exhibited artifacts.

Students can save time and tuition dollars by earning bachelor's and master's degrees in Applied Linguistics in as little as five years. This dual degree opportunity enables qualified students to enroll in graduate courses late in their undergraduate program and apply the coursework toward both the bachelor’s and master’s programs.

Georgia State University's Applied Linguistics is an interdisciplinary field of research and instruction that integrates aspects of fields such as linguistics, English, teacher education, speech communication, psychology, sociology and anthropology into a distinct field focused on issues related to the learning and teaching of a second/foreign language, such as the teaching and learning of English as a second language (ESL).

We are a multifaceted applied linguistics department that focuses on post-secondary/adult language learning, teaching and use.

Our faculty specialize in a number of sub-disciplines, including second language (L2) acquisition, L2 writing, sociolinguistics, language assessment, corpus linguistics, educational technology and L2 teacher education.

The Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.) program in Applied Linguistics is a response to societal needs resulting from the status of English as the language of international communication. This worldwide use of English in programs and institutions of higher education has created needs in two areas:

• Research on an assortment of interrelated topics, including language learning by adults who will use English for academic purposes, effective teaching of adult language learners and the nature of English as an academic language.
• Doctoral faculty who can teach in educational programs that prepare master’s level teachers of English as a Second/Foreign Language.

Ph.D. students may focus on a range of topics. Research, for example, may be related to issues in second language writing, reading, listening or speaking; analysis of academic language; assessment; teacher cognition; classroom dynamics; sociolinguistics; or the role of culture in second language acquisition.