GS 500 – St. Thomas and Critical Thinking
As the philosophical foundation of Research Methodology, it is a study of the principles of skills in critical thinking according to St. Thomas Aquinas in the three areas of mental cognition: simple apprehension, judgment, and reasoning; and of common fallacies towards the acquisition of the art of argumentation.

GS 501 – Research Methods (Research in Applied Linguistics)
This is a course that provides basic knowledge on educational research. It is meant to guide the students in going through the research process, mainly on problem identification, critical review of the literature, observance of appropriate methodological procedures, and clear representation of the whole research proposal. Additionally, the course is designed to challenge the students to actively engage in research in applied linguistics involving critical issues and using the knowledge on research methods acquired. 

ELS 600 – Advanced Academic Writing
The course is rhetorical in approach, requiring writing tasks that follow the rudiments of formal writing expected of scholars in an academic community. Such tasks vary from the simplest structure, specifically defining a term, into a highly complex one: writing a research-based paper. Considered as the major features of the course, theses writing assignments are all aimed at preparing students in addressing their writing needs for this course and for other purposes–term papers and project papers in other courses, theses or dissertations, and / or papers for presentation in scholarly gatherings or for publication. 

ELS 601 – Foundations of Language Studies
This is an introductory course that will enable you to draw a broad understanding of human language: What it is, What it is used for, and How it works. It will lead you to examine your own linguistic beliefs and attitudes; make you aware of both the diversity of language systems and their fundamental similarities; and give you a reasonable taste of most of the subfields of linguistics: phonetics, phonology, morphology, semantics, syntax, pragmatics, historical linguistics, psycholinguistics, and sociolinguistics. It will also equip you with some tools and techniques for linguistic analysis and give you some practice in using these to discover the organizing principles of a language. It is hoped that through this course, you will be acquainted with the basic concepts necessary to further pursue linguistic studies. 

ELS 602 – Structure of English
This course is an introduction to the fundamentals of English language sound, word, sentence, and meaning so that you can describe how English sentences are constructed. It will help you develop the skills necessary to analyze sentence structure and to explain how sentences are related to each other. At the end of the course, you should be able to justify your analysis of simple and complex English sentences. 

ELS 700 – Discourse Analysis
Aimed towards equipping the students with comprehensive knowledge on the pragmatic functions of language, the course outlines the principles, procedures, and techniques of discourse analysis in ELT.

ELS 701 – Second Language Acquisition
This course provides a critical context in their exploration, review, evaluation, and assessment of the present state of second language teaching and acquisition. It seeks to engage them in principled discourses as they examine the prevailing landscape with consideration and recognition of the history of ELT, and challenge them to come up with a research proposal or a position paper on the most relevant and pressing issues, especially those that impact on their own contexts.

ELS 702 – Varieties of English
The course deals with how languages in contact play a crucial role in the dynamic status of English, leading to the development of linguistic features peculiar to the varieties of English. It tackles issues in language acquisition, standardization, and how it impacts educational setting. More recent developments are also highlighted, such as new methods in data gathering and data analysis.

ELS 703 – Teaching Listening and Speaking
This course offers a wide range of discussion and critique of major and pressing issues in the teaching of listening and speaking. It focuses on procedures, methods, techniques, and practices and the related problems, difficulties, and needs of both learners and teachers. Students are expected to discuss, review, and determine relevant and current language teaching theories and principles that promote effective listening and speaking pedagogies in varied contexts.

ELS 704 – Teaching Reading and Writing
This course covers the theoretical foundations of reading instruction and their connection to the teaching of writing. This also emphasizes the nature of content area reading instruction and study skills that prepare students for writing informational academic texts. The course also presents current best practices for content area reading, writing, and study skills to guide the development of lessons and units that integrate reading and writing while covering concepts in various disciplines.

ELS 705 – Language Testing and Evaluation
This course covers the theoretical foundations of language testing and evaluation and the practices which have evolved from such. The various types of language tests, the process involved in their development, the various ways of interpreting test results, and the issues and concerns in both language testing will be discussed.

ELS 706 – Curriculum Design and Development
Orientated towards the ELT franchise and global language economics, this course puts forward revolutionary frameworks and models for students’ design of responsive, goal-directed, trans-disciplinary language programs, syllabi, and curricula. It encourages the students to be reflective, principled, and process-oriented in addressing situations-in-context curricular concerns.

ELS 707 – Evaluation and Preparation of Instructional Materials
The course is concerned with the evaluation of existing instructional materials and preparation of new ones in relation to the teaching of the five macro-language skills: listening, speaking, reading, writing, and viewing. Major problems arising from teaching practices will be dealt with in the light of current trends and new directions in instructional materials preparation.

ELS 708 – Special Topics
a. Forensic Linguistics
This course deals with the study of legal texts, the nature of legal language, language reform, and legal language practices (use of police caution, investigative interviewing, interpreting issues, and courtroom linguistics). It also engages students in the study of linguistic evidence for the purpose of law enforcement or the use of language evidence for legal and forensic contexts.

b. Computational Linguistics
This course provides a discussion of natural language processing from a computational perspective. It engages in the study of computer processing and understanding, the generation of human languages and the use of techniques in applications such as machine translation, speech recognition, information retrieval, intelligent Web searching, and intelligent spelling checking.

c. Missionary Linguistics
This course provides a discussion of the linguistic outputs (vocabularios, gramaticas, catecismos, confesionarios, etc.) of the missionaries during the Christianization / evangelization of the new world.

d. Folk Linguistics
The course studies the complete ethnography of language for any group. It takes into consideration the views of those who use the language daily and what they believe in. Language variation / change is an important aspect of this course.

e. The Grammars of Philippine Languages
The course engages graduate students to make an in-depth study of the structures of the 12 major Philippine languages (Tagalog, Kapampangan, Pangasinense, Iloko, Bikol, Cebuano, Hiligaynon, Waray, Tausug, Maguindanaoan, Maranao, and Chabacano) and how they compare with the features of the vast Austronesian language family in terms of phonology, lexicon, and grammar. 

Cognate (3 units)
Any course which has a direct bearing on one’s thesis.