Blogs

Keep an eye on this post - additional info will be posted as it becomes available!

~AK

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• Blackboard Access will be available around the end of April (4/6/2020)
• InfoSession II recording available (3/9/2020) - Click here to view the recorded info session
• New Handbook (3/6/2020) - Click here to access the 2020 handbook for the new exam.
• New Capstone Exercise Info Session will be March 5th at 7pm ET.  See the calendar event for details.  A recording will be posted after the session in this InfoPost.

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Hello everyone!

This InfoPost will provide you with information about the May 2020 comprehensive exam. Please refer back to this post for more info over the next couple of months for updates (above).

The Comprehensive Exam is scheduled to open Thursday, May 14, 2000

If you intend on taking the exam please RSVP by using this form: RSVP for May Exam

The deadline to RSVP is March 15, 2020.

If you have questions relating to the comprehensive exam that are not covered in this post, please post them as a comment at the bottom of this post.

This InfoPost has two sections. One section for the new format, and one for the old format.  Everyone taking the exam for the first time will be taking the new format.  If you have taken the exam previously, you will retake the exam using the old format.

NEW FORMAT

More information forthcoming - see the recording of the first info session for initial details.  

The powerpoint file from the presentation is available here.

Sample Prompt from session #2: Click to read sample prompt

OLD FORMAT

DATE & LOCATION OF THE EXAM

The will open on Thursday, May 14, 2020.  You will have until Noon on Friday, May 15th to submit your answers

The exam will be online, the exam takes place at a location of your own choosing. Proctoring will be provided by a service called ProctorU (more down below). The exam for those taking it online is a little more flexible in terms of when you can start so that we can accommodate more time-zones.  The exam opens at 12:00 pm EST on May 14 and is available to start until 8 am on May 15th. You still have 4 hours to complete it, but the starting time is a little more flexible. You can use Day and Time to calculate what these times are in your timezone.

REGISTRATION INFORMATION

In order to take the comprehensive exam you need to submit an RSVP (see above)

As soon as we have processed your paperwork, you will be given access to a Blackboard course (http://umb.umassonline.net) where the information session will take place, and where you will be taking your exam.

EXIT EVALUATION FORM

Both online and on-campus students will be emailed an online survey by, or on, Friday, April 24th, 2020. If you don't receive a survey please first check your spam folder to see if it's there. If not, please email applied.linguistics@umb.edu and we can troubleshoot :-)

You will have until Tuesday, May 12, 2020 to complete this survey. You must complete the survey before taking the comprehensive exam. Please follow the link to the survey as you will be unable to take the exam until it is completed. This survey is anonymous and evaluations will be opened and analyzed only after comprehensive exam results are in and grades submitted.

PROCTORING

Online students: You can take the exam at (almost) any location you'd like! It seems that over the past few semesters most students taking the exam do so at home or at their office. To provide proctoring we are working with a company called ProctorU to make sure that each and every one of you has a proctor. It is really important to work out the time zone information correctly; all times are referenced in Eastern Standard Time (Boston time). Online students can choose to take the exam online, or on-campus.

Please see this Student Handout (PDF file) to see what the system requirements are for proctoring the exam remotely.

A common question that has been asked is whether or not you can go to a testing center, or find your own proctor, instead of using ProctorU.  The answer is that you cannot use any other proctoring service other than ProctorU.  ProctorU is the only option :)

On-campus exam students: Faculty members from the Department of Applied Linguistics will be proctoring the on-campus exam in May.  

Exam Material

Students are examined on material from their FIVE core and TWO required courses in their concentration (ESL or Foreign Language).  Questions which appear on the exam are taken from exams, paper topics, and assignments in core and required courses and are periodically updated by faculty to reflect new course materials. Questions may also be submitted to the Comprehensive Exam Committee by students and will be considered for inclusion on the exam. If you are interested to do so, please email your questions to the coordinator of the Comprehensive Exam at applied.linguistics@umb.edu

Exam Structure

Questions on the exam are arranged into THREE areas of study. Two questions are asked in
each area. Students must answer ONE question in each area, thus THREE questions in FOUR
hours.

In each area, we suggest in parentheses possible themes questions might address. However, this
is NOT an exhaustive list.

Students are responsible for preparing to answer questions in each area by referring to course
syllabi where main content and goals are highlighted. Materials from one specific course may be
helpful and used to answer questions in more than one area.

All answers to exam questions should be informed by theory and research and  include a detailed linguistic analysis when required. The content of all core and  concentration courses will be tested on the exam (601, 603, 605, 621, 623, 611 or 618, 612 or 614)

ESL Concentration Exam Areas:

1. LANGUAGE DEVELOPMENT (601, 605, 614, 621)

• foundations of language teaching,
• literacy
• first and second language acquisition issues and theories,
• theories and foundations of bilingualism,
• language analysis and learning on syntactic, morphological, semantic, lexical, pragmatic, and discourse levels, etc.

2. LANGUAGE METHODOLOGY AND PEDAGOGY (601,618, 614, 605)

• methods and materials (CLT, NA, etc.)
• learner diversity,
• Cooperative learning
• curriculum development,
• prescriptivism and language teaching,
• culturally sensitive teaching, etc.

3. LANGUAGE, CULTURE, AND SOCIETY (601, 603, 614, 623)

• sociolinguistic and socio-cultural factors in language development
• sociolinguistic methods of analysis
• language varieties, language variation
• assimilation, cultural discontinuities, cross-cultural communication
• literacy and culture, pragmatics and social context of language
• national language debates, etc

Foreign Language Concentration Exam Areas:

1. LANGUAGE DEVELOPMENT (601, 605,  621)

• foundations of language teaching,
• literacy
• first and second language acquisition issues and theories,
• theories and foundations of bilingualism,
• language analysis and learning on syntactic, morphological, semantic, lexical, pragmatic, and discourse levels, etc.

2. LANGUAGE METHODOLOGY AND PEDAGOGY (601,611, 612, 605)

• methods and materials
• integration of the teaching of culture and language
• prescriptivism and language teaching
• the authenticity of teaching materials
• language analysis and teaching on syntactic, morphological, semantic, lexical, pragmatic, and discourse levels, etc.).

3. LANGUAGE, CULTURE, AND SOCIETY (601, 603, 623, 612)

• sociolinguistic and socio-cultural factors in language development
• sociolinguistic methods of analysis
• language varieties, language variation
• assimilation, cultural discontinuities, cross-cultural communication
• literacy and culture, pragmatics and social context of language
• national language debates, etc.

SAMPLE QUESTIONS

Language Development

Describe two major theories of FIRST language acquisition. Explain how each may account for different levels of language development (phonological, morphological, syntactic, semantic, pragmatic, etc.). Choose the theory you consider most tenable and explain why you do. Make sure to substantiate your response with examples and relevant literature.

Language, Culture, and Society

Language change is influenced by social status, gender, and interaction. Discuss and illustrate two of these factors. Illustrate your discussion with examples from different levels of language description (syntactic, morphological, discursive, phonological, etc.) Make sure to support your response with relevant literature.

Grading

The exams are graded by a committee of Applied Linguistics faculty.  Exams are graded “blind;”  no names are recorded on the printouts of the exams.  Students are assigned a letter code and the list which identifies letters with student names is sealed until grading is completed.

Each exam is read by at least two faculty members.  If the first reader and the second reader agree that the exam is a “Pass,” then the student is passed.  If the first and second reader disagrees, or if there is any uncertainty in their evaluation, then a third reader is enlisted. 

Each answer is assigned a grade of High Pass, Pass, or Fail. No exam can be deemed as a Pass if one of the three required questions is not answered or has been assigned a failing grade.

Given the high number of students taking the exam, it may take up to two weeks for results to be sent out. Exam results are emailed when all grading has been completed.  Students should not email or call the office about results. Faculty always complete evaluations by graduation date. Students who pass the exam don’t have access to their exam answers.

Readers use the same comprehensive exam evaluation rubric to evaluate exams. You are encouraged to familiarize yourself with this rubric before the exam.  The rubric includes the following criteria:

1. Does the student answer the question asked?
2. Are all parts of the question answered?
3. Does the student answer the question in sufficient depth?  Are there important issues not covered?
4. Does the student make repeated or gross misstatements that would lead you to believe that they do not understand the relevant material?
5. Is the material presented coherently organized?  Can you follow the student’s argument without having to do a lot of “interpreting” or “filling in the blanks”?
6. Are technical terms used clearly and appropriately?  Are terms defined where necessary?
7. Are references made to course content and material where obvious/necessary?  (If, for example, you teach a course which addresses the question posed, does the student mention those aspects of the issue covered in your course?)
8. Does the student cite relevant sources?  Does the student link theories or methods to particular individuals?  (In other words, if s/he is clearly referring to a particular author’s work, does s/he cite the author?)
9. If the student draws on personal experiences to answer a question, is that experience linked in some way to theoretical issues, relevant literature, or coursework?
10. Does the student merely repeat the same material, references, and arguments in one or more of his or her responses or does s/he demonstrate a comprehensive grasp of the field?

Click here to view the grading rubric for the exam. As you study, prepare for the exam, and ultimately write your exam, keep this rubric in mind!

Strategies for preparing for and taking the exam:

Preparing:

• Carefully review your course syllabi paying attention to the course objectives and the main headings of weekly sessions. These headings outline important topics and issues; you should know the literature related to these themes and topics. You should be able to formulate basic questions about these themes and issues that could be exam questions.
• In general, exam questions ask you to define and discuss an issue, its context and origins; to support your discussion referring to scholars who contributed to the discussion of the issue, and to draw some classroom implications.
• Knowing the literature means being able to summarize the main ideas of a given scholar and assess her/his contribution to the field of applied linguistics. You are not expected to quote in the exam but you should spell scholars’ names properly, know the decade in which they contributed to the field, and present and summarize scholar’s ideas using and defining the terminology and connecting these ideas to the questions asked.
• If you like working in groups, it is a good idea to meet online with classmates.
• Advice for group work
  • Form a small group with 3-5 other students
  • Commit to each other to a meeting schedule, time and mode
  • Individually list the major theories that you remember
    (Do this before you open the books to see how much you already know!)
  • Include the key theorists’ names and dates.
  • Write a paragraph or two from memory with the key details.
  • Meet with your group to compare notes.
  • Revise your summaries as needed
  • Make a timeline of key theorists and dates.
    Include ONLY names and dates for a “clean” visual memory support.
    Use colors if you are a visual learner.
• Practice timed essays with each other:
  • Familiarize yourself with the evaluation rubric used by comprehensive exam graders
  • Write and exchange your questions
  • Assess each other’s essays using the comprehension evaluation rubric
  • Suggested: two “assessors” read and grade independently, THEN compare grades and feedback.
  • Give feedback in terms of the rubric and what the question asks

• You may consult any of the faculty members if you have doubts or questions about some concept or issue.

Taking the Exam

• Set up a document in word before you access the exam so you are ready to write as soon as you access the questions. SAVE it! Remember to hit save regularly as you write, or set it up to autosave every 5 minutes. Make sure you give yourself 5-10 minutes in the end to copy/paste your answers to Blackboard.
• Do not worry about formatting. It will disappear when you copy to Blackboard. Try to insert a blank line or two between paragraphs. Don’t worry about indenting.
• Copy the key phrases that you must answer in each question. Enter spaces between each phrase before you start to write. This will create a structure and help you remember what you have to answer. The last line of each question will ALWAYS tell you to support your answer with relevant literature. It is not necessary to copy this phrase—you are doing this throughout each answer.
• It is very important that you mark clearly by number each of the questions you choose to answer. The area designator and question number is sufficient. You do not have to copy the entire question. (e.g., A3)
• You should not waste time making detailed notes, extensive outlines, or rewriting your answers.  The exam committee realizes this is a timed exam and you are under considerable pressure; therefore, we do not grade on language mechanics or expository prose -- so long as your argument and meaning are clear.
• You should not spend more than an hour on each question.
• You should run a spell check before uploading your exam.
• Make sure to not only submit the exam as a 'test' in Blackboard (where you copy/paste your answers from Word) but also submit your word document as a backup in the designated spot!

Exam Rules

• The comprehensive exam is a closed book, closed notes exam
• The internet and internet sources are not allowed either
• Scrap paper and pens/pencils are allowed for you to brainstorm before you write
• Breaks are allowed!  If you need to get up a stretch or take a biobreak, that's OK! (on average students seem to take a break every 40-60 minutes of writing)
• Once the exam starts it doesn't stop. You have 4 hours

If you Fail the Exam

Students who fail the exam on the first attempt can take the exam a second time.  Before retaking the exam, the student should set up a phone, skype, or chat appointment with the faculty member coordinating the comprehensive exam process in order to discuss the reasons for the failure.  Students who fail the exam will be given the comments of readers and be shown parts of their exam in light of the readers’ evaluations.

Students who fail the exam can retake the exam only once.  In preparing to retake the exam, students are encouraged to discuss with their advisors or other faculty how they might strengthen their performance.  If a student feels he or she has been unjustly evaluated, an appeal procedure exists and may be discussed with the comprehensive exam chair.

Students who take their coursework seriously, seek and obtain the guidance of their faculty advisor periodically throughout their program of study, and prepare conscientiously for the comprehensive exam, usually have no difficulties passing. 

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