Below are courses that SLA majors and/or minors might – with their advisor’s consent – consider registering for in Spring 2026. Courses marked with an asterisk (*) are taught by core SLA faculty. Courses marked with an ampersand (&) can typically count towards the SLA minor. Courses are for 3 credits unless otherwise noted.
All students should consult with their advisor, i.e., the academic advisor/s for SLA majors and with Prof. Naomi Geyer (nfgeyer@wisc.edu) for minors, on course selections.
Please also consult Course Search & Enroll for additional information or courses not listed below. If you find a course that you think should be on this list, please let us know!
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Anthropology 430: Language and Culture (3-4 credits)
Information for this class taken directly from Course Search and Enroll.
Instructor: Falina Enriquez
Day(s) and Time: Tuesdays and Thursdays, 1:00 – 2:15 pm
Modality: In-person
Prerequisite: Sophomore standing
Description: Besides conveying information, what else do we accomplish through language? How does language—including via music, film, social media, and other
formats—shape the way we interact with the world and present ourselves? Through addressing these and other questions, this course introduces students to linguistic anthropology, which examines the inextricable links between language and culture. We’ll explore theoretical and methodological insights from various eras and cultural contexts to examine how language and culture work together.
Anthropology 940: Language and Latinidades
This course is not on the electives list. Please talk to your advisor before enrolling.
Instructor: Falina Enriquez
Day(s) and Time: Wednesdays, 10:30 am – 1:00 pm
Modality: In-person
Prerequisite: Graduate/professional standing
Description: Learn about linguistic anthropological theories that help us understand
the formation of national, regional, and diasporic Latin American practices and identities (latinidades). Compare how latinidades are created, represented, and practiced through various verbal, sonic, visual, and textual media. Discuss the many, often contradictory processes that inform the creation and contestation of latinidades in various geographic and historical settings. Themes that will orient our conservation include bilingualism, colonialism, transnationalism, and linguistic discrimination.
*& Asian Languages and Cultures 632: Contrastive Pragmatics
Instructor: Weihua Zhu
Day(s) and Time: Tuesdays, 4:00 – 6:30 pm
Modality: In-person lectures and discussions
Prerequisite: Junior standing
Description: In this class, we will discuss how people from various cultural backgrounds use their native language, focusing on how they utilize formulaic expressions, perform communicative acts, or hold pragmatic perceptions differently. We will compare pragmatic phenomena from a cross-cultural communication perspective. More importantly, we will learn how to adopt a framework to analyze empirical data.
The purpose of this course is a weekly discussion of readings in various aspects of contrastive pragmatics with the goal of engendering original research. There will be no examinations. Instead, students will be asked to reflect on the readings, post in Canvas their answers to questions regarding the readings and respond to one of their classmates’ postings before attending each class. Critical reflection is encouraged. Research accomplished during this course is intended for pilots to theses, dissertations, and/or publishable papers.
&Curriculum and Instruction 674: Advanced Methods in Teaching English as a Second Language (3-6 credits)
Information for this class taken directly from Course Search and Enroll.
Instructors: 2 sections – Lisa Velarde; Adeline De Angelis
Day(s) and Time: Wednesdays, 4:40 – 7:15 pm
Modality: In-person
Prerequisite: Graduate/professional standing
Description: Designed to help identify/develop and implement methodological approaches and techniques for supporting the language and literacy development of English learners that coordinate with current theories on language and learning.
*Curriculum and Instruction 676: Bilingualism and Biliteracy in Schools
Information for this class taken directly from Course Search and Enroll.
Instructor: Mariana Pacheco
Day(s) and Time: Thursdays, 4:30 – 7:00 pm
Modality: In-person
Prerequisite: Declared in Elementary Education BSE, Capstone Certificate in Spanish-English Bilingual-Bicultural Education or graduate/professional standing
Description: This course focuses on creating equitable, humanizing, balanced, learning-centered approaches to bi/multilingual education that re-organizes learning and schooling for bi/multilingual students (and English Language Learners [ELLs]) in an effort to challenge approaches that seek to ‘fix’ them. We will conceptualize the sociocultural organization of home languages and English in bilingual classrooms and consider the effects of these practices on the development of bi/multilingualism, bi/multiliteracies, and content area knowledge for bilingual and ELL students.
*Curriculum and Instruction 719: Introduction to Qualitative Research
Information for this class taken directly from Course Search and Enroll.
Instructors: Thomas Popkewitz; Mariana Pacheco; Ramata Diallo
Day(s) and Time: Mondays, 1:45 – 4:15 pm
Modality: In-person
Prerequisite: Graduate/professional standing
Description: Provides an overview of qualitative inquiry, examining assumptions, standards, and methods for generating and communicating interpretations. Methodological and theoretical works illustrate case study, ethnography, narrative, and action research. Does not include a field method component.
Curriculum and Instruction 744: Perspectives in Multicultural Education
Information for this class taken directly from Course Search and Enroll.
Instructors: Carl Grant
Day(s) and Time: Tuesdays, 4:30 – 7:00 pm
Modality: In-person
Prerequisite: Graduate/professional standing
Description: A critical examination of the conceptual and theoretical traditions that contribute to the educational reform and ideology known as multicultural education. Includes readings from ethnic studies, black studies, feminist theory, antiracist pedagogy, bilingual education, and critical race theory.
Curriculum and Instruction 788: Qualitative Research Methods in Education: Field Methods I
Information for this class taken directly from Course Search and Enroll.
Instructor: Elena Aydarova
Day(s) and Time: Wednesdays, 2:25 – 5:25 pm
Modality: In-person
Prerequisites: CURRIC/ED POL/RP & SE/COUN PSY/ELPA/ED PSYCH 719
Description: Introductory field methods experience in qualitative research. Learn to define good research questions, determine which methods of data collection and analysis are useful for addressing those questions, engage in these methods, reflect on their utility in education research.
*& Curriculum and Instruction 802: Discourse Analysis
Information for this class taken directly from Course Search and Enroll.
Instructor: Diego Román
Day(s) and Time: Wednesdays, 8:15 – 10:45 am
Modality: In-person
Prerequisites: Graduate/professional standing
Description: Theories and methods for analyzing “discourse” or language in use. Covers formal and informal written text, formal and informal oral speech, and face-to-face and online social interaction, with particular focus on cultural and social institutions and norms (such as school) and learning through social interaction.
Curriculum and Instruction 803: Computational Research Methods
Information for this class taken directly from Course Search and Enroll.
Instructor: Matthew Berland
Day(s) and Time: Fridays, 11:00 am – 1:30 pm
Modality: In-person
Prerequisites: Graduate/professional standing
Description: Provides a broad overview of ways of formulating and investigating novel questions with tools from educational data mining and learning analytics including social network analysis, natural language processing, Markov modeling, Bayesian inference, and agent-based modeling.
*& Curriculum and Instruction 964: Anticolonial, Decolonial, and Postcolonial Studies in World Language Education (1-3 credits)
Instructor: L.J. Randolph, Jr.
Day(s) and Time: Mondays, 4:30 – 7:00 pm
Modality: In-person
Prerequisites: Graduate/professional standing
Description: Language has been used as a tool of domination, conquest, and colonization throughout history” (García, 2019, p. 152). This history has influenced the ways in which world language education (WLE) has been theorized, programmed, promoted, researched, and evaluated across various educational contexts. In this seminar, students trace the origins of and responses to colonial legacies in WLE, exploring how language teaching has both perpetuated and resisted such legacies. Students draw upon transdisciplinary scholarship and frameworks in linguistics, education, and critical cultural studies to collectively envision a WLE discipline and
profession grounded in humanization, liberation, and radical hope.
Educational Policy Studies 595: Language Politics and Education
Information for this class taken directly from Course Search and Enroll.
Instructor: Matthew Wolfgram
Day(s) and Time: Mondays and Wednesdays, 4:00 – 5:15 pm
Modality: In-person
Prerequisites: Junior standing
Description: Overview of language politics, policies, and practices in global perspective; draws on the work of anthropologists, sociolinguists, and language policy scholars to examine how language choices in and regarding schooling interact with ethnic and linguistic diversity. Consider the following questions: How and under what conditions do language policies, practices, and pedagogies redress or exacerbate inequalities? How people at the local level, including educators, negotiate language and literacy policies and politics. Uses a global lens to expand local understandings and practices.
Educational Psychology 761: Statistical Methods Applied to Education II
Information for this class taken directly from Course Search and Enroll.
Instructor: Check Course Search and Enroll
Day(s) and Time: Multiple sections, offered, all with labs. Please check Course Search and Enroll.
Modality: In-person
Prerequisite: ED PSYCH 760
Description: Analysis of variance and covariance, multiple linear regression; chi-square and various nonparametric techniques.
English 314: Structure of English
Information for this class taken directly from Course Search and Enroll.
Instructor: Anja Wanner
Day(s) and Time: Tuesdays and Thursdays, 9:30 am – 10:45 am
Modality: In-person
Prerequisite: Sophomore standing
Description: Linguistic methods of analysis and description of English syntax and morphology.
*English 318: Second Language Acquisition
Instructor: Jacee Cho
Day(s) and Time: Tuesdays and Thursdays, 2:30 – 3:45 pm
Modality: In-person
Prerequisite: Sophomore standing
Description: Covers some of the current theories and research on how people acquire/learn a non-native, or second language (L2). Topics include formal (linguistic) characteristics of interlanguage (learner’s L2), the role of Universal Grammar and native language in L2 acquisition, crosslinguistic influence (how L1 and L2 influence each other), and nonlanguage factors such as age of acquisition (whether and how much age of acquisition matters), verbal aptitude, and motivation.
*There is no required textbook. All reading materials will be available on the course website.
English 319: Language, Race, and Identity
Information from this class taken directly from Course Search and Enroll.
Instructor: Iman Sheydaei
Day(s) and Time: Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, 9:55 – 10:45 am
Modality: In-person
Prerequisite: Sophomore standing
Description: Counts as LAS credit (L&S). Does not count toward 50% graduate coursework requirement.
Relation of culture and genetics to formal properties of human language; consideration of American English dialects and language disorders. Topics include: biological basis of language disorders; racial affiliation and social identity; maintenance of social boundaries; politics of education, speech therapy.
*English 320: Linguistic Theory and Child Language
Instructor: Jacee Cho
Day(s) and Time: Tuesdays and Thursdays, 11:00 am – 12:15 pm
Modality: In-person
Prerequisite: Sophomore standing
Description: Counts as LAS credit (L&S). Does not count toward 50% graduate coursework requirement.
An introduction to the linguistic study of child language within the generative theory. According to this theory, humans are born with genetically determined linguistic knowledge called Universal Grammar, which guides children in learning language. Learn the basic concepts of the generative theory and learn to apply them to the study of child language. Topics include universal linguistic principles that govern children’s acquisition of syntax and semantics and cross-linguistic influence in children acquiring more than one language from birth or early childhood. Discuss empirical research studies testing the Universal Grammar theory of language acquisition.
*There is no required textbook. All reading materials will be available electronically on the course website.
&English 414: Global Spread of English
Information from this class taken directly from Course Search and Enroll.
Instructor: Juliet Huynh
Day(s) and Time: Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, 9:55 – 10:45 am
Modality: In-person
Prerequisite: Sophomore standing
Description: Examination of the linguistic, social, and political impact of the spread of English around the world. Analysis of geographical, social, and stylistic variation in English in diverse world contexts.
English 415: Introduction to TESOL Methods
Information for this class taken directly from Course Search and Enroll.
Instructor: Joseph Nosek
Day(s) and Time: Tuesdays and Thursdays, 1:00 – 2:15 pm
Modality: In-person
Prerequisite: Sophomore standing
Description: Counts as LAS credit (L&S). Does not count toward 50% graduate coursework requirement.
Teaching of English to speakers of other languages. Exploration of the contexts in which English is taught, and methods and materials used to teach it.
English 420: Quantitative Methods for Linguists 1
Information for this class taken directly from Course Search and Enroll.
Instructor: Eric Raimy
Day(s) and Time: Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays. 1:20 – 2:10 pm
Modality: In-person
Description: Study of a topic in English language and linguistics.
& English 420: Heritage Language/Bilingualism
Information for this class taken directly from Course Search and Enroll.
Instructor: Juliet Huynh
Day(s) and Time: Mondays and Wednesdays: 2:30 – 3:45 pm
Modality: In-person
Description: Study of a topic in English language and linguistics.
English 515: Techniques and Materials for TESOL
Information from this class taken directly from Course Search and Enroll.
Instructor: Karen Best
Day(s) and Time: Tuesdays and Thursdays, 9:30 – 10:45 am
Modality: In-person
Prerequisite: English 415
Description: Counts as LAS credit (L&S). Does not count toward 50% graduate coursework requirement.
Supervised practice in the use of current techniques and materials in the teaching of English to speakers of other languages, including peer and community teaching with videotaped sessions.
English 709: Advanced English Phonology
Information for this class taken directly from Course Search and Enroll.
Instructor: Eric Raimy
Day(s) and Time: Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, 11:00 – 11:50 am
Modality: In-person
Prerequisite: Eng 315
Description: Problems of English segmental and suprasegmental phonology, including morphophonemic alterations and stress assignment.
*& French 821: Instructional & Assessment Strategies for Advanced Second Language Teaching (1-3 credits)
Instructor: Heather Willis Allen
Day(s) and Time: Tuesdays, 3:00 – 5:00 pm
Modality: In-person
Prerequisite: Graduate/professional standing
Description: Do you want to learn how to teach and plan advanced undergraduate second language (L2) courses? Are you eager to grow your understanding of the current state of the language teaching profession? Are you looking to deepen your pedagogical training before entering today’s competitive job market? This graduate seminar provides a forum for developing knowledge and expertise regarding the teaching of language, literature, and culture at the collegiate level.
Topics addressed include collegiate language enrollment trends and challenges in the profession, the concepts of literacy and multiliteracies, multiliteracies pedagogy, scaffolding L2 reading, integrating focus on form in literary-cultural courses, teaching L2 writing and grappling with generative AI, teaching L2 cultures, multimodality, and inclusive pedagogy and instructional design. Note: This course is NOT French-focused. Recent course participants have included graduate students teaching Italian, Russian, Spanish, German, and Japanese as well as students from the School of Education. Course readings and class discussions in English; instructional and assessment examples relate to a variety of L2s. Course assignments: reading reactions (weekly), discussion leading (once), final project of creating a syllabus for an advanced undergraduate L2 course and sample materials for that course. Variable credit available (1 or 3 credits).
Please contact hwallen@wisc.edu with questions about this course.
Linguistics 510: Phonological Theories
Information from this class taken directly from Course Search and Enroll.
Instructor: Eric Raimy
Day(s) and Time: Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, 11:00 – 11:50 am
Modality: In-person
Prerequisite: Linguistics 310
Description: Theories of phonology, and advanced phonological description.
Linguistics 530: Syntactic Theories
Information from this class taken directly from Course Search and Enroll.
Instructor: Yafei Li
Day(s) and Time: Tuesdays and Thursdays, 11:00 am – 12:15 pm
Modality: In-person
Prerequisite: Linguistics 330
Description: Theories of syntax, and syntactic description. The relation of syntax to semantics, and other aspects of linguistic theory.
Linguistics 571: Structure of a Language
Information from this class taken directly from Course Search and Enroll.
Instructor: Monica Macaulay
Day(s) and Time: Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, 3:30 pm – 4:20 pm
Modality: In-person
Prerequisite: Linguistics 310, 322, and 330
Description: In-depth study of all components of the grammar of a language.
Philosophy 512: Methods of Logic
Information from this class taken directly from Course Search and Enroll.
Instructor: Peter Vranas
Day(s) and Time: Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, 9:55 – 10:45 am
Modality: In-person
Prerequisite: PHILOS 211
Description: Counts as LAS credit (L&S). Does not count toward 50% graduate coursework requirement.
Selected topics in philosophical logic and in the various applications of logic to philosophical problems. Variable content.
Philosophy 516: Language and Meaning
Information from this class taken directly from Course Search and Enroll.
Instructor: John Mackay
Day(s) and Time: Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, 11:00 – 11:50 am
Modality: In-person
Prerequisite: Junior standing or 3 Credits in Philosophy
Description: Counts as LAS credit (L&S). Does not count toward 50% graduate coursework requirement.
The nature and function of language, theories of meaning, semantic and syntactic paradoxes, proper names, private languages, rules, and linguistic relativity.
Psychology 406: Psychology of Perception (3-4 credits)
Information from this class taken directly from Course Search and Enroll.
Instructor: Vivian Paulun
Day(s) and Time: Mondays and Wednesdays, 2:30 – 3:45 pm (lecture); Tuesdays, 9:30 – 10:30 am (discussion)
Modality: In-person
Prerequisite: PSYCH 202, (BIOLOGY/ZOOLOGY 101 and 102), BIOLOGY/BOTANY/ZOOLOGY 151, or (BIOCORE 381 and 382)
Description: Counts as LAS credit (L&S). Does not count toward 50% graduate coursework requirement.
Survey the current knowledge about how the brain creates our conscious experience of a surrounding world and of our own bodies. Consider contributions from various approaches, including neurophysiology, psychophysics, computer simulations, perceptual illusions, and patient studies.
Sociology 360: Statistics for Sociologists I (4 credits)
Information from this class taken directly from Course Search and Enroll.
Instructor: Peter Rich
Day(s) and Time: Multiple class times. Please check Course Search and Enroll.
Modality: In-person
Prerequisites: Satisfied Quantitative Reasoning (QR) A requirement (Course search and enroll)
Description: Counts as LAS credit (L&S). Does not count toward 50% graduate coursework requirement.
Presentation of sociological data; descriptive statistics; probability theory and statistical inference; estimation and tests of hypotheses; regression and correlation and the analysis of contingency tables.
Sociology 362: Statistics for Sociologists III (4 credits)
Information from this class taken directly from Course Search and Enroll.
Instructor: Felix Elwert
Day(s) and Time: Tuesdays and Thursdays, 2:30 – 3:45 pm. There are several labs listed. Please check Course Search and Enroll.
Modality: In-person
Prerequisites: SOC/C&E SOC 361, STAT 302, ECON 400, 410, STAT/MATH 309, or graduate/professional standing
Description: Generalized linear models with selected applications to social science data. Topics: Review of multiple regression; properties of estimators; general linear restrictions; instrumental variables; two-stage least squares; panel data; fixed and random effects; logit, probit, and related models.
*& Spanish (Spanish and Portuguese) 630: The Bilingual Self: Sociolinguistic/Psychological/Political Perspectives on Identity
Instructor: Cathy Stafford
Day(s) and time: Mondays and Wednesdays, 2:30 – 3:45 pm
Modality: In-person
Prerequisites: Graduate/professional standing
Description: Is the “self” composed of a constellation of stable traits, or is identity a more amorphous and negotiable construct? How do bi-/multilingual people navigate their identities through and across languages and cultures? And how does rejection or disparagement by other individuals, groups, or institutions influence a bi-/multilingual self, particularly when that self is a user of a socially minoritized language? In this course we seek to answer these and other questions through critical examination of various scholars’ models, theories and research on identity in a range of contexts of bi-/multilingualism and second language acquisition. As a culminating project for the course, each student will have the opportunity to adopt/adapt one of the theoretical frameworks and methodological approaches we examine to propose or carry out their own research project.