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Associate Professor Zaleski, Chairperson, 291 Hagedorn Hall

Professor Taylor
Associate Professors Flurkey, Goodman, Henry
Assistant Professors Cohen, Garcia, McGinnis
Assistant Professor Garcia, Director of the Reading/Writing Learning Clinic

The Reading/Writing Learning Clinic offers noncredit clinical services for the University and for the community-at-large.

The Department of Literacy Studies offers a Master of Science in Education in Literacy Studies with either an elementary or secondary emphasis; a Master of Science in Education in Literacy Studies and Early Childhood Special Education; a Master of Arts in the Teaching of Writing; a Certificate of Advanced Study in Literacy Studies; a Professional Diploma in Advanced Literacy Studies; a Doctor of Education in Reading, Language, and Cognition; and a Doctor of Philosophy in Reading, Language, and Cognition.

The faculty in literacy studies is committed to the exploration of issues of literacy and social justice. Our degree programs have been updated and are designed to maximize opportunities for students to work closely with a faculty that is committed to excellence in teaching. The faculty has received national and international recognition for their research and scholarship. They are committed to providing students in literacy studies with opportunities to participate in intellectual discussions that frame current understandings of school literacy practices and literacy practices that occur in family and community settings. The Literacy Studies Department provides support for families and communities as well as teachers and students in the New York metropolitan area.

Our programs prepare effective literacy educators who will work at the crossroads of home, school, and community discourses to forge instruction that is meaningful and life-affirming to learners. Our students will engage in critical explorations of:

1. literacy practices in schools;
2. local and vernacular literacies of families and communities;
3. the relationships between literacy and social class, ethnicity, race, gender, poverty, language of origin and disability.

Graduate students will join with faculty in a critical exploration of the ways in which students are taught to read and write in schools in urban, suburban, and rural communities. Attention is paid to the relationship between oral and written language from a variety of perspectives—social, cognitive, phonological, syntactic, semantic, and pragmatic. Faculty share the belief that all students bring rich language and literacy backgrounds to school that serve as a resource for learning. Graduate students will view theory and practice as inseparable and will possess the ability to engage in reflective practice.

Doctoral Programs in Reading, Language and Cognition

Professor Taylor, Graduate Program Director, (516) 463-5370,
Denny.Taylor@hofstra.edu

Doctor of Education (Ed.D.) in Reading, Language, and Cognition: designed for teachers, reading and language arts specialists, and other professional personnel in the public schools who will be concerned primarily with practice and college level teaching. It includes the basic courses in the Master’s and Professional Diploma Programs in Literacy. An early childhood emphasis in the Ed.D. program is provided for applicants who work in or wish to prepare in early childhood stages.

Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.) in Reading, Language, and Cognition: designed for specialists concerned primarily with research, experimentation and higher education, and includes the basic courses in the Master’s and Professional Diploma Programs in Literacy.

A bilingual/bicultural emphasis in the Ed.D. or Ph.D. program is provided for bilingual applicants (Spanish-English) who work in or wish to prepare to work in bilingual settings.

General Requirements
Matriculation

1. Basic University requirements for doctoral degrees.
2. Letters of recommendation from two supervisors, administrators or college professors who are in a position to rate the applicant.
3. Teaching experience: three years for Ed.D. prior to entering and five years before completion; for Ph.D. candidates, teaching
   experience adequate for providing the necessary experiential background to develop meaningful research proposals.
4. Master’s degree or equivalent.
5. Academic proficiency in undergraduate and graduate study.
6. A satisfactory score on the Miller Analogies Test or the GRE.
7. Statement of goals (on application supplement).
8. Satisfactory score on the department’s Doctoral Admission Examination in Reading and Writing. For foreign applicants, a    satisfactory score on the TOEFL.
9. Bilingual applicants must take a language proficiency examination in English and Spanish.

Degree Candidacy
Students will be admitted provisionally until they fulfill the following requirements necessary for full acceptance as degree candidates. These requirements must be met within three years of matriculation:

1. Master’s comprehensive examination for students whose master’s degree was not taken in the Hofstra University Reading Department. The results of this examination will be used to plan the student’s advanced course of studies and to make up any deficiencies.
2. For Ed.D. candidates, satisfactory completion of RES 259, 259L, 260 and 260L or equivalents. For Ph.D. candidates, satisfactory completion of RES 259, 259L, 260, 260L, 363, 363L or equivalents. In some cases, RES 363 and 363L (4 s.h.) are also required for the Ed.D. candidates, depending on the nature of their dissertations. These courses may also be used toward course work requirements.
3. For Ph.D. candidates, a reading knowledge of a modern language, preferably French, German or Spanish.
4. Acceptance by the Graduate Committee.

1. Completion of a minimum of 90 graduate credits for both the Ed.D. and the Ph.D.
2. A comprehensive examination. The doctoral comprehensive examination must be taken during or after READ 363. 
   
3. Satisfactory completion of the dissertation and the oral examination must be scheduled through the major adviser. The Ed.D. dissertation will concentrate on practical application to a school situation and may be descriptive in nature. The Ph.D. dissertation will concentrate on basic research having more universal application. It will be either statistical in nature or designed to develop theoretical models based on an insightful analysis in depth of basic research already completed or in combination with case studies. Candidates must complete all requirements within 5 years of acceptance as a degree candidate.

Residency
Students who matriculate for the doctoral programs in reading must spend one year in full-time residence or fulfill the options approved by the Graduate Committee.   

Advanced Standing

Students who have taken graduate courses at other institutions which are similar to courses required in the Hofstra University Reading programs may apply for advanced standing.

Transfer credit up to 45 semester hours may be granted for similar courses taken in programs leading to a master’s degree or a professional diploma.

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