Doctoral Programs in Literacy Studies

These graduate programs and courses are offered by the Long Island, New York campus of Hofstra University.

The Department of Literacy Studies offers two doctoral programs: Doctor of Education in Literacy Studies (Formerly Doctor of Education in Reading, Language and Cognition) and Doctor of Philosophy in Literacy Studies (Formerly Doctor of Philosophy in Reading, Language and Cognition). Each program includes a multilingual strand.

Each doctoral program in literacy studies has four components:

1. The completion of matriculation requirements;
2. The satisfaction of course requirements;
3. A passing candidacy paper, which is the equivalent of a comprehensive examination;
4. The successful defense of a doctoral dissertation which demonstrates independence, originality, and the ability to contribute to the understandings of language, literacy and learning at an advanced level of conceptualization in investigation in the field of literacy studies.

These programs are designed for literacy researchers and teachers who work in universities, colleges, public schools and community settings. We are looking for applicants who have demonstrated exceptional scholarship and who have a strong commitment to literacy and issues of equity and social justice.

Literacy studies degrees are not pursued in isolation. When students enter the doctoral program they are immediately immersed in research projects which have direct relevance to their professional lives. Students are given every opportunity to develop their own plans of study focusing on their particular research interests.

The doctoral programs focus on five core areas in literacy studies:

1. Literacy, Literature and the Imagination
2. Sociolinguistic and Psycholinguistic Perspectives of Literacy
3. Literacy Learning and Pedagogical Practices
4. Sociopolitical Perspectives of Literacy
5. Cultural Historical Perspectives of Literacy

Students take seminars in these five areas of concentration and are required to pursue at least one and no more than two areas to a more advanced level. Within this context students are encouraged to develop their own theoretical frameworks for literacy research.

Students are expected to participate in discussions with the faculty who express many different points of view and who steer clear of imposing a particular ideology while they explore issues of equity, diversity, and social justice through the critique of literacy paradigms and theories. Literacy Studies faculty work diligently to provide courses and seminars focused on areas of literacy research and pedagogical practices that are directly relevant to the expressed interests of students. Faculty, and visiting scholars from around the world, introduce students to the intellectual discussions, debates and arguments - epistemological, philosophical, theoretical and pedagogical - that frame the field. In so doing, faculty encourage students to expand their understandings of literacy so students can participate in conversations about literacy in families, communities and schools internationally and nationally, as well as at local levels.