Student accepted into the PhD program in Linguistics may be offered a funding package covering tuition and fees and providing a stipend. Generally, funding packages cover four years of the program and require students to serve as graduate assistants with a teaching role of some kind. Funding is competitive, however, and not all accepted students are offered a funding package. MA students are generally not funded. Applicants who wish to be considered for funding must meet the December 1st application deadline.
Students who choose to enter the program without a guaranteed funding package may still be considered for funding on a yearly basis, but this is subject to available funds and it should not be assumed a position will become available.
The material below summarizes some of the awards and funding packages available to students. More information can be found on the Graduate School website.
Linguistics Fellowship Awards
The Linguistics Fellowship Award (LFA) are four year funding packages awarded to incoming students by the Linguistics Department. The LFA includes four years of standard graduate assistantship funding covering tuition and fees and offering a stipend. LFA students typically serve as teaching assistants for undergraduate courses.
Graduate School Fellowship Awards
The Graduate School Funding Award (GSFA) represents the most prestigious graduate student award available at the University. Funded at nationally competitive levels, these awards provide four years of support including a stipend and tuition waiver for incoming Ph.D. students. GSFA recipients will receive both research and teaching assignments during their four years.
Grinter Fellowships
Named in honor of Dr. Linton E. Grinter, Dean of the Graduate School from 1952 to 1969, these fellowships help recruit exceptional graduate students. Stipends are normally $2000 to $4000 for each of three years, subject to satisfactory student progress.
CLAS Dissertation Fellowships
The College of Liberal Arts and Sciences offers CLAS Dissertation Fellowships to Ph.D. students in their final semesters of study. Deadlines for the fellowships are announced throughout the academic year.
Graduate School Dissertation Fellowships
The University of Florida Graduate School offers Dissertation Awards and Research Travel Awards to continuing Ph.D. students. Deadlines for the fellowships are announced throughout the academic year.
External Fellowships
The UF Graduate School maintains a Financial Aid Bulletin Board. Other funding opportunities are available from external organizations.
Minority Fellowships
The University of Florida is committed to diversity in its student body and coordinates a number of Diversity Programs aimed at underrepresented minorities.
African American and Hispanic American doctoral candidates (US citizens only) are encouraged to apply simultaneously to our department and to the McKnight Doctoral Fellowship Program.
Research Assistantships
Research assistantships may be available for students with particular skills and interests. Incoming as well as continuing students are considered when such positions become available.
Teaching Assistantships
Teaching Assistantships are available to both incoming and continuing graduate students. Prior teaching experience and linguistic coursework are two considerations in assigning available TA positions. TAships are typically available in the areas below.
TA positions come with a stipend and a tuition waiver. Duties for a normal assistantship are approximately 20 hours per week.
LIN 2004 Languages of the World
LIN 2004 is a lower level undergraduate course that introduces students to the world’s languages: their genetic affiliations, their geographic distribution, and their major linguistic features. The course is part of the International Scholars Program through the UF International Center.
LIN 2614 Language in the USA
LIN 2614 is a lower level undergraduate course that surveys the linguistic landscape in the United States, including multilingualism, dialects, and Native American languages
LIN 3010 Introduction to Linguistics
LIN 3010 is an introduction to the scientific study of language. It is a required course for all linguistics majors and is taught in the Fall, Spring, and Summer semesters. The course is taught in three different formats: 1) a large lecture class (approximately 100) taught by a professor, with TAs assigned to lead smaller discussion sections (approximately 20 students each) one day a week, 2) smaller sections of approximately 30-35 students taught solely by a TA, and 3) asynchronous online.
There are therefore three kinds of Teaching Assistantships for LIN 3010, with different duties. When assisting a professor who teaches a large lecture class, duties include attending lectures, grading homework and exams, and leading weekly discussion sections. When teaching a small section of LIN 3010 on their own, TAs are responsible for all aspects of the course, from content to evaluation, under the guidance of the LIN 3010 supervisor. TAs who assist with the online version of the course interact with students through the course website and other virtual means.
In all cases, graduate students must have passed the comprehensive examinations with P (pass) or better before being appointed as a TA for LIN 3010. If not required to take the comprehensive exam, graduate students must be competent in the core areas of linguistics, as demonstrated in coursework.
LIN 3201 Sounds of Human Language and LIN 3460 Structure of Human Language
LIN 3201 and LIN 3460 are required courses for the undergraduate major. LIN 3201 investigates sounds in the world’s languages while LIN 3460 investigates word formation and sentence structure in the world’s languages. These courses are taught Fall, Spring, and Summer semesters. Students may be hired as graders or as instructors. Positions are available only to continuing graduate students who are specializing in phonetics/phonology (for LIN3201) or syntax/morphology (for LIN3460).
LIN 3680 Modern English Structure
LIN 3680 is an introduction to English grammar, primarily for students planning to go on to teach English as a Second Language (ESL). TAs for LIN 3680 should have experience teaching or tutoring ESL students.
TSL 3360 Introduction to TESL
TSL 3360 is an introduction to Teaching English as a Second Language that trains students to be successful ESL instructors. It covers pedagogy, lesson planning and materials development, and classroom management. TAs for TSL 3360 should have experience teaching or tutoring ESL students.
University Writing Program
The University Writing Program helps undergraduate students at the University of Florida achieve their academic and professional goals by offering broad-based instruction in composition. UWP courses emphasize the practical importance of communication in students’ lives and take into consideration how arguments are shaped by our writing communities or academic disciplines. Teaching assistants for UWP must have an MA or 18 graduate credit hours and extensive teaching experience. They also need to participate in training for a week before classes start.
Quest
The Quest program is part of the general education curriculum at UF. Quest courses examine questions about the human condition that are difficult to answer and hard to ignore in an increasingly complex world.
Foreign Languages
Foreign language departments on campus (Japanese, Arabic, Swahili, etc.) sometimes have Teaching Assistantships for speakers of those languages. If you are interested in one of those positions, please inform the Linguistics graduate coordinator. Your interest will be forwarded to the relevant department. If you are an international student, you are still required by Florida State Law to take the TSE or the SPEAK test even if you are assigned to teach your native language. However, the required score is 45.
English Language Institute
The English Language Institute (ELI) offers English as a Second Language (ESL) courses at all levels to international students not enrolled at the University of Florida. Linguistics TAs may be employed to teach grammar, writing, or speaking courses at the ELI. Those that do so must have had a TESL/ESOL methods course (such as TSL 6171) before being appointed to an assistantship in the ELI. In addition, they must have an MA in the relevant field or 4 semesters of graduate study towards a PhD. During the first semester, students who have limited or no classroom teaching experience will need to take LIN 6940 Supervised Teaching during their first semester of teaching.
International Students as Teaching Assistants
International applicants and students in Linguistics may be considered for teaching assistant positions for linguistics courses as well as in the ESL service programs (ASE and the ELI), as listed above. However, to be eligible for a teaching assistantship at the University of Florida, Florida State Law requires demonstrated proficiency in English. This requirement applies to all students who do not come from a country in which English is an official language. At UF, the SPEAK Test (offered on campus) or the Speaking portion of TOEFL iBT scores are used to meet this legal requirement.
Teaching assistantship candidates must meet these required minimums on either test:
- SPEAK Test: 55.
- Speaking portion of TOEFL iBT: 28.
If teaching assistantship candidates are going to teach in their native languages, they must meet these minimums on either test:
- SPEAK Test: 45.
- Speaking portion of TOEFL iBT: 23.
Teaching assistantship candidates who score 45-50 on the SPEAK Test or 23-27 on the TOEFL iBT may be allowed a provisional teaching assistantship if they take Academic Spoken English 2 at the same time.
Graduate students who score lower than 45 on the SPEAK Test or 23 on the TOEFL iBT do not qualify for teaching assistantships.
Please see the Graduate School and ASE websites for further information and testing options.