Second-language acquisition and development will be the focus of a new doctoral program in linguistics at UC Davis that starts next fall.

The new program responds to a growing need for researchers trained to investigate issues of bilingualism and multilingualism, according to Mary Schleppegrell, associate professor of linguistics, who chairs the graduate group for the Department of Linguistics.

Approved recently by the UC Office of the President, the program plans to admit a small number of students beginning in fall 2004. The deadline for applications is Jan. 15.

The only such doctoral program within the UC system, it draws on the strengths of core and affiliated linguistics faculty members at UC Davis engaged in research on language structure and use, language learning and pedagogy, and the development of literacies in bi- and multilingual contexts.

The new program will allow researchers to further describe and theorize about the languages being learned, including English in its many varieties, in multilingual settings in California and across the world.

UC Davis is also the home campus for the UC Second Language Acquisition Institute, which offers theoretical and practical knowledge of language acquisition and technologically-based language instruction to the language scholars throughout the UC system.