Statement of Purpose
For Graduate Association of Chinese Linguistics (GACL)
The Graduate Association of Chinese Linguistics (GACL) is a registered student
organization with the goal of promoting the linguistic study of the Chinese language.
Research interest covers the full range of Chinese linguistics -- its norm and dialect
variants, spoken and written forms, synchronic and diachronic aspects, and theoretical as
well as applied linguistics and their pedagogical applications. Chinese linguistics has a
long established tradition at The Ohio State University.
All graduate students at The Ohio State University who are interested in Chinese
linguistics, both theoretical and applied application for language teaching and research,
are welcome to join this organization.
At the national level, there are some Chinese linguistic and pedagogical organizations,
such as Chinese Language Teachers Association (CLTA), International Association of
Chinese Linguistics (IACL), and several conferences, such as the CLTA annual
conference, the IACL annual conference, the North American Conference of Chinese
Linguistics (NACCL) annual conference. However, it is relatively hard for graduate
students to attend these conferences, especially at the beginning of their graduate life,
though they can become the members of these organizations. In order to help graduates
better prepare for the conference abstracts and presentations, graduates need a venue to
practice and get feedback from fellow graduates or professors, if possible.
Thus, the establishment of GACL will be better tailored to graduates’ academic needs
and their career development, by providing them with an informal practice venue before
they present formally at the conferences. Also by inviting professors to give talks on
various topics, graduate students can be better informed of the latest development in the
field and have a better sense of what is going on in Chinese linguistics. Lastly, a diversity
of activities will furnish graduates with various linguistic analytical tools, a forum for
discussion or debate, an academically social group for interaction.
With a clear objective outlined above, the GACL will hold a series of activities to serve
students’ academic needs and interests in Chinese linguistics. In addition to preparations
for presentations or abstract submission, other activities include but are not limited to: (1)
Quarterly speech: Every quarter, the GACL will invite a Chinese linguists (or general
linguists) either from OSU or from other American or foreign university or institutions to
give a speech, or lecture. Students will be able to take this opportunity to keep abreast of
the latest development in Chinese linguistics; (2) Irregular salons: This will offer a freestyle chance for students to talk about their research and all other issue of common
interest; (3) Irregular workshops: The GACL will invite graduate students from the OSU
or other universities who are either currently working on their dissertations, or are
pursuing a position in the academic world, or have already graduated, to share their
experiences about or offer advice on dissertation writing, job hunting or other issues
concerned.
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