East Asian Languages and Cultures

University of California, Berkeley

About the Program

The Department of East Asian Languages and Cultures offers a PhD program in East Asian Languages and Cultures (EALC), with specializations in Chinese or Japanese. The department only admits students into the PhD program.

As a rule, students wishing to enter the graduate program should have completed an undergraduate program comparable to the undergraduate major in this department. Students who do not have BA or MA degrees in East Asian Languages and Cultures, Chinese, Japanese or in similar fields can be considered for admission. If admitted, these students are often required to make up deficiencies in their course work. This can result in a lengthening of the normative time to degree (seven years).

The department only admits students into the PhD program. You must indicate that a PhD is your degree goal on the application materials. Students who have not completed an MA degree before beginning study at Berkeley will have to complete the requirements for the MA before proceeding to the PhD program. After completion of the MA requirements (coursework and thesis), students are evaluated for permission to proceed to the PhD portion of the program. Students who have completed an MA degree before beginning study at Berkeley may apply for admission directly to the PhD program. After one year in the PhD program, such students will be evaluated before being permitted to continue in the program.

UC Berkeley graduate students from other disciplines who are considering transferring into the degree program in Chinese or Japanese undergo the same faculty review as first-time applicants. Students in this category should contact the department graduate assistant for instructions.

The length of time needed to complete an advanced degree in the department depends on financial considerations, the extent of the student's earlier preparation, and other factors. Under optimum conditions, the MA can be earned in two years and the PhD in an additional four to five years.

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Admissions

Admission to the University

Applying for Graduate Admission

Thank you for considering UC Berkeley for graduate study! UC Berkeley offers more than 120 graduate programs representing the breadth and depth of interdisciplinary scholarship. The Graduate Division hosts a complete list of graduate academic programs, departments, degrees offered, and application deadlines can be found on the Graduate Division website.

Prospective students must submit an online application to be considered for admission, in addition to any supplemental materials specific to the program for which they are applying. The online application and steps to take to apply can be found on the Graduate Division website.

Admission Requirements

The minimum graduate admission requirements are:

  1. A bachelor’s degree or recognized equivalent from an accredited institution;

  2. A satisfactory scholastic average, usually a minimum grade-point average (GPA) of 3.0 (B) on a 4.0 scale; and

  3. Enough undergraduate training to do graduate work in your chosen field.

For a list of requirements to complete your graduate application, please see the Graduate Division’s Admissions Requirements page. It is also important to check with the program or department of interest, as they may have additional requirements specific to their program of study and degree. Department contact information can be found here.

Where to apply?

Visit the Berkeley Graduate Division application page.

Admission to the Program

Applications are reviewed and ranked by the entire faculty. The faculty makes its selection on the basis of academic records and on whether or not the applicant's academic goals can be met by the department's programs. Those chosen are recommended to the Graduate Division, which sets the number of students the department can admit, makes a final review of the applications, and issues an official letter of admission to the student. The number of students the department can admit is usually very small and standards for admission are highly competitive.

The Graduate Application is submitted electronically; the online application becomes available in September for admission effective the following year. See the Graduate Division website for details. All applicants must use the online application.

Transcripts. Applicants will submit unofficial transcripts, GRE scores, and other admissions materials on-line as part of the application. Admitted students will be required to submit two copies of all official transcripts in envelopes sealed by the issuing institutions at a later date.

Letters of Recommendation. Three letters of recommendation are required. As part of the application you will have to submit the names and contact information for the letter writers. Letters in languages other than English should be translated into English, but the original letter, in the original language, must be included. The department recommends that letters of recommendation come from faculty members who can comment on the applicant's intellectual capacity, analytical skills, ability to write English, and general aptitude for scholarly work. Letters from nonacademic referees are rarely helpful. All letters must be submitted on-line by the recommenders no later than two weeks after the application deadline to ensure that they are included in the review process.

Academic Writing Sample. A writing sample in English must be included with the on-line application. The writing sample is intended to gauge an applicant's academic writing ability, and should be a paper that the student feels best represents the quality of his/her work. An ideal writing sample will be around 20 pages on a topic related to East Asian studies, but a paper on another topic or of a different length may be acceptable.

GRE Test Scores. The GRE is required.

Applicants from Abroad. International applicants are urged to examine closely the requirements for certification and translation of records and TOEFL requirements provided in the Graduate Application and the information on legal residency and fees.

Doctoral Degree Requirements

Language Requirements 

Chinese

Chinese MA Fluency in modern Chinese and a year of classical Chinese. 

Chinese PhD Reading competence in a language other than Chinese relevant to the program, chosen in consultation with the Primary Advisor. In most cases, the second language will be three years of Japanese. In exceptional cases, this requirement may be satisfied by competence in another language, normally demonstrated by three years of language study at Berkeley or its equivalent. (Coursework must be taken for a letter-grade.) Native speakers of a language other than English do not automatically fulfill the language requirement; the language must be appropriate to advanced research in the program. 12 

Japanese

Japanese MA Fluency in modern and classical Japanese. The classical Japanese requirement must be satisfied by completion of a classical Japanese seminar taken for four units for a letter grade. Students entering the program without having taken an introduction to classical Japanese elsewhere are expected to take JAPAN 120 as well. 

Japanese PhD Reading competence in a language other than Japanese relevant to the program, chosen in consultation with the Primary Advisor. Competence will normally be demonstrated by three years of language study at Berkeley or its equivalent. (Coursework must be taken for a letter-grade.) Native speakers of a language other than English do not automatically fulfill the language requirement; the language must be appropriate to advanced research in the program. 

Coursework

Chinese and Japanese

Number and Types of Courses Required for the MA 

  •  EA LANG 200, "Proseminar: Approaches to East Asian Studies" is required, normally in the first year. 
  • A minimum of three graduate seminars (four units each) in the student’s major language field (Chinese or Japanese) in the department will be required, for a letter grade. EA LANG 200 will not count toward the three required seminars. Students will have the option of taking additional seminars beyond the three required for the MA degree for two units, in which case no seminar paper is required. Each EALC seminar is structured with a 4 unit norm and 2 unit option. 
  • 8 additional units, in consultation with the Primary Advisor. 

Students who will need to acquire a second language from scratch to satisfy PhD requirements (q.v.) will be advised to begin work on that language as early as possible. 

Chinese Specialization
A minimum of three graduate seminars (four units each)
CHINESE 220Seminar in Philological Analysis of Ancient Chinese Texts2,4
CHINESE 221Reading the Zhuangzi2,4
CHINESE 222Early Chinese Thought2,4
CHINESE C223Readings in Chinese Buddhist Texts2,4
CHINESE 230Seminar in Chinese Literary History2,4
CHINESE 234Texts on the Civilization of Medieval China2,4
CHINESE 242Genre and Method in Traditional Chinese Texts2,4
CHINESE 254Chinese Literatures and Cultures in Global Context2,4
CHINESE 255Late Imperial Fiction and Drama2,4
CHINESE 257Modern Chinese Literature2,4
CHINESE 280Modern Chinese Cultural Studies2,4
CHINESE 282Modern Chinese Film Studies2,4

Japanese Specialization

A minimum of three graduate seminars (four units each)
JAPAN C225Readings in Japanese Buddhist Texts2,4
JAPAN 230Seminar in Classical Japanese Poetry2,4
JAPAN C231Course Not Available2
JAPAN 232Japanese Bibliography2,4
JAPAN 234Seminar in Classical Japanese Drama2,4
JAPAN 240Seminar in Classical Japanese Texts2,4
JAPAN 242Seminar in Medieval Japanese Texts2,4
JAPAN 255Seminar in Prewar Japanese Literature2,4
JAPAN 259Seminar in Postwar Japanese Literature2,4

MA Thesis 

An MA thesis, usually based on a previous research paper and limited to 50 pages, is required. If the MA thesis involves a translation, the translation may be added as an appendix, which will not count toward the page limit. 

An MA Thesis Committee of three will be appointed by the Primary Advisor and the Director of Graduate Studies in consultation with the student. University regulations call for a chair, an inside member, and an outside member (or the less preferable alternative of a second inside member). The Committee will comprehensively analyze comments on the thesis, work done to date, and then recommend or not recommend advancement to the PhD program. A student may not advance to PhD coursework until permission to advance has been received and the MA thesis has been signed. Acceptance of the thesis does not automatically entail permission to proceed to the PhD, which is a separate decision. 

Advancement to Candidacy for the MA Degree

Masters Students are not automatically advanced to candidacy; they must submit a formal application for advancement to candidacy no later than the end of the fifth week of classes of the semester in which they expect to receive the degree. 13 

Mechanism for Continuation or Termination at the MA level A review of graduate students will take place in the middle and at the end of their first year and annually thereafter, and conveyed to the students in writing. 

Academic good standing requires the maintenance of a 3.0 grade-point average in all upper division and graduate courses. A student with two or more Incompletes is academically ineligible to hold a student academic appointment. 

At the end of the MA program, a determination will be reached regarding permission to advance to the PhD program. 

If all requirements for the MA are not completed by the end of the fourth semester, the student will be warned that failure to complete the requirements by the end of the following semester may result in academic probation, in which case, the student cannot hold academic appointments or receive graduate fellowships. A student who has been put on academic probation will not normally be eligible to proceed to the PhD program until the condition is remedied. 

PhD Requirements

Chinese and Japanese

Coursework

Two graduate seminars, four units each, for a letter grade are required after completion of the MA, as well as at least one graduate seminar outside the department in a cognate discipline, also for four units and for a letter grade. These three seminars must be taken before the PhD Qualifying Examination (QE).

Qualifying Examination

The following will be required:

  • Three written examinations on fields within the department

  • One written examination on a field outside the department

  • Oral examination

The purpose of the qualifying examination is to ensure that the student possesses adequate breadth and depth of preparation needed to conduct dissertation research and teach. The student will normally choose reading lists in consultation with examiners and then meet regularly to discuss those readings with them. The written examinations will be based on those readings and discussions. The oral examination that follows is not meant to be a separate field of enquiry; instead, it is designed to pursue issues raised in the written segments.

The oral examination will take place one week after completion of the last written examination. It will last three hours and be attended by all four members of the Qualifying Examination Committee. It will be devoted to further investigation of issues raised in the written examinations.

Dissertation

A dissertation is required. Students should meet with their dissertation chairs to decide on appropriate timelines for research abroad and the completion of individual chapters. Students are not required to defend the dissertation once the dissertation committee has decided the dissertation is finished.

 

Courses

Chinese Language

Japanese Language

Contact Information

Department of East Asian Languages and Cultures

3413 Dwinelle Hall

Phone: 510-642-3480

Fax: 510-642-6031

ealang@berkeley.edu

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Department Chair

Robert Ashmore

3403 Dwinelle Hall

rashmore@berkeley.edu

Director of Graduate Studies

Andrew Jones

afjones@berkeley.edu

Graduate Student Affairs Officer

Grant Tompkins

3414 Dwinelle Hall

Phone: 510-642-4497

ealcgrad-advising@berkeley.edu

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