The Ph.D. in Education with a language and literacy focus prepares scholars to discover, create, and interpret knowledge relating to the development of students' literacy competencies. Students investigate the range of literacies in a global, multicultural society; the curricular choices and instructional strategies that foster language and literacy learning in a wide variety of settings; and the history and politics of language and literacy education, with attention to the effects of culture, social class, and status on the ways that language is used, valued, and understood. The Ph.D. program is centered on basic research, in contrast to the Ed.D., which emphasizes the application and interpretation of new knowledge.

One of the most important components of the Ph.D. program is the opportunity to work closely with scholars who are actively engaged in research on issues in language and literacy education and the program has been carefully designed to facilitate learning experiences of this kind. The faculty for the language and literacy concentration includes experts on language, literacy and culture.