The PhD program in Second Language Studies at the University of Hawai‘i was established in 1988. The graduate faculty of the PhD program comprises all members of the SLS faculty, as well as faculty members of the Departments of Anthropology, East Asian Languages and Literatures, and Linguistics. The goal of the program is to promote significant doctoral-level research into major areas of SLS - analysis, learning, use and pedagogy. We need to know more about how second languages are learned, how they should be taught, and what psychological and sociological factors influence their acquisition. We need a better understanding of language styles, dialect variation, and a host of other areas. Knowledge in this field has a significant impact on such matters as proficiency assessment, program organization, teaching methodologies, legal and social policy issues concerning language, and our understanding of the nature of language.