Students who achieve a grade point average of 5.5 or better in the first two years of the Bachelor of Speech Pathology may enrol in the Bachelor of Speech Pathology (Honours) program in Year 3.
Other students may be admitted at the discretion of the Faculty Board, subject to specific conditions.
Admission requirements
To progress to Year 4 of the Honours program, a student must have attained at least a credit average across all third year topics including a credit grade in SPTH3902 Professional Studies & Communication Sciences 4A and SPTH3908 Professional Studies & Communication Sciences 4B, which have specified honours assessment requirements.
Course aims
The BSpPath (Hons) program is open to students enrolled in the BSpPath degree and runs concurrently with years 3 and 4 of the ordinary degree. It has the following additional aims.
- The primary educational aim of the honours program is research training.
- Provide knowledge and skills relevant to conducting research, especially for entry to higher degree courses
- Develop an advanced level of knowledge in the area of specialisation
- Further develop verbal and written skills relevant to advanced studies.
Learning outcomes
At the completion of the honours program, students should be able to:
- Understand the major research paradigms
- Define and delimit a research problem
- Formulate a research question
- Structure and undertake an extensive literature review
- Critique research and scholarly literature for the strengths and weaknesses in their conception, design, analysis, and presentation
- Apply knowledge of the research process, from development of a research question through design, data collection, and analysis, to write-up and publication
- Design and conduct a research project within at least one research paradigm
- Discuss the ethical requirements and constraints of human research
- Prepare an ethics approval application
- Analyse data using the methods of at least one research paradigm
- Describe the different genres of presentation and publication of research
- Write for presentation and publication
- Prepare a dissertation
- Present their research project to an audience of peers, and manage questions from the audience
- Use information technology to support research
- Participate as a colleague in a research endeavour
- Pursue higher degree studies by research.
Program of study
To qualify for the Bachelor of Speech Pathology (Honours) a student must complete 153 units with a grade of P or NGP or better in each topic, according to the program of study below.
Normally at least 31.5 units must be completed at a given level before proceeding to any higher level topics.
Core - Year 1 topics
36 units comprising:
SPTH1102 Introduction to Anatomy and Physiology (4.5 units)
SPTH1103 Anatomy and Physiology of Speech (4.5 units)
SPTH1104 Clinical Skills and Practice 1 (4.5 units)
SPTH1105 Child Development and Learning (4.5 units)
SPTH1201 Psychosocial Aspects of Speech Pathology (4.5 units)
SPTH1202 Research Methods in Speech Pathology (4.5 units)
SPTH1506 Linguistics and Phonetics 1 (4.5 units)
SPTH1509 Linguistics and Phonetics 2 (4.5 units)
Core - Year 2 topics
36 units comprising:
SPTH2901 Professional Studies & Communication Sciences 1A (Communication Development & Disorders: Birth to Pre-School) (4.5 units)
SPTH2902 Professional Studies & Communication Sciences 2A (Communication Development & Disorders: School Age to Adolescence) (4.5 units)
SPTH2903 Clinical Skills and Practice 1A (Communication Development and Disorders) (4.5 units)
SPTH2904 Clinical Skills and Practice 2A (Communication Development and Disorders: School Age to Adolescence) (4.5 units)
SPTH2905 Professional Studies & Communication Sciences 1B (Motor Speech Disorders) (4.5 units)
SPTH2906 Professional Studies & Communication Sciences 2B (Voice and Swallowing Disorders) (4.5 units)
SPTH2907 Clinical Skills and Practice 1B (Motor Speech Disorders) (4.5 units)
SPTH2908 Clinical Skills and Practice 2B (Voice and Swallowing Disorders) (4.5 units)
Core - Year 3 topics
36 units comprising:
SPTH3901 Professional Studies and Communication Sciences 3A (Acquired Language Disorders 1) (4.5 units)
SPTH3902 Professional Studies and Communication Sciences 4A (Acquired Language Disorders 2) (4.5 units)
SPTH3903 Speech Pathology Practicum 1 (4.5 units)
SPTH3904 Speech Pathology Practicum 2 (4.5 units)
SPTH3905 Clinical Skills and Practice 3 (Complex Disorders - Paediatrics) (4.5 units)
SPTH3906 Clinical Skills and Practice 4 (Complex Disorders - Adults) (4.5 units)
SPTH3907 Professional Studies and Communication Sciences 3B (Complex Disorders - Paediatrics) (4.5 units)
SPTH3908 Professional Studies and Communication Sciences 4B (Complex Disorders - Adults) (4.5 units)
Core - Year 4 Honours topics
45 units comprising:
SPTH4901 Speech Pathology Practicum 3 (13.5 units)
SPTH7000A Honours Thesis A (9 units)
SPTH7000B Honours Thesis B (9 units)
SPTH7003 Speech Pathology Honours Practicum (13.5 units)
Except with the permission of the Faculty Board:
- the course must be completed within seven consecutive years or, where credit has been granted for previous work, a period determined by the Board;
- a student may not undertake more than 40.5 units in any year, unless enrolled in the fourth year honours program;
- no topic may be attempted more than twice.
The award of a grade of Fail (F) in the same topic on more than one occasion or failure to complete the course within seven consecutive years may constitute prima facie evidence of unsatisfactory progress for the purposes of the University's Policy on Student Progress.