English: Concentration in English Education

Program Scope

The set of courses in the undergraduate concentration in English Education aims to help students develop the subject-matter knowledge to enter credential programs to become English Language Arts teachers at the secondary level, in middle or in high school. The program includes a range of literature classes, courses in the theory and practice of literacy teaching and learning, linguistics and communication classes, service learning in local public schools and an option of taking an emphasis area (literature, drama, linguistics or creative writing). The program culminates with students compiling reflective electronic portfolios, a course capstone that emphasizes the constructivist philosophy of the program — the belief that students actively make meaning as they learn

Program Learning Outcomes

1. Students will be able to differentiate how language use varies across the contexts and genres of professional writing and rhetoric, literature, and linguistics. (Disciplinary Knowledge) 

2. Students will be able to formulate and pursue methodologically sound lines of inquiry, effectively placing their ideas side by side the ideas of others, drawing persuasively on credible primary and secondary sources. (Research) 

3. Students will be able to produce rhetorically effective texts across a range of digital, print, and multimedia formats. (Written Communication/Digital Literacy) 

4. Students will be able to carefully read and critically examine the ways in which culture and global context affect language, literature, and writing. (Global Perspectives) 

5. Students will be able to analyze language and texts in relation to the historical and social contexts in which they are situated. (Historical Thinking)
6. Students will be able to apply critical thinking, close reading, and rhetorical persuasion to engage productively and ethically in scholarly, civic, and professional communities. (Application & Engagement)
7. Students in the English Education concentration will achieve proficiency across English/Language Arts domains (Reading; Communications; Composition and Rhetoric; Language, Linguistics, and Literacy) as required for subject matter competency in English Education.
8. Students in the English Education concentration will demonstrate the pedagogical content-knowledge and dispositions appropriate for pre-service teachers.