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Teaching English as a Second Language

Professor Sam Overstreet, Chair, Division of Languages and Literature and Coordinator

The Major in Teaching English as a Second Language is offered as an initial endorsement educator preparation program for teaching pre-kindergarten through twelfth grade. The major is interdisciplinary and requires the equivalent of the completion of a minor in a second language.

Students successfully completing the program of study will have achieved the following learning outcomes:

  1. Understand linguistic terms and concepts essential for teaching English as a second language.
  2. Identify by name all the phrasal and clausal syntactic structures commonly used in the formation of English sentences.
  3. Draw generative tree diagrams of kernel sentences in English.
  4. Describe how the phonemes of American English are produced in the mouth.
  5. Read and write phonetic transcriptions using the International Phonetic Alphabet.
  6. Understand the stages of language development in children that can normally be expected at different ages.
  7. Understand a range of methodologies and approaches for teaching English that are suitable for learners of different ages and levels of English ability.
  8. Articulate a philosophy of standards of correctness that balances respect for linguistic diversity with acknowledgment of the reality of both sociolinguistic prejudice and culturally determined norms of correctness.
  9. Articulate how their own experience as learners of a second language facilitates empathetic understanding of their students as language learners.
  10. Effectively communicate information about a teaching project through development and delivery of an oral presentation.