Program Description

The program in the School of Humanities and Cultural Studies offers a flexible M.A. program designed to meet various needs, including those of prospective or practicing high school or college English teachers, ESL specialists, professional writers, and predoctoral students. The program is structured around work in language, literature, and writing. Courses are regularly available in the standard areas of literature, linguistics, composition/rhetoric, professional writing, and gender studies, as well as in nontraditional and interdisciplinary studies. Elective options allow students to design programs to meet their educational goals. In addition to the course and thesis options, special options allow students to combine courses in literature or language with work in creative writing, professional writing, technical writing, women’s studies, or the teaching of writing and literature, among other options. The program in TESOL (Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages), which includes linguistics and prepares students to teach English to nonnative speakers, may be pursued as an elective option, as an endorsement for certified public school teachers, or as a concentration in itself. Details about the different offerings in the TESOL program are available in the departmental office. Interdisciplinary options allow work in programs such as reading, communications, religion studies, or history. By offering on-the-job experience at appropriate sites, internships within the various options prepare students for professional writing careers, for college teaching, or for positions in special collections, archives, and private and rare book libraries. Full-time or part-time study is possible.

Admissions Requirements

Regular admission

In addition to meeting the admission requirements of the School of Graduate Studies, applicants for regular standing in the M.A. program in English must present either an undergraduate major in English from an accredited college or university with a major average of 3.2 or better (on a 4.0 scale), or five appropriate upper-division courses in English with an average of 3.5 or better in those classes. Applicants must also present an academic paper on a subject in English using secondary sources, and demonstrate an overall undergraduate grade point average of 3.0 or better. Applicants with deficiencies in their undergraduate preparation may be required to take additional courses.

Conditional admission

Applicants whose overall grade point average is between 3.0 and 2.7 may be admitted to conditional standing by action of the English department graduate committee if they meet the other requirements above. To attain regular standing, students must be reviewed by the graduate committee and maintain a 3.5 GPA or better in the first three graduate courses (9 credit hours) taken, which must include the appropriate methods and materials class and at least one other 7000-level course.

Upon petition of the student seeking admission, reasonable exceptions to these requirements may be made for sufficient cause.

International Students

It is essential that applicants for an M.A. in English be able to demonstrate their proficiency in written and spoken English. Nonnative speakers of English seeking regular admission to any graduate program in English must also meet one of the following minimum language proficiency requirements: TOEFL IBT 100, IELTS 7.5, PTE-A 68, or satisfactory completion of LEAP Level 4 TOEFL substitution. Applicants may be interviewed by a representative of the department. To be considered for conditional admission, nonnative speakers of English must also present a score of TOEFL IBT 80, IELTS 6.5, PTE-A 53 or be enrolled in the LEAP Program for the TOEFL substitution. These applicants may also be interviewed by a representative of the department.

Nondegree students enrolled in English graduate courses are subject to review and approval by the English department graduate committee.

Program Learning Outcomes

All graduates of the MA program in English Composition and Rhetoric will:

• Be skilled critical readers of significant texts in their chosen fields;
• Be effective writers of the kinds of documents required in their special fields;
• Be familiar with the research methods and materials (and know how to use the systems of documentation) appropriate to their field of concentration; and
• Be aware of and appreciative of the place of literature, language and rhetoric in a culture’s identity

All graduates of the MA program in English Literature will:

• Be skilled critical readers of significant texts in their chosen fields;
• Be effective writers of the kinds of documents required in their special fields;
• Be familiar with the research methods and materials (and know how to use the systems of documentation) appropriate to their field of concentration; and
• Be aware of and appreciative of the place of literature, language and rhetoric in a culture’s identity.

All students of the MA program in English TESOL will:

• Be skilled critical readers of significant texts in their chosen fields;
• Be effective writers of the kinds of documents required in their special fields;
• Be familiar with the research methods and materials (and know how to use the systems of documentation) appropriate to their field of concentration; and
• Be aware of and appreciative of the place of literature, language and rhetoric in a culture’s identity.

For More Information

• English, MA
• School of Humanities and Cultural Studies
• College of Liberal Arts