Master of Arts in English with an Emphasis on Teaching

The Master of Arts in English with an Emphasis on Teaching is designed to meet the needs of English teachers, most especially those teaching in secondary schools, but also those teaching English and the language arts in middle and elementary schools. (Note: The degree does not provide teacher certification.)

For more detailed information and for an application form, write to the department’s graduate director or see the department’s pages on the World Wide Web at the following URL: http://www.wmich.edu/english.

Program Requirements

A student desiring to enter the program should present a thirty-hour undergraduate major with a grade-point average of at least 3.0 and a sample of critical writing about literature. At least twenty hours of the major must be in courses in literature; no more than fifteen of the thirty should be at the freshman-sophomore level. Applicants lacking an undergraduate major but who have at least 20 hours of work in English with a substantial number of courses in literature and who are otherwise judged eligible may be granted admission to the program on condition that they remedy perceived deficiencies in preparation by taking some undergraduate courses as prerequisites. Applicants must take the Graduate Record Examinations, both the General Test and the Subject Test in Literature in English, and forward their scores to the Department of English.

Required courses in the program are:

(a) two courses chosen from:

ENGL 6150 - Literary Criticism Credits: 3 hrs.
ENGL 6300 - Introduction to Graduate Studies Credits: 3 hrs.
ENGL 6400 - The Nature of Poetry Credits: 3 hrs.

(b) two courses in English pedagogy, including the pedagogy of writing;

(c) one course in the study of multicultural literature;

(d) one course in the English language; and

(e) ENGL 6910 Research and Scholarship in English Education.

ENGL 6910 - Research and Scholarship in English Education Credits: 3 hrs.

Additional Courses

Of the additional graduate level courses needed to complete the thirty-three hours, at least nine hours must be in literature (exclusive of ENGL 5820 and 5830). On admission, students should consult with the advisor at the earliest opportunity concerning their program of study.