Advisors: Selena Protacio, Virginia David, Susan Piazza, Magda Tigchelaar

This master’s degree program is designed to prepare educators to meet the unique needs of children and adults learning English as a second language in K-12 schools and tertiary education settings in the United States of America and worldwide. Graduates of this master’s degree program will be eligible for the Michigan Department of Education’s ESL endorsement.

This program is designed to meet the needs of teachers who:

• Are seeking to advance in their careers by obtaining a master’s degree;
• Would like to learn about second language acquisition theories and teaching methodologies;
• Are interested in becoming ESL teachers in K-12 schools and/or colleges and universities in the United States and other countries;
• Desire to teach in schools with a significant population of English Language Learners;
• Desire to become a district ESL coach or coordinator (requires MDE ESL endorsement);
• Want to teach in English language programs for international students in colleges and universities;
• Plan to teach in English language institutes in the United States and other countries.

Admission Requirements

• Bachelor’s degree with a minimum GPA of 3.0.
• One page statement explaining applicant’s interest in this master’s degree program.
• Three professional letters of reference.
• Meet university requirements for graduate level admissions for domestic and international students. Graduate student application:  http://www.wmich.edu/apply/graduate/. International application:  http://www.wmich.edu/apply/international.
• For international students, minimum iBT TOEFL score of 89 with a minimum subscore of 20 for writing or a minimum IELTS score of 7.0 with a minimum subscore of 6 for writing. Provisional admission would require a minimum iBT TOEFL score of 79 and a minimum IELTS score of 6.5.