The Graduate Certificate in TESOL provides a 15-hour graduate-level experience for people who already hold a bachelor’s degree (or higher) in some area and who are interested in teaching English to adults, either abroad or in the U.S. The program includes courses in theoretical linguistics as well as in pedagogical concerns. (The certificate is not to be confused with the Missouri teaching certificate in ESOL, K-12. For information about that program, consult the TESOL Certification Option listed below or contact the certificate advisor).

Admission

To be considered for the program, a student must have a bachelor’s degree from a regionally accredited college or university, with at least a 3.00 undergraduate grade point average and no grade lower than a “B” in any graduate courses (if any have been taken).

Submit a Graduate College Application to apply for the program. Students who are already graduate students at MSU may apply to the certificate program as well (except for students in the M.A. in English with an emphasis in TESOL program). For those currently attending Missouri State University as a master’s or specialist student, no additional application fee will be required. Please note that admission to the certificate program does not constitute admission to any other Missouri State University graduate program.

Admission Deadlines

Applications should be submitted least one month prior to the semester you wish to begin.

Plan of Study

Following admission to the certificate program, submit a completed Plan of Study to the Graduate College. Work with the certificate program advisor to determine which courses will be taken towards the certificate. Keep in mind that courses taken for undergraduate credit may not be used on a Plan of Study for a graduate certificate.

If it becomes necessary to change a course originally listed on the approved Plan of Study, a Change of Certificate Plan of Study Request Form should be completed and submitted to the Graduate College.

Required Courses

• *ENG 591. Linguistic Theory (3 hrs)
  • * If a student has already taken an introduction to linguistics at the undergraduate level, he/she may, with the approval of the certificate advisor, substitute a different course for ENG 591 from the list of elective courses below, or another graduate course in linguistics with the consent of the certificate advisor.
• ENG 592. Sociolinguistics for Language Teaching (3 hrs)
• ENG 595. Principles of Second Language Acquisition (3 hrs)

Elective Courses (choose two)

• ENG 505. Methods in TESOL (3 hrs)
• ENG 596. Material and Assessment in TESOL (3 hrs)
• ENG 590. Grammatical Analysis (3 hrs)

Transferred Course Work

Students may transfer one course taken from a different regionally-accredited institution into the certificate program, with the approval of the certificate advisor and following MSU’s policy on transfer credit. (See the Graduate College section on Transfer Credit for these policies).

Double Counting Courses

Students may not count the same course more than once within the certificate program itself. Students may count toward the graduate certificate in TESOL any of the courses listed above that have been taken as part of either the M.A. in English degree (literature track or creative writing track) or the M.A. in Writing (all tracks). Double counting in other programs may be allowed with the consent of the certificate advisor and the student’s major advisor.

GPA Requirements

Students must have an overall GPA of 3.00 for completion of the certificate program.

Completion Requirements

During the semester in which the final course requirement is being completed, a Notification to Complete a Certificate Program Form must be submitted to the Graduate College to initiate the final check.  The information on this form is also used to generate your formal certificate.

For more information on the Orientation and Mobility certificate program, please contact:

Dr. Christina Biava, Certificate Advisor
Pummill Hall, Room 209D
Phone (417) 836-5867

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