Senate Reference No. 02-5
TO: The
Senate
FROM The
Curriculum Review Subcommittee
Carol
Lawton, Chair
DATE: April
23, 2002
SUBJECT: Proposal
for Undergraduate Certificate in Teaching English as a Second Language
We
find that the proposed Undergraduate Certificate in Teaching English as a
Second Language (attached) requires no Senate Review, and are reporting this
finding to the Senate for information only.
Approving Not Approving Absent
G.
Hickey M.
Codispoti
C.
Lawton, Chair T.
Guthrie
D.
McCants (ex officio) D.
Mansour-Cole
R.
Narang J.
Moore
D.
Oberstar G.
Mourad
B.
Resch R.
Loper (student representative)
B.
Salmon
From: R. Ramsey, Chair
Subject: Proposal for Undergraduate Certificate in Teaching English as a
Second Language
To help meet Indiana’s current critical demand for ESL teachers, the Department of English and Linguistics proposes Indiana University certificates in teaching English as a second language at both the undergraduate and graduate levels. This document addresses the undergraduate certificate. The proposal, originally prepared by a committee composed of Avon Crismore, Rachelle Darabi, Richard Ramsey, Beth Lee Simon, and Mary Helen Thuente (since resigned from IPFW), has been unanimously endorsed by the Undergraduate Studies Committee and the Graduate Studies Committee of the Department of English and Linguistics. It has been revised from the version provisionally approved by the Arts and Sciences Curriculum Committee in the spring of 2001 to include the corrections specified and to reflect progress in requesting courses new or new to this campus. Most significantly, a course offered through the Department of Modern Foreign Languages, EDUC M445 Methods of Teaching Foreign Languages, has been added as an alternative under the “methods” category and another, SPAN S428 Applied Spanish Linguistics (available for graduate credit), has been identified as potentially appropriate and may be accepted under the “linguistics” category on a case-by-case basis. Advice from the Department of Audiology and Speech Sciences and the School of Education has also been incorporated into the course descriptions. The proposed certificate will be part of the department’s Institute for Excellence in Writing.
The undergraduate certificate is intended primarily for students working towards a baccalaureate degree who wish to be trained in teaching English to non-native speakers of English. Other potential target audiences include people preparing to live abroad or wishing to facilitate their employment abroad, and those who have technical or business expertise and wish to work with ESL students in professional settings. With the quickening expansion of English as the international language of commerce, education, science and technology, as well as the globally recognized language of the Internet, the need for qualified teachers continues to increase.
This certificate in Teaching English as a Second Language (TESOL) is needed because the demand for people with credentials to teach English to non-native speakers is growing worldwide, and especially in this state and region. Fort Wayne Community Schools’ ESL student population has increased by more than 57% in the past two years. Students in the system speak almost 60 languages. See the attached printouts of recent Fort Wayne newspaper articles for further evidence of the need and demand for the certificate proposed by the Department of English and Linguistics. Moreover, interest in earning credentials to teach ESL is growing rapidly in this area; the number of inquiries about a certificate program at IPFW have increased significantly in the past year.
The required courses will familiarize students with the major theoretical foundations of teaching English as a foreign and second language. Moreover, students will become acquainted with ESL pedagogy and resources. The students will acquire actual teaching experience through practice teaching ESL learners in authentic classrooms. The TESOL certificate could stand alone as a separate credential or be integrated within the requirements of the B.A. program in English.
Relationship
to Existing Degree Programs in the IU System
The TESOL certificate will incorporate courses that can also apply to the B.A degree in English offered by the School of Arts and Sciences at IPFW. The certificate is similar but not identical to the TESOL certificate offered by IUPUI. The IPFW TESOL certificate is intended primarily to serve those in Fort Wayne and the surrounding area who wish to acquire or gain further skills in teaching English as a second or foreign language. The proposed certificate also corresponds to campus goals for improving relations with and outreach to the local community.
Plan
for Establishing and Maintaining Enrollments
The attached printouts of recent articles in Fort Wayne newspapers, like the numerous inquiries the department has received in recent years about such a certificate program at IPFW, indicate that this will be a popular addition to our existing programs. We plan to publicize the certificate in conjunction with the IPFW School of Education, Fort Wayne Community Schools, and other local school systems.
Resources
Required
All but four of the undergraduate courses proposed are already part of the Department of English and Linguistics curriculum. One course, ENG G310 (Social Speech Patterns) exists in the system, and we will create three new undergraduate courses: LING L334 (Linguistic Resources for TESOL), LING L333 (Materials Preparation for TESOL), and LING L435 (TESOL Practicum). Several members of the English and Linguistics faculty (Crismore, Darabi, Simon, Sun, and Anders) have the formal training in applied linguistics and the experience necessary to teach the courses listed for the two certificates. Professor Sun will take up duties in fall 2002 as a tenure-track assistant professor in applied linguistics with expertise specifically in TESOL. This position was funded through reallocation of a line that already existed in the department, thus no new resources were required to implement this certificate.
Proposed
Date for Implementing the Proposal
Some of the required courses are presently offered on a regular basis. A rotation is planned to make it feasible for a student to earn the certificate within two years, beginning spring 2002.
Certificate
Coordinators
The department chair will coordinate the undergraduate certificate.
Faculty
Initially Teaching Courses for the Certificates
Avon Crismore, Ph.D., Professor of English: rhetoric and composition, teaching English as a second language, writing pedagogy, literacy, applied linguistics.
Rachelle Darabi, M.A. [Ph.D. expected in 2002], Instructor in English, Director of the Center for Academic Support and Advancement: teaching English as a second language.
Beth Lee Simon, Ph.D., Associate Professor of English & Linguistics: linguistics, applied linguistics, sociolinguistics, American dialects, South Asian linguistics, teaching English as a second language.
Hao Sun, Ph.D., Assistant Professor of Linguistics: language acquisition and teaching, language and linguistics.
Irene Anders, M.A. Continuing Lecturer in English and Linguistics: teaching English as a second language, composition.
Admission,
Completion, Residency, and Eligibility Requirements
The existing requirement for admission, completion, and residency and eligibility in an IPFW baccalaureate program will apply.
Three members of the ad hoc committee that created this proposal (Crismore, Darabi, and Simon) plus Dr. Sun will serve as the TESOL Coordinating Committee, reporting to the Undergraduate Studies Committee. The department chair will advise undergraduate students.
Program assessment will be integrated into the department’s Plan for Student Academic Achievement Assessment. The procedures of this plan are implemented annually for the department’s Assessment Report to the Dean. Students in the program will receive two questionnaires asking them to evaluate the program, once shortly after they complete it and again a year later.
Course Requirements
The certificate program is
shown below as it will appear in the undergraduate Bulletin.
Undergraduate Certificate in TESOL
The undergraduate TESOL
Certificate will be available to any student and will also be an option in the
English Language Concentration of the English major. Prerequisites may be required for some courses.
Language Acquisition: One of the following 3
PSY 426 Language Development
ENG G310 Social Speech
Patterns
AUS 309 Language Development
Practicum 3
LING L435 TESOL Practicum
* SPAN S428 may, in conjunction with other linguistics courses, meet the grammar requirement
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