DEGREES
 

TESL Certificate Program
(Certificate in Teaching English as a Second Language)

The TESL Certificate program is administered by the Department of Applied Linguistics at PSU. It is specifically designed to prepare teachers of English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESL), both in EFL (international) and ESL (North American) settings. 

In contrast with the M.A. TESOL, the TESL Certificate is not a graduate degree and does not require admission to the Department of Applied Linguistics. Any PSU undergraduate, post-bac, or graduate student in good standing may enroll in the TESL Certificate program.

TESL Certificate required courses can be taken concurrently with courses required to satisfy other academic degree programs such as B.A./B.S. and M.A./M.S. in any PSU department. Students in a wide variety of majors, such as foreign languages, speech, education, and the social sciences, have earned the TESL Certificate in past years.

TESL Certificate Admissions Requirements:

Course Requirements

 The following adviser-approved courses are required:

Ling 390:

Introduction to Linguistics

(must be taken as the first TESL Certificate course)

4 credits

Ling 438:

 Second Language Acquisition

4 credits

Ling 471:

Understanding the Int’l Experience

4 credits

Ling 492:

Structure of English

4 credits

Ling 477 & 478:

Methods I and II and Portfolio

(must be taken in sequence, 477 then 478 in the immediate next quarter)

8 credits

Ling 475:

Curriculum Design & Materials Development

4 credits

Ling 439:

Language Assessment

4 credits

Linguistics electives (upper division)

 

8 credits

 

Total TESL Certificate required courses:

40 credits
All courses used to satisfy TESL Certificate course requirements
must be graded C or above.

Additional Requirements:

  •  Language Proficiency:

    • Native English speakers must demonstrate proficiency in a non-English language by:

  • Writing: Post-baccalaureate students whose baccalaureate diploma was granted by a non-English-medium university must satisfy the Writing 323 requirement by taking either LING 471 or another writing intensive course.

  • TESOL Methods: At least two Applied Linguistics courses must be completed before the student can register for TESOL Methods One.

Points of emphasis in each TESOL Methods course are as follows:

  • LING 4/577 - "Methods One" = language policy and teaching methods
  • LING 4/578 - "Methods Two" = teaching of spoken & written language skills

  • Teaching Portfolio - 70 hours of teaching, tutoring, and classroom observations are completed as required coursework during the two-quarter Methods course sequence. TESL Certificate students are required to complete a portfolio documenting their 70 hours of practice work and reflection on their teaching experience.

  • Teaching practice - LING 409 is an optional and highly recommended teaching practicum course which provides supervised teaching experience in a USA community-based classroom setting. However, LING 409 is not a required TESL Certificate course and LING 409 will not satisfy any of the specific requirements for the TESL Certificate. Methods instructors can suggest other ways to get practice teaching experience.

If you started the TESL Certificate program prior to Fall 2006

Please note that the course requirements changed in Fall 2006.

If you started the program prior to Fall 2006, you may opt to fulfill your TESL Certificate requirements using either pre-Fall-2006 rules or the current rules.  

Advising:

No later than the end of their first quarter of coursework toward the TESL Certificate, the student must consult with an adviser in the Department of Applied Linguistics in order to select a program of appropriate coursework.

Please note that even though TESL Certificate requirements are published here, each student's TESL Certificate course program must be approved by their adviser.

Getting Started:

Please download the TESL Packet containing Certificate enrollment forms and the TESL Certificate Approval Form, which you will keep until you have completed the required course work.  

Also check Course Descriptions and the TESL Certificate FAQ

 This page was last updated on 05-Mar-2008