Languages and Cultures

Dual Track Students: MA in Languages and Cultures (in French, German, or Spanish) + Graduate Teaching Certification

3 Online Core Courses in English (9 credits)

• LNC 501 Linguistic Studies
• LNC 502 Interpretive Strategies
• LNC 503 Cultural Studies

6 Target-Language Courses (18 credits of 500-level courses in French, German, or Spanish)

• Complete Assessment 7 in one of these courses (your professor will evaluate a paper you write in one of your 500-level language courses with the Assessment 7 rubric).

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Graduate Teaching Certification Only (Post-baccalaureate Students)  

Students doing only the Teaching Certification must take at least two 500-level target-language courses in their concentration language, French, German, or Spanish at any moment, prior or during Teacher Candidacy:

• 2 Target-Language Courses (6 credits of 500-level courses in French, German, or Spanish) 
• Complete Assessment 7 in one of these courses (your professor will evaluate a paper you write in one of your 500-level language courses with the Assessment 7 rubric).

Courses Prior to Teacher Candidacy (18-21 Credits)

• ANT 102 Cultural Anthropology (required for PA K-12 Teaching Certification)
• EDA 511 Inclusion and Collaboration
• ERM 531 Principles of Educational Testing
• EDA 542 Foundations of Special Education
• EDP 550 Advanced Educational Psychology
• EDP 569 Adolescent Development and Learning
• (See your 500-level language requirement above)

Obtain Clearances

Education Courses after Admission to Teacher Candidacy (22-24 Credits)

• EDT 500 Educational Technology (or EDM 349 1 credit Technology Tools Teacher/Learning) or LAN 555 Computer Applications for Language Learning
• SED 505 Field Experience For Secondary Teachers
• EDR 550 Literacy Development and Secondary Students with Disabilities in Inclusive Classroom
• LAN 503 Techniques of Second Language Teaching (prerequisite if candidate has never taken a linguistics course: LIN 501 or LNC 501)
• SED 411 Student Teaching Sec - 1st Half  (6 credits)*
• SED 412 Student Teaching Sec - 2nd Half  (6 credits)*

*Student teaching is not for graduate credit but is required for PA K-12 Teaching Certification. Prerequisite: ACTLF Exams. The following exams are required before SED 411-412: OPI and WPT Exams. PA K-12 Graduate Teaching Certification students should to take the Praxis exam "Fundamental Subjects: Content Knowledge (#5511)" and the OPI and WPT exams of the ACTFL/LTI (American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages/Language Testing International) and obtain a score of Intermediate High (IH) or Advanced Low (AL):

• • Praxis Fundamental Subjects: Content Knowledge Exam (#5511). The Praxis exam is commonly used to assess teacher candidates' knowledge and classroom skills to aid in determining how well candidates are prepared for teaching in four categories: English Language Arts, Mathematics, Social Science, and Science. All Pennsylvania PK-12 area educators must score at least 150 on the Praxis Content Knowledge Exam (Praxis #5511).
  • Oral Proficiency Interview (OPI). The ACTFL Oral Proficiency Interview (OPI) is a proficiency-based means of assessing how well a person speaks a language. The OPI is a 20-30 minute one-on-one telephone interview between a certified ACTFL tester and an examinee. The OPI assesses the ability to use language effectively and appropriately in real-life situations and spontaneous unrehearsed language.
  • Writing Proficiency Test (WPT). The ACTFL Writing Proficiency Test (WPT) is a web-based, proctored, standardized test of the global assessment of functional writing ability in a language. ACTFL writing tests assess writing proficiency in terms of the ability to write effectively and appropriately for real-life writing purposes. The WPT measures how well a person spontaneously writes in a language (without access to revisions and/or editing tools). Rating occurs by comparing the writer's performance of specific writing tasks to the criteria stated by a proficiency rating scale such as the ACTFL Proficiency Guidelines for Writing.

The Praxis Fundamental Subjects: Content Knowledge (#5511) exam is required. The Praxis II World Languages tests are no longer a requirement for program completion; the Basic Skills test is also not required for Graduate Teaching Certification students (post-baccalaureate candidates who have already completed an undergraduate degree).