The IU Online Graduate Certificate in Language and Literature provides training in the core principles of writing and literature. As a student in this program, you learn to teach students how to craft sound arguments using close attention to logic, context, and audience. You also develop a fluency with the current debates, schools, and theories of writing instruction.

Specific areas of focus include:

• Contemporary theory on the pedagogy of composition and literature
• Linguistic structures and history of the English language
• Reading strategies and literary analysis, with attention to close reading, style, form, genre, and rhetorical practices
• Approaches to composition and writing instruction, including the identification and evaluation of sources, use of evidence, generation of ideas, and the development and organization of argument
• Fostering discussion and developing presentation skills in a seminar setting
• Developing archival research skills and facility with electronic resources
• Developments, trends, and frontiers in the digital humanities

Of Special Interest to Dual-Credit and Community College Instructors Needing to Meet HLC Standards

The Graduate Certificate in Language and Literature is ideal for those who want to teach dual-credit courses and who need to meet Higher Learning Commission dual-credit qualification standards. These standards require teachers wanting to teach dual-credit courses to hold either a master's degree in their area of instruction or a master's degree in another discipline (such as education), plus at least 18 credit hours of discipline-specific graduate coursework.

• If you hold a master's degree in another discipline, you can meet HLC standards by completing the 20 credit hour Graduate Certificate in Language and Literature.
• If you plan to pursue the IU Online MA in English or the IU Online Master of Liberal Studies, you may apply the 20 credit hours from the Graduate Certificate in Language and Literature toward the master's degree.

Your IU Online Graduate Certificate in Language and Literature prepares you for such careers as:

• Composition and/or literature dual-credit teacher (high school)
• Composition and/or literature instructor (community college)

This 100 percent online, consortial program is taught by IU Bloomington, IUPUI, IU East, IU Kokomo, IU Northwest, IU South Bend, and IU Southeast. This consortial model allows you to take coursework from several campuses and learn from a wide range of faculty. 

Certificate Requirements

To earn the Graduate Certificate in Language and Literature, students must complete 20 credit hours of coursework as follows:   

1.  Introductory Course: Graduate Composition Studies (4 cr.)

Complete one of the following:

• ENG-W 500 Teaching Composition: Issues & Approaches (4 cr.)
• ENG-W 509 Introduction to Writing and Literacy Studies (4 cr.)

2.  Introductory Course: Teaching Literature at the College Level (4 cr.)

• ENG-L 503 Teaching of Literature in College (4 cr.)

3.  History and Development of English Language and Literature (4 cr.)  

Complete one of the following:  

• ENG-D 600/ENG-G 655 History of the English Language  (4 cr.)  
• ENG-L 639 English Fiction To 1800  (4 cr.)  
• ENG-L 641 English Literature 1790-1900  (4 cr.)  
• ENG-L 660 Studies In British and American Literature  (4 cr.)  
• ENG-L 681 Genre Studies  (4 cr.)  

4.  Writing Pedagogy for College Instructors (4 cr.)

Complete one of the following:     

• ENG-W 508 Graduate Creative Writing for Teachers  (4 cr.)
• ENG-W 554 Practicum: Teaching of Creative Writing  (4 cr.)
• ENG-W 600 Topics in Rhetoric and Composition  (4 cr.)
• ENG-W 682 Special Topics in Rhetoric and Composition  (4 cr.)

5.  Certificate Elective (4 cr.)

• ENG-L 500/600 Any ENG-L advisor-approved course (4 cr.)