Graduate Certificate in Language and Literature

Collaborative Online Degree

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

Many online support services are available to assist you as you progress through the program.

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

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)

Of Special Interest for 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, you may apply the 20 credit hours from the Graduate Certificate in Language and Literature toward the master's degree.

Admissions

This program is authorized, exempt, or not subject to state regulatory compliance and may enroll students from all 50 states

To be accepted to this program, you must have:

• Either a BA in English (or related bachelor's degree in education with an English specialization, concentration, or outside area) or two years of secondary teaching experience in literature or composition classes.
• 3.0 GPA or above on a 4.0 scale.

To apply to this program:

Complete an online application that includes:

1. Transcripts
2. 250-word personal statement explaining background and reasons for entering the program
3. TOEFL scores (international students only)

Certificate Requirements (20 cr.)

Requirements are broken down as follows:

• Language and literature core courses (16 cr.)
• Language and literature elective courses (4 cr.)

• If you choose to pursue the IU Online MA in English, these certificate courses may apply to ("stack into") your degree requirements. Admission to the Graduate Certificate in Literature does not constitute admission into any of the face-to-face graduate programs in English at the participating campuses.
• All courses are 4 credit hours, unless otherwise noted.

Course Requirements (16 cr.)

• ENG-D 600 History of the English Language; OR
  ENG-G 655 History of the English Language
• ENG-L 503 Teaching Literature in College 
• ENG-W 500 Teaching Composition: Issues and Approaches; OR
  ENG-W 509 Introduction to Writing and Literacy Studies

Select one from the following:

• ENG-W 508 Graduate Creative Writing for Teachers
• ENG-W 554 Practicum on the Teaching of Creative Writing (2 cr.)
• ENG-W 600 Topics in Rhetoric and Composition
• ENG-W 682 Special Topics: Rhetoric and Composition

Elective (4 cr.)

• Any 500/600–level advisor-approved course