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Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages and Multilingual Education Minor
Education
College of Education and Human Service Professions
Program Type: Undergraduate free-standing minor
Requirements for this program are current for
Spring 2022
Required credits in this minor: 21
This minor targets individuals interested in supporting the academic success of English learners and multilingual students in mainstream classrooms as well as in bilingual and immersion education programs. The minor focuses on the theory and methodology of content-based language instruction, equipping teacher candidates with the skills they need to balance the teaching of language and content. It is also appropriate for students outside of education who are interested in applied linguistics.
This program covers the relationship between language, culture, and identity and how it affects classroom dynamics. Students in this minor are exposed to current research on second language acquisition and apply these theories to curriculum and lesson planning. They learn how to teach academic language with appropriate scaffolding and meaningful content. Because teachers in mainstream classrooms and immersion education are responsible for teaching language in addition to subject matter, students in this minor learn how to assess language skills in speaking, listening, reading and writing and how to communicate progress to parents. Furthermore, students explore language policy in education while learning about different models of bilingual and immersion education both in the United States and abroad. Abundant practical teaching and learning opportunities are provided, preparing for real-life classrooms with English learners and multilingual students.
There are increasing numbers of English learners in American classrooms, and while many start their schooling with English language specialists, they are also found in regular classrooms, placing a responsibility on all teachers to know how to effectively teach these students and support their language development. Teacher candidates who possess knowledge of language acquisition and culturally responsive teaching are in a better position to support multilingual students and advocate for their needs. There is also an increased desire for immersion education teachers in the United States as schools struggle to employ teachers who have a license and language skills. This minor helps to make teacher candidates more employable in the field.
Program Delivery
This program is available:
via classroom (the majority of instruction is face-to-face)
Admission Requirements
Students must complete
30 credits
before admission to the program.
Provides an introduction to a theoretical study of the nature of natural language, using examples primarily from present-day English. Students are expected to learn analytical skills to understand how human languages (and the human mind) work and how the sub-components (sounds, words, sentences and meaning) of natural languages are systematically organized.
EDUC 3100 - Bilingualism & Biliteracy Development: Foundations of Second Language Acquisition
Credits:
3.0
[max 3.0]
Grading Basis:
A-F or Aud
Typically offered:
Every Fall, Spring & Summer
Students in this course learn about cognitive and social benefits of bilingualism and multilingualism while considering how second language acquisition research informs language teaching. They learn about the major theories in the field of second language acquisition, including newer interdisciplinary approaches. Students explore the internal and external factors affecting second language acquisition in naturalistic and instructional settings, such as motivation and length of instruction. They also learn about biliteracy development, the transfer of skills across languages, and academic language acquisition. By the end of this course, students are able to explain the processes of second language acquisition and the outcomes of such processes in social and academic contexts.
EDUC 3330 - Assessment of Language Development
Credits:
3.0
[max 3.0]
Grading Basis:
A-F or Aud
Typically offered:
Every Fall, Spring & Summer
This course includes a review of assessment theory and its application in teaching English language learners (ELLs) and multilingual students. This includes an emphasis on performance-based assessment in language education. In addition, the course explores equity issues related to assessment practices in light of bilingualism and cultural backgrounds. Students will analyze how language and cultural differences impact responses to tasks and learn to identify bias present in assessment methods. They will demonstrate how to provide meaningful feedback to ELLs and incorporate test-taking strategies into their lessons. By the end of this course, students will describe best practices of assessment theory and apply this to the creation of authentic assessment plans for language education. They will also demonstrate thinking critically about assessment methods in regards to multilingual learners based on increased knowledge of language proficiency levels and cultural inclusivity.
EDUC 4050 - Language Policy and Education
Credits:
2.0
[max 2.0]
Grading Basis:
A-F or Aud
Typically offered:
Every Fall, Spring & Summer
The course reviews the connection between language, culture, and identity while focusing on the global state of immersion education in which content is taught in a language other than the majority language. Students will examine issues related to language ideologies and power both in the United States and abroad. They will explore the philosophical goals of immersion education, comparing and contrasting the different models of one-way immersion and two-way immersion (also known as bilingual education). This course includes a historic overview of language policy in the United States. Students will analyze past and present legislation as they discuss the role of education in language planning. By the end of this course, students will be able to match key features of immersion programs, including one-way and two-way programs, to the particular needs of a student or community and will be able to situate models of language education in a sociopolitical context.
pre-req: EDUC 3100; no grad credit
EDUC 3211 - Methods in Teaching Multilingual Students
Credits:
3.0
[max 3.0]
Grading Basis:
A-F or Aud
Typically offered:
Every Fall, Spring & Summer
This course is intended for students interested in teaching multilingual students in an education setting. It offers a practical introduction to English language teaching to non-native speakers of English by linking practice to current theory and research. In addition to reviewing how to create lesson plans based on principles and knowledge of learning outcomes, content-based language instruction, meaningful teaching techniques, models of teaching, motivation, and classroom management, this class provides a solid pedagogical foundation for teaching listening, speaking, reading, writing, pronunciation, vocabulary, and grammar. Students will learn to adapt materials and practice making interactive lesson plans based on best practices in the field. Students review assessment practices and major international and domestic language tests, discuss cross-cultural communication, and address the impact of cultural variables in the classroom. The course incorporates highly practical readings and provides students with successful real-life classroom strategies for improving the learning of English language learners. This course includes a module on using technology in a variety of educational contexts. This course and program do not lead to a Minnesota teaching license.
pre-req: EDUC 3100
EDUC 3311 - English Language Learner Teaching Methods
Credits:
3.0
[max 3.0]
Grading Basis:
A-F or Aud
Typically offered:
Every Fall, Spring & Summer
The course prepares students for teaching and accommodating culturally and linguistically different learners by reviewing the foundations of immersion education and content-based language instruction. Students learn to adapt materials and activities, as well as evaluate and effectively use existing practices and resources. Students practice making graphic organizers, study guides, and other materials required to teach English language learners (ELL). The course analyzes the principles of backward course design, learners? needs assessment, cooperative learning strategies, and includes comparative analysis of Basic Interpersonal Communication Skills (BICS) vs. Cognitive Academic Language Proficiency (CALP). Students develop the instructional strategy of modeling and enhance their teaching skills through the advanced use of visual resources. The course incorporates highly practical readings and provides students with successful real-life classroom strategies for improving the learning achievements of all their learners ? with a focus on English language learners. This course and program do not lead to a Minnesota teaching license.
pre-req: EDUC 3100
COMM 3535 - Intercultural Communication
(LE CAT6, LEIP CAT06, CDIVERSITY)
Credits:
4.0
[max 4.0]
Typically offered:
Every Fall, Spring & Summer
This is a skills course in which students learn how to engage in effective intercultural communication and relationships. Students apply what they are learning by participating in intercultural communication with classmates from a wide variety of cultures. Students learn about variations in cultural practices and values and how social, political and economic forces have both been influenced by and influence those cultures.
prereq: credit will not be granted if already received for 2929
CSD 3131 - Language Development
Credits:
3.0
[max 4.0]
Grading Basis:
A-F or Aud
Typically offered:
Every Fall
Emphasis on the acquisition and development of language, verbal and nonverbal, as children learn to communicate effectively by selecting the most appropriate communication strategies.
prereq: CSD candidate or instructor consent
EDUC 4040 - World Language Teaching Methods
Credits:
3.0
[max 4.0]
Course Equivalencies:
EDUC 4040/LANG 4044
Grading Basis:
A-F or Aud
Typically offered:
Every Spring
This course prepares teacher candidates with the necessary information, resources, and skill to become teachers of world languages in K-12. Content focus will include various teaching methods and approaches, fundamentals of language learning, and program components such as assessment, proficiency, and language standards. Students will develop their skills in planning and implementing language programs through lesson and unit planning, and micro-teaching experience.
prereq: FR 2301 or GER 2301 or SPAN 2301 or equivalent, admission to EdSe program or instructor consent; grad credit; credit will not be granted if already received for LANG 4044
LING 2101 - Phonetics and Phonology
(NAT SCI)
Credits:
3.0
[max 3.0]
Grading Basis:
A-F or Aud
Typically offered:
Every Fall
This course, which is rooted in biology and physics, focuses on the sound systems of the languages of the world. What do these systems have in common? How do they differ from one another? There is an immense amount of variation across languages, but it is far from random, and this assumption is the driving factor of the course. Students will learn the anatomy of the vocal tract and the means of speech articulation, and they will learn to produce every possible sound of every possible human language. They will also analyze the acoustic signals resulting from speech articulation and how these acoustic results are perceived by hearers. Along the way, student learn to analyze large amounts of phonetic data, both by hand and electronically and to understand when a difference in speech sounds can change the meaning of a message as opposed to simply changing as a result of contextual effects. In short, when are speech sounds meaningful, and what does this tell us about the way the human language faculty is organized? The scientific approach taken here will teach students a great deal about their own language. It will also teach students a great deal about the diversity of languages in the world: how they differ, but more importantly, what they all have in common, and what it is that makes them all human.
LING 2600 - Language in Society
(SOC SCI, CDIVERSITY)
Credits:
3.0
[max 3.0]
Grading Basis:
A-F or Aud
Typically offered:
Periodic Fall & Spring
This course considers the way social factors relate to the form and function of language. We will consider a broad range of topics, such as language and gender, in-group slang, bilingualism, pidgins and creoles, African American Language, and more as time permits. An important part of the course will consider the role of language in constructing and maintaining group identity, and we will look specifically at language variation in Minnesota and other regions of the United States.
LING 3103 - Semantics and Pragmatics
Credits:
3.0
[max 3.0]
Grading Basis:
A-F or Aud
Typically offered:
Every Fall
This course will provide an introduction to the study of what is said (semantics) and what is meant (pragmatics) in natural language. It will provide an introduction to set theory, first- and higher- order logic, and lexical semantics. It will also cover pragmatic topics such as presupposition, implicature, and speech act theory. Beyond these basic topics, the course will focus on specific sub-topics from time to time such as negation, reference, information structure, reported speech, genre, and so on.
prereq: 1811
LING 4104 - Corpus Linguistics
Credits:
3.0
[max 3.0]
Grading Basis:
A-F only
Typically offered:
Periodic Spring
The aim of this course is to learn how to analyze linguistic phenomena based on data extracted from large databases. Students will learn the distinction between corpus methods and the traditional, intuitional-based approaches. After reviewing key linguistic concepts learned in the prerequisite linguistics course, students will learn several statistical gests widely used in linguistics and how those tests are applied to the data extracted from large corpora. Students will also acquire basic computer programming skills in Python and R to clean up and manipulate the data structure for the purpose of linguistic exploration. Students will be able to evaluate competing hypotheses using the results of their empirical investigations.
pre-req: LING 1811; no grad credit
EDUC 4099 - Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages/Teaching English Foreign Language Field Experience
Credits:
1.0
[max 1.0]
Grading Basis:
A-F only
Typically offered:
Every Fall, Spring & Summer
This field experience is required for students in the Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL) and Multilingual Education minor or Teaching English as a Foreign Language (TEFL) Certificate. The course includes observation of experienced English as a Second Language teachers as well as hands-on experience working with English language learners and emerging bilinguals. In this course, students synthesize theoretical research with reflective observation, thus adding to their understanding of evidence-based teaching. In field placements, students will be exposed to a variety of age groups and proficiency levels in order to broaden their understanding of the field of TESOL and TEFL within public schools and immersion programs. Student with proficiency in another language may also have the option to be placed in immersion schools. Students complete 40 hours of combined observation and direct work with English language learners and emerging bilinguals. At the end of this experience, students have a deeper understanding of the connection between theory and practice.
pre-req: EDUC 3211 or 3311 (or concurrent registration) and instructor consent
