Prepare for a rewarding career as a teacher with our Master of Arts (MAT) program in Foreign Language Education. From drawing up lesson plans to managing the classroom, the MAT program will provide you with a rigorous and thorough foundation in the fundamentals of teaching. Our program pairs intensive coursework with student teaching opportunities to ready the next generation of foreign language education teachers.
Quick Facts
Program Duration: 11 months over three terms (Fall, Spring, and Summer I)
Time Commitment: Full-time
Term of Enrollment: Fall term
Course Requirements: 36 credits
Application Deadline: Rolling until July. Priority is given to applications received by January 15.
Admissions Requirements: GRE Exam Not Required
Degree Requirements
Internship: During the school year, students complete an internship in a local school. Students are placed for an entire school year under the supervision of a mentor. In the fall, students spend approximately 20 hours working with their mentor teacher. In the spring and summer sessions, students in the MAT program are full-time in their school sites, culminating in a full take-over of teacher responsibilities for two weeks in the late spring. Interns observe, analyze, and practice basic teaching skills in different grade levels and subject fields.
Certification
The MAT program satisfies the requirements for a Pennsylvania Instructional I Certificate, pending:
Earning a passing score on the national PRAXIS II Exam;
Completing the PA Statewide Evaluation Form for Student Professional Knowledge and Practice (PDE 430); and
Demonstrating satisfactory performance in courses and the student internship
Teaching Interns must take and pass the Written Proficiency Test (WPT) in the language of certification during the first semester of their program in order to attain the Intern Certificate.
Prerequisites
For all students
In addition, applicants to the program are expected to provide documentation of 30 hours of experience working with K–12 children. These hours can be fulfilled by obtaining experiences with children through summer camp; Sunday school; Hebrew school; tutoring; or other volunteer or paid work with children
All applicants are also required to take the course Foundations of Special Education (3 credits)
All applicants are encouraged to use the program’s online transcript review to track your progress online.
For Chinese, French, German, Italian, Japanese, or Spanish language students:
A total of 30 credits are necessary, with a minimum of 12 and a maximum of 18 credits in each of Area 1 and Area 2.
Area 1: Languages and Linguistics (12-18 credits)
Conversation and Advanced Conversation (3 credits)
Composition/Writing (3 credits)
Stylistics (3 credits)
Phonetics (3 credits)
Grammar (3 credits)
Syntax (3 credits)
Structure of the Language (3 credits)
Dialects (3 credits)
Morphology (3 credits)
Listening Comprehension (3 credits)
Advanced Reading (not a literature course) (3 credits)
Professional Translation (3 credits)
History of the Language (3 credits)
Introduction to Linguistics (may be taught in English) (3 credits)
Area 2: Literature and Culture (12-18 credits)
Civilization I (3 credits)
Civilization II (3 credits)
Major Cultural Periods (3 credits)
Cultural Heritage Courses (3 credits)
Literature Surveys (3 credits)
Author Courses (3 credits)
Genre Courses (3 credits)
Literary Period Courses (3 credits)
Cultural Period Courses (3 credits)
Thematically-based Literature Courses (3 credits)
For Latin language students only
The following prerequisites must be fulfilled by all applicants of Latin only.
Latin Area 1
Roman Civilization (3 credits)
Latin Prose Composition (3 credits)
Latin Area 2
At least 24 credits above intermediate Latin with a maximum of 144 credits
Career Pathways
The majority of our graduates go on to become Foreign Language Education teachers in secondary settings.
Some of our graduates ultimately decide to return to school and obtain either their Ph.D. or Ed.D, focused in various areas of educational research.
Master's Admissions Guidelines
To be considered for our master's programs, your admissions materials must include the following basic elements. Please visit the web page of your program of interest to see if there are additional program requirements.
