Home > College of Arts and Sciences > Department of English > M.A. in English Studies for Language Arts Teachers
________________Program Overview________________
The Valdosta State University Masters of Arts in English Studies for Language Arts Teachers is an innovative online degree program designed specifically for language arts teachers who wish to expand their content knowledge in the major subfields of the discipline including: literature, composition, rhetoric, linguistics and creative writing.
Unlike a traditional master’s degree, which is a research degree designed to prepare students for Ph.D. study, our program is designed to provide in-depth content directly applicable to middle grades and secondary language arts education. From composition theory to the teaching of creative writing to the history of the English language, our curriculum introduces students to the advanced subject matter they need for the challenges of the 21st century language arts classroom.
Whether you are seeking opportunities for professional development, certification advancement or an advance in salary, our rigorous program, housed in a premier regional university that also offers a traditional English MA in a regular bricks-and-mortar setting, will provide you with the training you seek in order to succeed professionally.
The curriculum includes advanced courses in composition theory, rhetoric, grammar, second language learners, creative writing, and literature. Our British, American and multicultural literature courses are intended to provide the kind of deeper content that leads to sophisticated teaching of familiar authors and works but also to the teaching of writers and texts that may be less well known. Overall, because our curriculum covers every major subfield, we are able to offer a wide range of course offerings.
Some courses are entirely asynchronous, allowing students to complete the assignments on their own schedule as long as they meet regular deadlines. Other courses require some synchronous interaction with the instructor and/or other students after 5:00 p.m. weeknights (typically once every two to three weeks), but all the courses are designed to be compatible with the schedule of professional educators working full time.
Students taking two courses per term including summers can graduate in as little as two years. Our graduate faculty is comprised of accomplished researchers and teachers committed to rigorous online instruction and to designing courses that meet the needs of today’s middle grades and secondary language arts teachers. The M.A. in English Studies for Language Arts Teachers is designed to accommodate the wide-ranging experiences and interests of its students, as well as cover the most current subject matter in each subfield.