Department of English
| www.ndsu.edu/english |
The English Department offers a diverse set of courses in literature, writing studies, linguistics, film, and English Education. English majors form strong communication skills, learn effective research methods, develop flexibility in facing complex situations, and increase their awareness of the humanities tradition. These ideals suit both the liberal arts major and the practical, pre-professional student. Success in an information economy is dependent upon one’s ability to produce, analyze, understand, and restate written, oral, and visual material. Through its offerings, the department continues the rich tradition of language and literature study while it also responds to the needs of today’s students.
The department teaches and values collaboration among its students, and seeks out collaborations for itself at NDSU. The department contributes to the Humanities major, the Scholars Program, and the Women and Gender Studies minor. Moreover, the department supports the Cooperative Education Program and welcomes efforts to create student internships. The department serves the university’s students through the General Education Writing Curriculum and it welcomes and encourages double majors and minors.
The English Department offers a Bachelor of Arts degree and a Bachelor of Science in English. Both degrees require 42 credits in English courses beyond the first-year English composition sequence. The B.A. degree requires functional proficiency in at least one language other than English, which is typically acquired by 14 credits of coursework (see Bachelor of Arts Requirement using a Second Language); the B.S. degree requires a minor in an area other than English.
Students must earn a grade of "C" or above in all courses used to fulfill requirements for the English major. These courses may be repeated only once.
The Department of English partners with the School of Education to offer a Bachelor of Arts degree and a Bachelor of Science degree in English Education (grades 7-12) through the College of Human Development and Education. The B.A. in English Education requires 39 credits in English courses beyond the first-year English composition sequence; functional proficiency in at least one language other than English, which is typically acquired through 14 credits of coursework (see Bachelor of Arts Requirement using a Second Language); 34 credits in Education courses; and elective credits to total 122 credits. The B.S. in English Education/Communication Option leads to teacher certification in Secondary Language Arts and prepares students to coach extra-curricular speech and debate teams. The B.S./Communication Option requires 39 credits of English courses beyond the first-year English composition sequence, 20 credits of Communication courses, 37 credits of Education courses, and elective credits to total 122 credits.
English Education majors may take additional courses to earn endorsements to teach middle school (grades 5-8) and/or to teach multilingual students who are English Language Learners (ELL). The Middle School Endorsement requires 7 additional credits and the ELL Endorsement requires 10 additional credits for a total of 16 credits (6 of the 16 credits are already included in the English Education degree requirements). English Education majors should contact the English Education adviser or the School of Education for additional information.
Students must maintain a GPA of at least 2.75 in all English courses and in all professional education courses to remain in the Teacher Education Program.
