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English Language Arts Education Major

What is a Major in English Language Arts Education?

The program prepares for licensure in Virginia and prepares middle and high school English teachers to be successful in the context of increasingly standardized education reforms. You will learn how to develop instruction that welcomes students’ cultural backgrounds and lived experiences to help them engage with English Language Arts content. Coursework will focus on integrating diverse voices and texts into your instruction. Courses in the program highlight literacy development and consider the roles language and culture have in teaching that brings classroom content into dialogue with students’ lives in and beyond 21st-century classrooms.

Why Study English Language Arts Education at Virginia Tech?

You will expand upon traditional approaches to teach writing, language and literature that incorporates newly emerging practices and research in adolescent literacy, new literacies, multimodal technologies, and teaching and learning in 21st-century schools. Inclusive and culturally sustaining pedagogy are important aspects of our approach to teacher preparation. Faculty model techniques in their courses that we expect our graduates to practice in their own English Language Arts 6-12 classrooms. We embrace these values in educator preparation: equity and access, reflective practice, and learner-centeredness.

 
Job Placement
Excellent Track Record

 
Top 10
Critical Shortage Areas in Virginia

 
Graduates
Teach Across the Country

Careers and Further Study

What can you do with a major in English Language Arts Education?

Jobs Held by Our Graduates

  • High School English Language Arts Teacher
  • Middle School English Language Arts Teacher
  • Education Consultant
  • Private Tutor
  • Online Educator
  • Academic Advisor
  • Teacher Educators

Professional Licensure Disclosure

Virginia Tech discloses whether its educational programs leading to careers that require licensure meet educational requirements for professional licensure in each state, view the determinations for each state here.

Beyond the Classroom

Experiential Learning


Get Experience 

Take advantage of in-classroom opportunities that prepare students for employment immediately after graduation. Studentss complete student teaching in local classrooms, volunteer in the community, and participate in a community writing course where they learn best practices in managing service-learning writing projects in schools, community centers, retirement communities, and public libraries. 

garden class
Collaborate

Our faculty work with you to advise you on pedagogy, research, and the breadth of opportunities that a career in education opens for you. You can design your own research project, work closely with a faculty advisor to plan a course of action, or you can participate in a collaborative project where you help a faculty member with their research. 

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Bachelor of Arts in Education Degree

English Language Arts Education Major Requirements

  • Gender and Linguistics
  • Language and Ethnicity in the United States
  • Introduction to Creative Writing
  • Introduction to Critical Reading
  • Acts of Interpretation
  • History of the English Language

Minor and Elective Hours

Our program gives you the opportunity to build knowledge in another area by pursuing a minor, double major, or cognate.


120 hrs
B.A. Education

27 hrs
General Education

84 hrs
Major Requirements

9 hrs
Elective


 

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