English Graduate Program
The English M.A. program at Cal Poly Pomona offers the opportunity for students to engage in advanced study in the fields of literature, rhetoric & composition, and/or Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL). The program prepares students to pursue careers in high school and postsecondary teaching in community college and university settings, to continue on to doctoral studies, and to enter career fields requiring superior proficiency in written and oral communication, critical thinking, analysis, and research.
Students work with an advisor to tailor their course of study to their own interests and needs. Students declare one field as a primary research field and then select a group of directed electives as a secondary area of expertise in a 30-31 semester-unit program. This "dual-emphasis" program gives our students a diverse and integrated knowledge set that make them professionally competitive. Literature students may choose to take their directed electives in literature, rhetoric & composition or TESOL; rhetoric & composition students may choose to take their directed electives in literature or TESOL; TESOL students do not select a secondary area of study in order to meet State requirements in their field.
We also offer a chance for new beginnings for our students by admitting students into the program conditionally. Students whose undergraduate English major GPA is below 3.0, or those who do not have an undergraduate degree in their prospective field—Literature, Rhetoric & Composition, TESOL—may take coursework to prepare them for their graduate education and professional development. Prerequisites are only for conditionally-admitted students, and are determined on an individual basis depending on prior experience. Prerequisites are completed after admission into the graduate program. The following chart lists those courses typically expected of incoming graduate students:
Literature |
Rhetoric & Composition |
TESOL |
---|---|---|
B.A. in English |
B.A. in Rhetoric/English |
B.A. in Linguistics/English |
Or |
Or |
Or |
ENG 3000-level literature course ENG 3010: Literary Theory ENG 4000-level literature course Or equivalents |
ENG 3152: Language, Literacy, & Cultural Practices ENG 3110: Intro to Rhetorical Theory Or equivalents |
ENG 3211: Structure of Language ENG 3210: Grammar ENG 3212: Language Acquisition Or equivalents |