Affordable tuition, award-winning teacher training programs, and multiple options for credentials and endorsements are some of the attractive aspects of Indiana graduate programs in TESOL, ESL, English teaching, Applied Linguistics, and related fields. On top of all these features, select Indiana institutions offer online-only and hybrid campus/online options.
ESL Teacher Certification
The Indiana Department of Education (IDOE) and its Office of Educator Licensing and Development (OELD) determine state policies governing teacher licensure. The types of licenses OELD issues include:
- Initial Practitioner License
- Proficient Practitioner License
- Accomplished Practitioner License
To earn an English as a New Language (ENL) endorsement from the Indiana Department of Education (IDOE) and its Office of Educator Licensing and Development (OELD), teachers must already have a valid certificate or have minored in ESL in their undergraduate or teacher preparation programs. To get the ENL assignment code, you must have taken classes in:
- Language Theory, Production, and Acquisition
- Second Language Acquisition
- TESOL Curriculum and Instruction
- TESOL Assessment
- Multicultural Education
- ELL Pedagogy
Alternative Certification Options
IDOE’s webpage dedicated to Alternative Licensure summarizes nontraditional options for would-be public school teachers in Indiana. The first is to apply for an initial license in an area in which you already hold a master’s degree. The second choice is to enter a Transition to Teaching program. To do so, you must hold a bachelor’s or graduate degree, have accumulated a minimum number of professional experience hours, and be completing teacher preparation course hours. IDOE maintains a list of Approved Transition to Teaching Programs.
Master’s in TESOL Programs
At Indiana University, students pursuing TESOL degrees and certificates have the opportunity to work with different language centers and resource centers on campus, including the English for Academic Purposes (EAP) Program, the Indiana Center for Intercultural Communication (ICC), and a branch of the ELS Language Center. They offer a Master’s in English with TESOL Concentration. Indiana University Bloomington offers the only graduate TESOL program in an Indiana institution (M.S.Ed. in Literacy, Culture, and Language Education) that landed on the National Council on Teacher Quality’s Honor Roll. The graduate education program also ranks tenth in the country on the annual list complied by U.S. News & World Report. It also scores a spot on Washington Monthly’s Best Bang for the Buck ratings.
Indiana State University also offers programs for aspiring ESL teachers, including their on-campus Master of Arts in TESL/Language Studies program. If you’re already in a teacher in Indiana, you can add an ENL License by completing the online Graduate Certificate in TESL/TEFL.