Certificate in Teaching English as a Second Language
Graduate students, please see our SLAT Certificate Page
Overview
Linguistics administers an 18 credit hour undergraduate certificate in TESL. The certificate is open to undergraduate students in any undergraduate program at UF. The TESL Certificate is suitable for those who wish to teach in a variety of settings, either overseas or in the US. This program should not be confused with the State Department of Education’s endorsement in Bilingual/ESOL for teaching in Florida public schools. For this, please contact UF’s College of Education.
You should have a desire to interact with students from different cultures and possibly travel abroad, learn about the English language, learn about curriculum development and teaching issues, and, ultimately, teach English.
Registering in the TESL Certificate Program
In order to register for the TESL Certificate Program, students must complete the online TESL Certificate Registration application and e-mail the current TESL Coordinator to set-up a meeting with them. After meeting with the TESL Coordinator, you must also apply online through UF Admissions (follow the link here and click on “Currently Enrolled App”). On the application, select the current semester and year to ensure timely registration.
Students are strongly encouraged to register for the program at least two semesters before they plan to graduate. Seating in TSL 4940 (see below) is very limited and seats cannot be guaranteed for students who register with the program late (within two semesters of their planned graduation). Also please note that TSL 3378 is currently only offered during Fall semesters, and so students will need to plan their schedules accordingly. Please contact the Linguistics Undergraduate Coordinator, if you are interested in the program. Students who are in their final two semesters before graduating are generally not eligible.
Course Requirements
To be granted a TESL certificate, a student must complete, with grades of C or better 18 credits (6 courses) distributed as follows. You must also have maintained a 3.0 GPA in these courses. All course work must be completed at UF.
Required Courses (6 courses of 3 credits each)
- LIN 3010 Introduction to Linguistics**
- LIN 4721 Second Language Acquisition**
- TSL 3360 Introduction to TESL
- TSL 3378 Pronunciation for TESL (prereq: LIN3010)
- This course is ONLY offered in the Fall Semester, with priority seating for students officially registered in the program or minor
- LIN 3680 Modern English Structure (prereq: LIN3010)
- Priority seating given to students officially registered in the program or minor
- TSL 4940 Internship for TSL
- This is the capstone course of the certificate. You must have completed at least 4 of the required courses in order to do the internship. During the internship, you will observe experienced teachers, develop a course with a cohort of other novice teachers, and teach that course with your teaching cohort in a specific teaching context.
- Students do not register directly for this course, but are registered by the department after approval from the TESL Program Director and Undergraduate Coordinator.
**If you are a Linguistics major: Only LIN 3010 and LIN 4721 are allowed to overlap with your major. In order to graduate with the TESL certificate, you must have taken four other courses that count for the Linguistics major in place of the TESL courses above. Please note that at this time your degree audit may not reflect this requirement. Please contact the Linguistics Undergraduate Coordinator, if you have any questions about graduating with both a Linguistics major and TESL certificate.
Receiving the Certificate after Completing the Program Requirements
When you apply for online graduation in your final semester at UF, you will need to also apply to graduate with the certificate. You will receive your certificate by mail, approximately four weeks after the end of the term. If there is a delay, contact the Coordinator.
Contact For More Information
For more information about the TESL certificate, please contact the TESL Coordinator, Jamie Garner.