Programs
We have two masters programs:
If you are interested in the Department of Teaching and Learning's M.Ed. Secondary Education: Certification, read the requirements detailed here.Courses
See a list of the courses we offer.
Program descriptions
Master of Arts in Teaching Spanish
The MAT in Spanish is designed to prepare you to apply the most current methods, strategies, and technologies for teaching Spanish in a classroom environment that fosters cultural diversity.
Interested applicants would be the following:
- Current Spanish teachers at the secondary level.
- Students whose major is Spanish (or a related field).
- Current and future community college faculty and adjuncts.
- Students planning to earn a Ph.D. in Spanish or an Ed. D. degree.
The study of foreign-language pedagogy has become an important discipline in the past twenty years, with various organizations --e.g., the American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages , the American Association of Teachers of Spanish and Portuguese -- supporting research on effective foreign-language teaching. We aim to provide Spanish teachers and future scholars with a learning context in which they can become masters of this growing source of knowledge directly related to classroom practices.
The Master of Arts in Teaching Spanish offers a professional foundation in the academic areas of Teaching and Pedagogy, Literature and Culture, and Linguistics to prepare teachers to excel in a rapidly changing classroom with an increasing number of bilingual and heritage language speakers.
Students (both native and non-native Spanish speakers) will be enrolled in graduate-level courses conducted entirely in Spanish. This will allow you to attain a high level of proficiency in the language.
Students who wish to practice the theories and strategies they learn have the opportunity to receive graduate assistantships to teach lower-division Spanish classes (SPA 101 and SPA 102) in the Department of Modern Languages.
Curriculum
The program requires the completion of 36 credit hours, including a Capstone Project. You must also pass a written comprehensive exam in the last semester of the program.
The MAT curriculum consists of three areas:
- Teaching and Pedagogy: 12 credit hours
- Literature and Culture: 9 to 12 credit hours
- Linguistics: 9 to 12 credit hours
- Capstone Project: 3 credit hours
- Comprehensive Written Exams
Master of Arts in Teaching Spanish:
Spanish Education
The MAT in Spanish: Spanish Education program provides you with a pathway for earning a masters in teaching Spanish with post-degree certification.
Interested applicants would be the following:
- Students whose major is Spanish or Spanish education (or a related field), whether they have graduated or not.
- Current and future community college faculty and adjuncts.
- Students planning to earn a Ph.D. in Spanish or an Ed. D. degree.
This Master of Arts in Teaching Spanish: Spanish Education sub plan provides students with a pathway for secondary education certification in Arizona while allowing them to improve their linguistic and analytic abilities in Spanish at the graduate level. This program allows students to use graduate-level, teacher-education courses form the College of Education to comprise a third of the total required credit hours for the program. In doing so, the candidate will -- in approximately three years (which would include summer study) -- attain secondary certification in the state of Arizona.
The program offers a professional foundation in the academic areas of Teaching and Pedagogy, Literature and Culture, and Linguistics to prepare teachers to excel in a rapidly changing classroom with an increasing number of bilingual and heritage language speakers.
Students (both native and non-native Spanish speakers) will be enrolled in graduate-level courses conducted entirely in Spanish. This will allow you to attain a high level of proficiency in the language.
Students who wish to practice the theories and strategies they learn have the opportunity to receive graduate assistantships to teach lower-division Spanish classes (SPA 101 and SPA 102) in the Department of Modern Languages.
Curriculum
This 37 hour program provides you with a pathway for earning a masters in teaching Spanish with post-degree certification. At least 25 of the graduate credits are earned through Spanish graduate classes. The remaining 12 graduate credits consist of professional coursework offered by the College of Education.
To complete the 37 hours for this plan, you take:
- SPA 511, 512, 513, 551, 554 and 601 (16 units)
- 9 units from SPA 531, 532, 533, 534
- 12 units of graduate coursework in Education (BME 537, ECI 522, 540, and 565).
Additionally, Arizona certification requires not only that the candidate complete the AZ State AEPA exam, but also candidates must complete 12 credits of student teaching (ECI 595 ) and 6 credits of educational foundation courses (EDF 500 and EPS 605).
Since many of the education courses (i.e., BME and ECI) are co-convened with undergraduate courses that candidates may have taken prior to applying to this program, it is highly recommended that applicants meet with a program Spanish Education MAT advisor to chart a program plan.