About

Mission Statement

A principal goal of the Program in Second Language Studies is to prepare effective, knowledgeable language teaching professionals. While our primary focus is on English as a second or foreign language (ESL), we also pay attention to other languages as well. Through our research, degree programs, and courses - as well as our outreach to the University and communities outside the University - faculty and students investigate the interrelated areas of second language (L2) teaching, learning, use, and analysis.

Graduates of our program have proven to be capable and flexible teachers of English as a second or foreign language to adults, and on occasion as teachers of other languages as well. Our students gain a working knowledge of the substantive issues of the field, and of its discourse conventions. They become more knowledgeable about the existent literature, and are able to seek out needed information from the relevant sources. They become familiar with research findings in L2 acquisition and pedagogy, and gain an ability to assess the importance of these findings for their own teaching. Further, many of our students conduct studies which provide them an opportunity to apply their skills in the collection and analysis of data in areas such as language use, language learning, and language teaching in undertaking their own research. Some have an opportunity to report on their research in professional contexts, such as at professional meetings, as well as to use their findings to enhance their own pedagogical practice. Ideally, our students gain a better grasp not just of good teaching practice, but of the broader picture of the syllabus and program that any given class is embedded in, as well as gaining an understanding of the way social and political features of the context of teaching can influence what happens in classrooms. Finally, they develop a vision of the profession as a whole, and an awareness of the activities and opportunities offered by professional organizations.

In practice, this goal means that it is necessary to alternate constantly between academically-oriented activities such as professional writing, research, and presentation, and more practically-oriented work like teaching and observing classes, preparing materials, and designing courses. It is our aim to make movement between these two poles as seamless as possible. In all our courses and other requirements, we wish to reinforce the fact that academic standards and concerns enrich and strengthen the business of classroom teaching, while the practicalities of the classroom serve as a crucial touchstone for academic research and theory. Our ultimate goal in this program is to overcome what we see as the artificial and misleading distinction between theory and practice, and instead produce teaching professionals who combine the roles of theoretically-informed practitioner and practically-minded researcher.

History

The ESL Program was established in Fall 1968, with the hire by the new Department of Linguistics of Betty W. Robinett as Professor of Linguistics and Director of the Program in English as a Second Language. The Program in ESL was taken to comprise the Master’s program in ESL and the Minnesota English Center (MEC), which provided noncredit ESL coursework for international students.
Elaine Tarone was hired as Assistant Professor in Linguistics in Fall 1979 with primary responsibilities in the ESL Program; that same semester, Professor Robinett become a full-time Associate Vice President, and Tarone became Director of the ESL Program. She designed a graduate minor in ESL.
In Fall 1991, Andrew Cohen was hired as Associate Professor in Linguistics with primary responsibilities in the ESL Program.
In 1992, the Linguistics Department was disbanded. A core of Linguistics and ESL faculty moved into the Institute of Linguistics and Asian and Slavic Languages and Literatures (ILASLL). Tarone and Cohen made up an ESL unit within ILASLL.
During the 1999-2000 academic year, many changes were made. New curricula were developed for the MA ESL and the MEC. The part of ILASLL which included the ESL Program moved to Nolte Center, and a constitution was written for the renamed Institute of Linguistics, ESL and Slavic Languages and Literatures (ILES).
In Fall 2000, Anne Lazaraton was hired as a new Assistant Professor in the ESL Program. She is the current Program Director and Director of Graduate Studies in ESL.
In 2003, the University approved an Undergraduate Minor in ESL and appointed Professor Cohen its director.
Effective September 2004, the Minnesota English Center was disbanded by the CLA Dean. In Fall 2006, a restructured Minnesota English Language Program (MELP) replaced it in the College of Continuing Education; with Michael Anderson as Director, it offers credit ESL courses to matriculated students at the university and intensive noncredit ESL for pre-matriculated students.
In 2008, an undergraduate TESL Certificate was approved, and in June Professor Tarone became the full-time Director of the Center for Advanced Research on Language Acquisition (CARLA); she is currently on leave from the ESL Program.
Professor Cohen began phased retirement in September 2009; he is on leave spring semesters.
Effective July 2009, the Program in ESL became affiliated with the Department of Writing Studies in the College of Liberal Arts. The Program in English as a Second Language will be renamed the Program in Second Language Studies (SLS) in January 2010, and will continue to offer the MA ESL degree, the graduate ESL minor, the undergraduate ESL minor, and the undergraduate TESL certificate.

About

Mission Statement

History

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