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The online graduate certificate in English trains students in the history and analysis of literature and the English language as well as writing and research skills.
If you are a middle or high school English teacher seeking further accreditation to qualify to teach dual-enrollment, community college or other postsecondary courses, this program is for you. Through this graduate certificate, you will:
- Learn from tenured or tenure-track faculty with national reputations for their research and creative work;
- Earn a formal credential that can be used for professional and career growth;
- Deepen your knowledge of the English language and literature across historical periods and cultures;
- Study and apply a variety of critical methods for interpreting literature;
- Practice creative and expository writing at the graduate level;
- Acquire advanced research skills through structured assignments and feedback from experienced doctoral faculty;
- Research and design educational content appropriate for college-level English courses;
- Meet the CBHE requirement to teach dual credit courses.
Quick facts
Official name
Graduate certificate in englishCampus
Program type
Graduate certificateAcademic home
College of Arts & Science | Department of EnglishDelivery mode
100% onlineAccreditation
Higher Learning CommissionCredit hours
18Estimated cost
$9,000.00*This cost is for illustrative purposes only. Your hours and costs will differ, depending on your transfer hours, your course choices and your academic progress. See more about tuition and financial aid.
Career prospects
Potential careers include
- Community college instructor
- High school dual-credit literature or composition instructor
- Postsecondary instructor
Program structure
Delivery of this program is 100 percent online: no campus visits are required.
Students typically take two to three classes each semester session and finish the program in one year.
Note: This program is intended for practicing teachers who already have their initial teaching certification. It does not provide the initial certification required to become a teacher.
Course work covers
- The story of English: Medieval to modern
- The Brontë Sisters
- Romantic poetry
- The American novel to 1900
- Transatlantic Modernism
- U.S. autobiography and memoir
- The global novel after 1945
- Creative writing: fiction
- Creative writing: poetry
- Shakespeare and Renaissance Literature
Delivery
100% onlineCalendar system
Semester-basedTypical program length
1 yearTypical course load
2 or 3 classes each semesterAccreditation
The University of Missouri is accredited by the Higher Learning Commission, one of six regional institutional accreditors in the United States.
Faculty spotlight
Dr. Kerwin teaches Shakespeare and early British poetry, as well as Irish literature, literature and medicine, world drama and fiction of immigration to America. His book Beyond the Body: The Boundaries of Medicine and English Renaissance Drama considers medical instability and Renaissance drama. He is a winner of several teaching awards including the William T. Kemper Fellowship for Excellence in Teaching.
Dr. Harrison researches and teaches Caribbean literary and cultural studies, contemporary global Anglophone literature and mass culture of the African Diaspora. Her first book Difficult Subjects: Negotiating Sovereignty in Postcolonial Jamaican Literature was published by the Ohio State University Press in 2014, and her research has been published in various venues including Modern Fiction Studies, Small Axe, The Oxford Research Encyclopedia and The Los Angeles Review of Books.