Master of Arts in Teaching World and Heritage Language Education

Prepare for a rewarding career as a teacher with our Master of Arts in Teaching (MAT) program in World and Heritage Language Education. From drawing up lesson plans to managing the classroom, this MAT program will provide you with a rigorous and thorough foundation in the fundamentals of teaching. Our program pairs intensive coursework with student teaching opportunities to ready the next generation of foreign language education teachers.

Quick Facts

• Program Duration: 10 months over three terms (Summer, Fall, and Spring)
• Time Commitment: Full time
• Term of Enrollment: Summer term II (Begins in June)
• Course Requirements: 36 credits
• Application Deadline: 
  • ​Priority admission - January 15
  • Application deadline - March 1
  • Late applicants are encouraged to apply and will be considered based on available space in the program.
• Admissions Requirements: GRE Exam Not Required

Program Details

The Master of Arts (MAT) program in World and Heritage Language Education offers students a rigorous course of instruction in teaching specific foreign language areas in grades PK-12. The MAT satisfies the requirements for earning a Pennsylvania Instructional I Certificate and provides students with a Master’s in Teaching upon graduation.

Certification studies are available in French, German, Italian, Spanish, Chinese, Japanese, or Latin. 

Applicants who are native and non-native speakers of the language of certification are ideally required to achieve at least an Advanced-Low rating on the OPI (an Oral Proficiency Interview by an individual certified by the American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages). However, a rating of Intermediate-High will also be accepted as this is the minimum rating required by the Pennsylvania Department of Education. Native speakers of the language of certification are not exempt from the OPI or the prerequisite coursework in the culture, civilization literature, and structure of their language.

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Degree Requirements

Internship: During the school year, students complete an internship in a local public school. Students are placed for an entire school year under the supervision of a mentor. In the fall, students spend approximately 20 hours per week working with their mentor teacher. In the spring and summer sessions, students in the MAT program are full-time in their school sites, culminating in a full take-over of teacher responsibilities for two weeks in the late spring. Interns observe, analyze, and practice basic teaching skills in different grade levels and subject fields.

Certification

The MAT program satisfies the requirements for a Pennsylvania Instructional I Certificate, pending:

• earning a passing score on the national PRAXIS II Exam;
• scoring a minimum of Intermediate-high on the OPI and WPT
• completing the PA Statewide Evaluation Form for Student Professional Knowledge and Practice (PDE 430); and
• demonstrating satisfactory performance in courses and the student internship

Teaching Interns must take and pass the Written Proficiency Test (WPT) in the language of certification and the Praxis II Fundamental Subjects: Content Knowledge (5511) Exam in the summer or during the first semester of their program in order to attain the Intern Certificate.

For more information, visit the Pennsylvania Department of Education certification website.

Prerequisites

For all students

• In addition, applicants to the program are expected to provide documentation of 30 hours of experience working with K–12 children. These hours can be fulfilled by obtaining experiences with children through: summer camp; Sunday school; Hebrew school; tutoring; or other volunteer or paid work with children. 
   
• All applicants are also required to take the course Foundations of Special Education (3 credits) and the course Adolescent Development** (3 credits).  (The requirement for Adolescent Development can be waived for those starting in summer 2023.)

All applicants are encouraged to use the program’s online transcript review to track your progress online.

For Chinese, French, German, Italian, Japanese, or Spanish language students:

A total of 30 credits are necessary to be distributed across Area 1 and Area 2.  For example, if you report 12 credits in Area I, then Area II must be 18 credits in order to total 30 credits across these two areas.

Area 1: Languages and Linguistics (12-18 credits)

• Conversation and Advanced Conversation (3 credits)
• Composition/Writing (3 credits)
• Stylistics (3 credits)
• Phonetics (3 credits)
• Grammar (3 credits)
• Syntax (3 credits)
• Structure of the Language (3 credits)
• Dialects (3 credits)
• Morphology (3 credits)
• Listening Comprehension (3 credits)
• Advanced Reading (not a literature course) (3 credits)
• Professional Translation (3 credits)
• History of the Language (3 credits)
• Introduction to Linguistics (may be taught in English) (3 credits)

Area 2: Literature and Culture (12-18 credits)

• Civilization I (3 credits)
• Civilization II (3 credits)
• Major Cultural Periods (3 credits)
• Cultural Heritage Courses (3 credits)
• Literature Surveys (3 credits)
• Author Courses (3 credits)
• Genre Courses (3 credits)
• Literary Period Courses (3 credits)
• Cultural Period Courses (3 credits)
• Thematically-based Literature Courses (3 credits)

For Latin language students only

The following prerequisites must be fulfilled by all applicants of Latin only. A total of 30 credits are necessary, with 6 credits in Latin Area 1 and 24 credits in Latin Area 2.

Latin Area 1

• Roman Civilization (3 credits)
• Latin Prose Composition (3 credits)

Latin Area 2

• At least 24 credits in Latin with a maximum of 144 credits