December 22, 2003

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

MA in Humanities with concentration in Linguistics and Humanities

Indiana Teaching Certificate

Graduate School Application Form: How to Answer Some Questions on the Form

Graduate Record Examination (GRE)

Foreign/Second Language Requirement

Foreign Language Credit: Spanish  6 credit hours

Portfolios for Certification and for the ESL Endorsement

I am enrolled in the College of Arts and Sciences Graduate Level Humanities MA Program with a concentration in Linguistics and the Humanities.  This allows me to do coursework to secure the ESL Endorsement.  What do I need to do for/at/with the College of Education and Human Development?

a.   Before you begin classes in your program, you will need to get the ESL Endorsement Advising Sheet at the Advising Office at the CEHD and after you have filled out this form, you will need submit it to Dr. Karen Mullen, Room 319 A Humanities Building.

b.      When you take the PRAXIS exam in English to Speakers of Other Languages, you will need to fill in the code for the CEHD, University of Louisville, so that a record of your PRAXIS scores will be sent to the CEHD.  Passing this exam is one of the requirements for securing the ESL Endorsement.

c.       When you finish the ESL Endorsement program, you will need to complete a TC-1 form at the CEHD, so that the ESL Endorsement will be attached to (or listed on) your Kentucky teaching certificate.

How does a ESL Endorsement to a Kentucky Teaching Certificate attach to an Indiana Teaching Certificate?

If you have an Indiana Teaching Certificate and plan to teach in Kentucky, then you should establish a Kentucky Teaching Certificate based on the reciprocal agreement between Indiana and Kentucky.  Then you will add the ESL Endorsement to the Kentucky Teaching Certificate.

If you have an Indiana Teaching Certificate and plan to teach in Indiana, then you should  check with the Indiana Professional Standards Board to arrange for them to accept the ESL endorsement to a Kentucky Teaching certificate.

            School or college to apply to:  the admit unit is Graduate Education

Your major:  the major is whatever the base teaching certificate is for (elementary, middle, secondary)

The code for area of concentration:  Non-degree, Rank I, Rank II

If you want to be in a Rank I program or a Rank II program, you will need to file not only an ESL endorsement advising sheet, but also a Rank I or a Rank II advising sheet.

GRE scores are not required fort the ESL endorsement, unless one is doing the ESL endorsement as a part of a  Master’s Degree.  GRE scores are required for admission into a master’s program.

Are there other ways in which I can establish proficiency in a second language other than showing 6 hours of a foreign language on my transcript?

The purpose for the second language requirement is to give candidates first-hand experience in learning a second language in an academic setting so that they can develop perspectives on second-language teaching and learning: teaching methodologies, strategies in learning it, attitudes about learning it, styles of learning it, factors affecting success in learning it, what about it has to be learned, how the learning is structured, what roles teacher, learner, other students have in

learning it, etc.

Thus, the purpose of the requirement is not only to show proficiency; it is to show experience in formal second-language learning, as well  Thus, if you can show that you engaged in formal second language learning, then it may be possible to establish the degree to which the foreign/second language was learned and as a result, this requirement may be waived.  If this pertains to you, discuss it with the ESL Endorsement Advisor, Dr. Karen Mullen  (karen.mullen@louisville.edu).

I have studied Spanish formally in a Spanish as a Second Language Institute in Mexico.  I have no transcripts to show my study there.  Is there some way in which I can get these credits on my transcript here at UofL?

There is a Spanish placement exam that you can take.  Information about it is at:

http://www.louisville.edu/a-s/cml/spanishfrencexam.html

If you place in a Spanish-language course for which the courses below it

total 6 hours or more, you will have satisfied the 6-hour requirement.

Note that in order to take the test, you have to have a student ID, a

university computer account (which every UofL student has), and a password

for that account.  In addition, the results are not posted on your UofL

transcript until you have 12 semester-hours recorded on the transcript.

If you take the test, you should be sure to save the copy of the results

and to e-mail a copy to the ESL endorsement advisor, Dr. Karen Mullen (karen.mullen@louisville.edu) as well (with a note that indicates what the

information in the copy is all about); it would be helpful, if you have an ESL endorsement file already established(i.e., you have followed step 1 in the Guidelines for the ESL Endorsement, last page, by securing an advising form from the College of Education and Human Development and by having the ESL Endorsement Advisor both sign it and return it to CEHD advising office; this officially recognizes you as an ESL endorsement candidate and hence establishes an advising file both with the ESL endorsement advisor and the CEHD).

In our purple ESL endorsement information packet, it reads:  "Those simultaneously enrolled in a certification program must, in connection with their certification program, submit a professional portfolio which includes information about their preparation and training for teaching English as a second language and receive a passing review."  Does this mean that we need 2 separate portfolios:  one for K-5 (my certification area) and one for ESL?  Or, does this mean that I should incorporate and fulfill all of the ESL requirements into my K-5 portfolio--making one portfolio?

There is an ESL portfolio.  Go to the endorsement website www.louisville.edu/a-s/iesl/Endorsement to find the link to the checklist for the portfolio.  It indicates all that must be in the portfolio:

  a)    a letter to the reader addressing the aspects that are  listed there

         on the checklist.  The letter pertains to your training and preparation in

teaching ESL.

  b)    seven lessons addressing the 10 goals that are listed there on the checklist. You can use the three lessons that you will prepare for 625: ESL methods, but they will have to be designed with the portfolio requirements in mind, i.e., in the case where you use these three lessons for both 625 (the methods course) and 626 (the portfolio course)

  c)    evidence of having engaged in the three initiatives listed on the checklist:

             i)  professional leadership in ESL

            ii)  professional development in ESL

            iii)  professional collaboration in ESL

   d)   your ESL endorsement advising sheet

If your certification-area portfolio advisor will let you use some of these parts of the ESL portfolio in your certification-area portfolio, that's between you and your certification-area portfolio advisor.