This section provides the following detailed information about each course: course descriptions, credit hours, prerequisites, delivery formats, and projected schedules.
Note: Schedules are subject to change.
EESL 007 Community English Class
Graduate students plan, teach, and assess the weekly Community English Classes hosted by the Department of Curriculum and Instruction for adult language learners. Students in the MA-TESOL Track must enroll in EESL 007 for at least three semesters. During UAB's Fall and Spring semesters, students must be available to teach on Thursday evenings (7:30-9:00 p.m.) OR on Friday mornings (9:15-10:45 am). During the 10-week Summer term, they must be available on Thursday evenings (5:30-7:00 pm). Pass-Fail.
Credit hours: 0
Prerequisites: None
Required for: MA-TESOL
Format: Clinical
EESL 510/610 Second Language Acquisition
This course provides an in-depth look at major theories of second language acquisition. It explores learning environments, programs, home language, culture, and other factors that influence second language acquisition. This course entails 8 hours of field experiences at other schools plus 22 hours of working with English learners at one's own school.
Credit hours: 3
Prerequisites: None
Required for: Traditional MAEd/ESL, Alternative MAEd/ESL, MA-TESOL, and the MAEd in Spanish and French education
Format: Online plus virtual Professional Learning Communities (PLCs)
Schedule: Fall and Spring
EESL 512/612 Curriculum, Programs, and Policies
Introduction to the curriculum, programs, policies, and laws that support new language learners with respect to legal issues, support networks, instructional strategies, assessments, and accommodations and that are grounded in second language acquisition theory.
Credit hours: 3
Prerequisites: EESL 510/610
Required for: Traditional and Alternative MAEd/ESL
Format: Online
Schedule: Summer (14-week term, starting mid-May)
EESL 513/613 Teaching ESL in a Multicultural Society
This course provides implications of cultural pluralism for teaching, student learning, curriculum planning, and instructional techniques. It is designed to introduce students to the goals, principles, and practices of multicultural education and to sensitize students to cultural pluralism in the United States.
Credit hours: 3
Prerequisites: None
Required for: Traditional MAEd/ESL, Alternative MAEd/ESL, International MAEd/ESL
Format: Online
Schedule: Summer (10-week term starting in June)
EESL 515/615 Grammar for ESL Teachers
This course is a critical study of aspects of Modern English grammar and linguistics that are important for the teaching of English as a Second or Foreign Language. Students will gain an understanding of the major syntactic and semantic phenomena important for teaching ESL/EFL, become familiar with the practical and theoretical literature on teaching English grammar, participate in practical exercises of grammar correction in writing with actual ESL students, and develop and compile classroom activities for teaching points of grammar.
Credit hours: 3
Prerequisites: EESL 510/610
Required for: Traditional MAEd/ESL, Alternative MAEd/ESL, and MA-TESOL
Format: Online
Schedule: Fall and Summer (14-week term starting in May)
EESL 617 Teaching English in a Global Context
This course provides a sociolinguistic perspective on the globalization of English and on the emergence and teaching of English as an International Language. Students explore dialectology, language change, language diversity, language ideology and power, national language policies, World Englishes, the growing number of non-native English speakers, and attitudes of native and non-native English speakers toward the domination of English.
Credit hours: 3
Prerequisites: None
Required for: MA-TESOL
Format: Online
Schedule: Spring
EESL 620 Special Topics in ESL: K-12
Note: The former course with this title has been replaced by EESL 612
Topics will vary. Most recently, this course has focused on Heritage Language Instruction
Credit hours: 3
Format: TBA
Schedule: TBA
EESL 525/625 Phonology for ESL Teachers
This learner-centered course is an introduction to phonology and its application to the teaching of English as a Second or Foreign Language. Students learn the phonological structure of the English language, analyze examples from language learner data, diagnose pronunciation difficulties experienced by English language learners (ELLs) from different first languages, and identify instructional strategies for assisting language learners to perceive and produce challenging English sounds.
Credit hours: 3
Prerequisites: EESL 510/610
Required for: Traditional MAEd/ESL, Alternative MAEd/ESL, and MA-TESOL
Format: Online
Schedule: Fall and Spring
EESL 627 Teaching Adult Language Learners
This course introduces goals, principles, and practices for teaching English to adult learners, addresses the influence of varying backgrounds on adult language learning, and examines ways to evaluate adults' second language development. After learning to recognize quality components in distinct program models, as outlined by TESOL Standards for Adult Education ESL Programs, students do a critical study of community-based programs and English for Specific Purposes.
Credit hours: 3
Prerequisites: None
Required for: MA-TESOL
Format: Online
Schedule: Summer
EESL 530/630 Methods and Materials for Teaching ESL
This course examines traditional and current approaches to teaching English to speakers of other languages and curriculum materials, texts, and other resources. This course entails 40 hours of field experience working with English learners in one's own school.
Credit hours: 3
Prerequisites: EESL 510/610
Required for: Traditional MAEd/ESL, Alternative MAEd/ESL
Format: Online
Schedule: Fall and Spring
EESL 637 Methods for Teaching English as an International Language
This course prepares students to teach English as an International Language by using methods, strategies, and techniques appropriate for adults in ESL contexts and for all learners in EFL contexts. Engaged with approaches aligned with TESOL Standards for ESL/EFL Teachers of Adults, students plan state-of-the-art curriculum, instruction and assessment for 5 program settings: adult/community, workplace, college/university, intensive English, and English as a Foreign Language.
Credit hours: 3
Co-requisite: EESL 610
Required for: MA-TESOL
Format: Online
Schedule: Fall
EESL 540/640 Teaching ESL through Reading and Writing
This course examines theory, research and practice in reading and writing for second language learners. It provides implications for teaching reading and writing skills that allow second language learners to participate in the full range of academic situations.
Credit hours: 3
Prerequisites: EESL 510/610
Required for: Traditional MAEd/ESL, Alternative MAEd/ESL
Format: Online with three weeks of field experience
Schedule: Summer (14-week term starting in May)
EESL 641 Teaching Emergent Bilinguals in Early Childhood Settings
This course prepares candidates to work effectively with emergent bilingual learners in the early childhood setting. Candidates will gain context knowledge needed to design curriculum, including literacy, appropriate for emergent bilingual learners and will learn how culture and home language impacts learning additional languages.
Elective
Format: Varied
Schedule: Summer
EESL 647 Instruction and Assessment: Reading and Writing
This course addresses linguistic, sociocultural, psychological, and educational factors that affect literacy development of English as an additional language. Grounded in theoretical and practical aspects of teaching second language (L2) reading and writing to adolescents and adults in diverse communities, students learn to implement effective instructional strategies for promoting literacy in English as an additional language. To measure attainment of L2 reading and writing skills, students learn to design and conduct authentic assessments and to administer standardized assessments.
Credit hours: 3
Prerequisite/Co-requisite: EESL 610
Required for: MA-TESOL
Format: Online
Schedule: Fall
EESL 650 Strategies for Teaching Math and Science to ELLs
This course provides knowledge and strategies for making math and science accessible to ELLs at all grade levels, K-12. Classroom teachers will learn to make accommodations for teaching ELLs within a sheltered instruction framework.
Credit hours: 3
Prerequisites: None
Elective for: Traditional MAEd/ESL
Format: Online
Schedule: Variable
EESL 657 Instruction and Assessment: Listening and Speaking
This course examines how spoken communication is structured so that it is socially appropriate and linguistically accurate. Students learn principles and best practices for the contextualized teaching of second language (L2) listening and speaking skills to adolescent and adult learners. After exploring the purposes, types, and availability of formal testing tools to assess the attainment of these skills in English as an additional language, students also learn to generate and conduct their own tests for assessing L2 listening and speaking.
Credit hours: 3
Prerequisite/Co-requisite: EESL 610
Required for: MA-TESOL
Format: Online
Schedule: Spring
EESL 560/660 Effective Teaching and Learning
This course prepares candidates to plan, teach and assess second and foreign languages in school settings: making informed decisions about context, learners, learner differences, teaching strategies, methodologies, curricula, and assessment. This course entails 30 hours of field experience.
Credit hours: 3
Prerequisite: Most of coursework completed
Format: Online with 30+ hours of field experience
Schedule: EESL 560 is in Fall; EESL 660 is in Fall and Spring
ESL 670 Engaging Families and Communities
This course prepares professional educators to engage families and communities with the overarching idea of shared responsibility for the English learner's academic success. In this course, UAB candidates will determine what family engagement could look like over time (in school years) and through multiple levels, starting with individual engagement, the engagement of a school, and of a school system.
Credit hours: 3
Prerequisite: Elective
Format: Online
Schedule: Spring
EESL 677 Field Studies
Students participate in field studies related to the teaching of English as a second or foreign language.
Credit hours: 1-3
Prerequisites: 6 courses and 3 semesters of teaching the Community English Classes
Required for: MA-TESOL
Format: Clinical
Schedule: Fall/Spring/Summer
EESL 680 Research in ESL
Primary types of research conducted in second language teaching and learning and how these methods can be used to inform teaching. Introduction to classroom-based second language research approaches.
Credit hours: 3
Prerequisites: 6 courses
Required for: EdS
Format: Online
Schedule: Fall/Spring/Summer
EESL 681 National Boards in English as a New Language
This course prepares experienced teachers for National Board Candidacy in English as a New Language (ENL). Students enrolled in this course may be either pre-candidates or candidates for National Board Certification.
Credit hours: 3
Prerequisites: Elective
Required for: MA-TESOL
Format: Online
Schedule: Fall/Spring/Summer
EESL 687 English for Specific Purposes
This inquiry-focused course guides emerging teachers in experiencing the differentiated facets of working in adult ESL and EFL environments. Students explore English for Specific Purposes and related issues in Intensive English Programs, English for Occupational Purposes, Program Administration, and English as an International Language. Students observe classes in regional IEPs, develop an EOP program, receive hands-on experience in administration, apply research to various adult EIL teaching situations, and do an in-depth study of an EFL context.
Credit hours: 3
Prerequisites: 6 ESL courses
Required for: MA-TESOL
Format: Online
Schedule: Summer (14-week term starting in May)
EESL 589 Internship Seminar
This course provides an opportunity to explore in depth effective ways to deliver instruction during the internship experience. It must be taken concurrently with EESL 690. Assessment is based on submission of edTPA.
Credit hours: 1
Prerequisites: All courses on the ALSDE's Alternative Class A checklist
Required for: Alternative MAEd/ESL
Format: Online Seminars and Clinical - concurrently with EESL 690 (6 hours)
Schedule: Fall and Spring
EESL 590 (6 hours) Internship in ESL, N-12
The course meets the student teaching requirements in the state code. The internship prepares teachers to use ESL Best Practices in their daily decisions and actions in teaching, working with and assisting students and their families for whom English is a new language. The internship requires a minimum of 15 weeks full time, half in an elementary school and half in a secondary school. Interns are engaged in the full scope of teaching activities including planning and delivering lessons, evaluating students, and conducting managerial tasks and other appropriate duties. Assessment is based on the actual student teaching experience.
Credit hours: 6
Prerequisites: All courses on the ALSDE's Alternative Class A checklist and Student Teaching Application - due Jan. 31st
Required for: Alternative MAEd/ESL
Format: Clinical - Student Teaching
Schedule: Fall/Spring 7½ weeks in Elementary and 7½ weeks in Secondary
EESL 690 (3 hours) Internship in ESL, N-12
The course meets the internship requirements of the state code. The internship prepares teachers to use ESL Best Practices in their daily decisions and actions in teaching, working with and assisting students and their families for whom English is a new language. The internship requires a minimum of 300 clock hours in elementary (150 hours) and secondary (150 hours) settings. Interns are engaged in the full scope of teaching activities including planning and delivering lessons, evaluating students, and conducting managerial tasks and other appropriate duties. Assessment is based on the actual internship experience.
Credit hours: 3
Prerequisites: All courses on the ALSDE checklist
Required for: Traditional MAEd/ESL
Format: Clinical - Cumulation 150 hours in Elementary and 150 hours in Secondary
Schedule: Summer (online seminars and teaching in EL summer programs)
EESL 697 Practicum
This inquiry-focused course guides emerging teachers in experiencing the differentiated facets of working in adult ESL and EFL environments. Students explore issues related to Intensive English Programs, English for Occupational Purposes, Program Administration, and English as an International Language. Students observe classes in regional IEPs, develop an EOP program, receive hands-on experience in administration, apply research to various adult EIL teaching situations, and do an in-depth study of an EFL context.
Credit hours: 2
Prerequisites: 8 courses, including EESL 677
Required for: MA-TESOL
Format: Clinical
EESL 698 Apprenticeship Teaching
This standards-based course offers practical application of the knowledge and skills learned in other courses for teaching ESL to adult language learners. After doing structured observations of professional ESL educators and participating in the corresponding debriefings, novice teachers engage in the full scope of ESL teaching activities. They plan and deliver lessons, evaluate learners and their language development, and conduct managerial tasks and other appropriate duties.
Credit hours: 3
Prerequisites: 9 courses, including EESL 677 and EESL 697
Required for: MA-TESOL
Format: Clinical
Schedule: Fall/Spring/Summer - TBA (apprenticeship teaching and 3 observations)
Other Courses Required for the MAEd/ESL
ECY 600 Introduction to Exceptional Learners
An overview of exceptionality as it pertains to children and adults. Both high and low incidence populations will be examined. Each are of exceptionality will be reviewed in terms of etiology, diagnosis, prevalence, remediation, and educational strategies.
Credit hours: 3
Prerequisites: None
Required for: Alternative MAEd/ESL
Format: Online
Schedule: Fall/Spring/Summer
EDU 500 Education as a Profession
Credit hours: 1
Prerequisites: None
Required for: Alternative MAEd/ESL
Format: Online
Schedule: Fall/Spring/Summer
EHS 556 Classroom Management in the Secondary Schools
This course is designed to help teachers build their own personal system of discipline, consonant with their philosophies and personalities as well as with realities of students and schools. The emphasis is on successful classroom management techniques.
Credit hours: 3
Required for: Alternative MAEd/ESL
Format: Weekly (evenings), usually blended
Schedule: Fall/Spring/Summer
EPR 510/511 Introduction to Measurement and Evaluation in Education
Basic concepts and principles of measurement and evaluation of personal and academic progress in classroom. Emphasis on elementary descriptive statistics and measurement techniques used in student evaluation. (EPR 510 focuses on grades K-6; and EPR 511 focuses on grades 7-12)
Credit hours: 3
Required for: Alternative MAEd/ESL
Format: Weekly (evenings) or online
Schedule: Fall/Spring/Summer