TESL certificate
The TESL certificate provides foundational coursework and a
coherent educational experience for people wishing to teach in a range of
settings with ESL or EFL students, or wanting to work toward an Arizona ESL endorsement.
Credit hours earned for the TESL certificate can be applied to an MA-TESL
degree. If you’re a certificate student and decide to pursue an MA-TESL degree,
you must submit an application for the MA-TESL degree, independently of the
application for the TESL certificate.
TESL Certificate Program Information
To earn a TESL certificate from the English department at
Northern Arizona University, at least four of the six classes (or 12 credit
hours) must be ENG-prefix courses.
For more information on the courses available, visit the academic catalog.
The NAU academic catalog is the official,
authoritative source for all academic requirements and policies. Any
discrepancies in curricular requirements from other sources will default to the
catalog as the official, authoritative source.
Graduate Student Association of Applied Linguistics
NOTE: Teachers who choose the TESL certificate
program to fulfill Arizona ESL endorsement requirements will also need to
demonstrate a second language learning experience and will need to show that
they have already taught ESL students for two years in their classes, or they
will need to take a teaching practicum course.
Certificate students cannot take more than one NAU 400-level
course for the TESL certificate.
TESL / Applied Linguistics Faculty
Apply to our program
To qualify, you must have a bachelor's degree and a minimum
3.0 grade point average. The deadline for applications is June 15th for the
following fall semester, which begins in late August.
There are two major steps required to apply to the TESL
certificate program at Northern Arizona University:
1) Submit an application for
graduate study to the Graduate CollegeYou can find information about the application for graduate study at the Graduate College.
GRE scores are not required for the TESL Certificate.
Non-native English speakers must also submit a current,
official TOEFL score. A TOEFL score of 89 iBT (230 CBT, or 570 paper) or higher
is required for regular admission.
Applicants with lower scores can be conditionally admitted.
In the first semester, non-native English speakers often take English 506:
Introduction to American Language and Thought.
2) Submit a statement of purpose to the TESL
Certificate Program.
The statement of purpose (1-2 pages) should describe why you
are interested in obtaining a TESL Certificate from Northern Arizona University
and how you intend to use your certificate. Send the statement of purpose to:
TESL Program
Department of English
P.O. Box 6032
Northern Arizona University
Flagstaff, AZ 86011-6032 USA
If you have specific questions, please contact:
Dr. Bill Crawford
william.crawford@nau.edu
928-523-5987