English Language Arts

Program Overview

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English Language Arts Degree

Overview

The English Language Arts degree is a Bachelor of Arts (B.A.) program that prepares students for careers requiring strong writing, communication, and analytical thinking skills.

Program Details

• Program Type: Major
• Format: On Campus
• Estimated Time to Complete: 4 years
• Credit Hours: 120

Description

The English Language Arts degree develops students' writing, critical thinking, and analytical skills while introducing them to American, British, and world literatures, creative writing, literary theory, composition, language arts, and rhetoric.

Marketable Skills

• Write clearly, concisely, and compellingly
• Communicate meaningfully to diverse audiences
• Develop solutions to complex problems
• Think critically, creatively, and independently
• Identify and evaluate credible sources

Career Opportunities

A Bachelor of Arts degree in English prepares students for jobs that require strong writing, communication, and analytical thinking skills. Graduates choose careers in various fields, including law, publishing, education, advertising, journalism, or public relations.

Notable Alumni

• An editor with Rolling Stone magazine
• A curator in the Rare Book Division of the New York Public Library
• A member of the public relations staff at PricewaterhouseCoopers accounting firm
• Novelists Karleen Koen, David Lindsey, and Larry McMurtry
• Poets Chad Davidson and John Poch
• Screenplay writer and director Ken Harrison
• Various employees of government agencies, such as the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the U.S. Government Printing Office

Course Highlights

• Advanced Grammar and Usage (3 hrs)
• Shakespeare (3 hrs)
• Ethnic American Literatures (3 hrs)
• American Literature to 1870 (3 hrs)
• American Literature 1870 to the Present (3 hrs)
• Academic Writing in the Humanities (3 hrs)

Faculty and Research

The faculty hail from top graduate programs in the country, are active scholars and researchers, and are consistently recognized as some of the best teachers at UNT. Some faculty honors include the BBC International Short Story Award, a $1 million U.S. State Department grant, and the National Book Critics Circle Award in Poetry.

Student Organizations and Opportunities

• Sigma Tau Delta international English honor society
• Visiting Writers Series
• Research projects with faculty members
• Department journals: American Literary Review , Studies in the Novel , and others

Class Size and Interaction

Class sizes are restricted to provide opportunities for collaboration with other students and close interaction with professors.

Program Outline

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Degree Overview:

The Bachelor of Arts degree in English with a concentration in Language Arts prepares you for jobs that require strong writing, communication, and analytical thinking skills. Graduates choose careers in a variety of fields, including law, publishing, education, advertising, journalism, or public relations. The English major is one of the largest in UNT's College of Liberal Arts and Social Sciences. It is widely recognized as a foundational liberal arts degree, preparing you not only for graduate study in literature or creative writing, but for a range of careers - including teaching, the law, publishing, and business - in which the skills of analytical thinking and effective communication are at a premium. The curriculum develops your writing, critical thinking, and analytical skills while introducing you to American, British, and world literatures, creative writing, literary theory, composition, language arts, and rhetoric. The Bachelor of English Language Arts is ideal for students who wish to pursue careers as English/Language Arts teachers in secondary school. Course work includes field experiences and is designed to provide knowledge in literature, composition, computer skills, reading techniques, and teaching strategies. Some of our faculty honors include the BBC International Short Story Award, a $1 million U.S. State Department grant, and the National Book Critics Circle Award in Poetry.

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Careers:

A Bachelor of Arts degree in English prepares you for jobs that require strong writing, communication, and analytical thinking skills. Our graduates choose careers in a variety of fields, including law, publishing, education, advertising, journalism, or public relations. Many alumni teach English composition, British or American literature, or English as a Second Language in public and private schools. Some pursue master's and doctoral degrees in a variety of fields in competitive graduate programs nationwide. Other alumni include:

• An editor with Rolling Stone magazine
• A curator in the Rare Book Division of the New York Public Library
• A member of the public relations staff at PricewaterhouseCoopers accounting firm
• Novelists Karleen Koen, David Lindsey, and Larry McMurtry
• Poets Chad Davidson and John Poch
• Screenplay writer and director Ken Harrison

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Other:

As an English major, you can participate in a number of student organizations, including the Sigma Tau Delta international English honor society. Creative writing students receive feedback from published writers, and the Visiting Writers Series provides a forum to meet accomplished authors. You may also help faculty members with research projects or with one of the department journals—the American Literary Review, Studies in the Novel, or Conradiana.