English

Evangel’s English program opens the door to a wide variety of career opportunities. It has three tracks to prepare students for varied career opportunities: Literature, TESOL, and Writing.

Major degree plans:

Literature Track

Teaching English as a Second Language (TESOL) Track

Writing Track

Literature Track

The Literature track has a core of American, English, and World literature courses from many cultures and periods that strengthen experiences first as a human being and then for community and vocation:

• close-reading analysis and interpretation
• well-crafted written and oral rhetoric
• insight about diverse people, cultures, and situations
• the human longing for the divine
• empathy for the human condition.

Considering that through reading, writers learn to craft language, writing is also a key component of this track.

Students are prepared for transitioning to graduate school (In English or another discipline) or finding a job that calls for quality interpretive reading and writing skills. Good storytelling, learned through reading literature, is important to almost any discipline. Literature, for example, integrates well with business, theology, or law. English is respected as a good major to prepare students for law school and an excellent degree for writing in any business, ministry, or organization.

Our students can participate in writing contests (fiction, poetry, essay) in the fall and spring semesters, reading original writing at a coffeehouse with an open mic, being or staff and/or publishing in Evangel’s Epiphany fine arts magazine.

 

TESOL Track

The Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL) track equips students to teach English and serve multilingual individuals and families both in the United States and around the world.

Our alumni have taught in nations such as Japan, South Korea, and Egypt. They have also partnered TESOL with an education degree to be U.S. certified to teach in an ELL classroom.

As part of their program in Evangel’s Springfield community, students cooperate with the English Language Institute and other organizations to work with those who are adjusting to American culture while learning English. In fact, this track is one of the most community-orientated majors in the Humanities department.

Each TESOL student fulfills a practicum working with multilingual students and has the option of also completing an internship in the community to prepare them for a vocation working with international organizations that assist English Language Learners. An example of a practicum is preparing curriculum followed by teaching at a school in South Korea over the summer.

In addition, the TESOL track cooperates well with other disciplines such as intercultural studies, humanitarian programs, foreign languages, education, business, etc.

 

Writing Track

The Writing track has a writing core with options from the Communication and Humanities areas to prepare writers for various writing vocations.

Courses develop skills in professional writing:

• media writing
• feature writing
• copy editing
• technical writing.

In addition, creative writing courses cover these genres:

• poetry
• short fiction
• novella and novel preparation for publication
• one-act script for the stage
• television and film writing.

Students also learn to prepare works for publication and the publishing process. They are encouraged to write or edit for Evangel’s Epiphany fine arts magazine, newspaper, or yearbook.

They also fulfill a writing internship with a business, ministry, or organization so that they have real-world experience preparing them for a writing vocation.

Every business, organization, and ministry needs discerning readers and skilled writers/editors. Alumni have jobs as copy writers/editors (involving writing or editing marketing), communication specialists with a cornucopia of writing media, freelance writers (e.g., writing for American Bible Society or an accounting firm). Students also have published novels, poems, and short stories. Creative writing is not only original storytelling but is also important for inventive marketing approaches.

Students can also participate in writing contests (fiction, poetry, essay) in the fall and spring semesters, reading original writing at a coffeehouse with an open mic, being on staff and/or publishing in Evangel’s Epiphany fine arts magazine.

 

 

We have scholarship opportunities!

Fine Arts Scholarship opportunities are available for those interested in pursuing this program. Click here for eligibility and requirement details!

 

Faculty

Department Chair

Full-time Faculty

Adjunct Faculty