RU

COLLABORATION FOR LICENSURE TO TEACH SECOND LANGUAGES

Due to the critical need for teachers of foreign languages at both the state and national level, the College of Education and Human Development at Radford University and the College of Liberal Arts and Human Sciences at Virginia Tech are collaborating on a Foreign Language Teacher Licensure Program. RU students receive licensure to teach second languages through VT after fulfilling the major and some basic licensure requirements here at RU. Students take at RU the speech and hearing tests and also the Praxis I. The courses students could take as part of the undergraduate program at RU, just like other teacher licensure candidates, would include HUMD 300 Human Growth and Development, EDEF 320 Introduction to Professional Education, EDSP 404 Introduction to Special Education and EDRD 416 Content Reading and Literacy. The RU foreign language major graduates at RU with a bachelor’s degree in a foreign language but without licensure and then applies to the VT master’s program as a regular M.A. student, with a 3.0 required for admission. At VT the student completes field experiences, takes the methods classes plus additional course-work required for licensure, the Praxis II (there are tests for the languages in which students can major at RU, namely French, German, and Spanish), and also additional course-work required for the VT master's degree. At VT the student would be able to apply for licensure through VT prior to receiving the master’s degree which could be completed at a later date. If the student has already taken most of the licensure courses at Radford except for the FL methods and field experiences, he/she will be able to finish licensure at VT in one year and could probably, beyond licensure, finish the M.A. with one additional summer. In summary, it is a program requiring a year beyond the bachelor’s degree for licensure, or a year and a half beyond the bachelor’s degree for licensure plus the master’s degree.