The Program in Writing and Rhetoric, in conjunction with the English Department and the Linguistics Department, offers a course of study that leads to the Advanced Certificate in Teaching Writing. The certificate program, a 15-unit graduate program approved by the State University of New York, is designed to complement graduate work in literary studies or provide further professional development for those already teaching composition. Composition Studies gained disciplinary status in the early 1970’s because of a growing body of research focused specifically on the learning processes involved in gaining writing literacy. It is a multi-disciplinary field, drawing its theories, research, and practices from psycholinguistics, sociolinguistics, cognitive psychology, language acquisition research, genre theory, rhetorical theory, and linguistic anthropology. Teachers who are grounded in this body of theory and research will be better equipped to diagnose students’ writing problems and implement effective teaching strategies or to begin a doctoral research project in composition. Individuals who could benefit from this certificate program include M.A. and M.A.T. candidates in English who are preparing for a teaching career in high school or community college teaching, Ph.D. candidates in English who would like a broad-based degree program and may want to do research in Composition Studies, and high school and college teachers seeking advanced training, accreditation, or promotion. The certificate may, but need not, be completed in four semesters and may be started in the first year of graduate study or in subsequent years. It is recommended that students begin their work in the fall semester, with one of the practicum courses, so that the theoretical work in subsequent courses in grounded in first-hand experience of working with students on their writing. Graduate students who have a teaching assistantship in the Writing and Rhetoric program would take WRT 698 or EGL 698. Masters level students and public school teachers with a BA degree or MA degree would start with WRT 592 or EGL 592, Problems in Teaching of Writing.

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