Graduate Certificate in Composition Studies
What is the Certificate Program?
Who will benefit from this Certificate Program?
What are the requirements?
How long will it take to complete the certificate?
How do I apply to the program?
Course Descriptions
Faculty and Executive Committee
What is the Certificate Program?
A 15 unit graduate program accredited by the State University of New York, the certificate in Composition Studies is designed to complement graduate work in literary studies or provide further professional development for teachers already teaching academic writing.
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.
Who will benefit from this program?
- 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
- High school and college teachers seeking advanced training, accreditation, or promotion
The certificate will consist of five core courses:
- EGL/WRT 506 Studies in Literary Theory: Rhetoric (fall, alternate
years)
- EGL/WRT 509 History and Structure of English (spring) or LIN/WRT 527
Structure of English (fall alternate years and every third summer)
- EGL/WRT 612 Composition Theory (spring, alternate years)
- EGL/WRT 613 Research in Composition (spring, alternate years)
- EGL/WRT 698 Practicum in Teaching of Writing for Ph.D. candidates
- or EGL/WRT 592 Problems in the Teaching of Writing for M.A candidates
- or EGL/WRT 614 Topics in Teaching of Writing for teachers already
working in composition classrooms. (Fall)
Note: Up to 3 units of coursework from another institution comparable to these required courses can be applied toward the certificate.
How long will it take to complete?
The certificate may be completed in four semesters and may be started in the first year of graduate study or in subsequent years.
A typical sequence might be:
Year 1 Fall
WRT/EGL 698 Practicum in Teaching Writing
or
WRT/EGL 592 Problems in Teaching Writing
Note: WRT/EGL 698 or 592 will be taken concurrently with teaching responsibilities either in the Program in Writing and Rhetoric or the Writing Center at Stony Brook, or in another institutional setting.
Year 1 Spring
WRT/EGL 612 Composition Theory
WRT/EGL 509 History & Structure of English or LIN 527 Structure of
English
Year 2 Fall
WRT/EGL 506 Studies in Literary Theory:
Rhetoric
Year 2 Spring
WRT/EGL 613 Research in Composition
How do I apply to the program?
Those who have already matriculated as graduate students at Stony Brook may apply for the certificate at any time during the completion of course work.
Those who are not matriculated graduate students at SUNY Stony Brook should contact the Program in Writing and Rhetoric for admissions information, at (631) 632-7390.
To learn more about the Graduate School, click http://www.grad.sunysb.edu/. To apply to the Graduate School online, click http://www.grad.sunysb.edu/prospective/applying/index.shtml
Course Descriptions
WRT/EGL 506 Literary Theory: Rhetoric
A survey of rhetoric done largely in two takes: first, as the art of persuasion,
and second, as a perspective in literary criticism. The course also examines
special topics, for example, is logic gendered? A major goal of the course
is to enable students to recognize a rhetorical treatment of a subject matter.
LIN 527 Structure of English
A description of the major sentence elements, subsystems, and productive
grammatical processes of English. The justification of grammatical categories,
interaction between systems and processes, and notions of standard and
correctness are discussed with a view to their application in the ESL
classroom.
WRT/EGL 509 History and Structure of English
This course is an introduction to the linguistic, grammatical, and stylistic
analysis of literary texts, from the Old English period to the late eighteenth
century, though some attention is also paid to non-literary texts, especially
in non-standard varieties of English.
WRT/EGL 592 Problems in the Teaching of Writing
This course provides an overview of writing pedagogy as applied to tutoring
in a Writing Center or an English classroom. Included in the course is
fieldwork in the Stony Brook Writing Center.
WRT/EGL 612 Composition Theory
This course explores the relationship between reading and writing skills,
the differences between speech production and writing production, and
the relationship between literacy, culture and language policies.
WRT/EGL 613 Research in Composition
This course provides an introduction to the nature of empirical research
in composition studies. Students will survey landmark research studies,
learn how to read research reports critically, and conduct a mini-research
project in their own classrooms or tutoring situations to analyze underlying
causes of students' writing problems.
WRT/EGL 698 Practicum in Teaching Writing
Students take the seminar in conjunction with teaching a section of WRT
101 Beginning Writing Workshop. This course provides hands-on experience
and instruction in the basics of writing pedagogy, including designing
writing assignments, sequencing assignments, motivating writing, writing
skill development and evaluating writing. Students will also be given
a preliminary overview of the major theories driving composition pedagogy.
Faculty and Executive Committee
Core Faculty:
Dr. Bruce Bashford, English
Dr.
Ellen Broselow, Linguistics
Dr. Daniel
Finer, Linguistics
Dr. Joaquin Martinez-Pizarro,
English
Dr. Patricia Dunn, English
Executive Committee:
Dr. Marvin Glockner, Associate Dean, School of Professional Development
Dr. Edward Joyce, Department of English, Suffolk Community College
Dr.
Dorit Kaufman, Chair, TESOL Certification, Department of Linguistics
Dr. Lorna Lewis, Executive Director of Teaching and Learning, Three Village
School District, NY
Dr. Peter Manning, Chair,
Department of English
Ms. Maria Rianna, Assistant Superintendent of Schools, Port Jefferson,
NY