This course focuses on curriculum and assessment for ESL education. Course readings, assignments and class discussions will constitute guides to thinking about the relationships among standards, lesson planning and assessment. A key component of the course is to discuss issues and concepts of assessment and think about how English language teachers' oral, reading and writing development is assessed using as guidelines the Texas English Language Proficiency Standards (ELPS) or similar standards from another state. The course also provides a general background in teaching and assessing ESL-Special Education students.

This course introduces the methods and approaches for providing language and content instruction to English Language Learners (ELLs). The course also reviews types of ESL programs, relevant federal and state learning standards, socio-cultural factors affecting ELLs, and teaching strategies, classroom management techniques and instructional tools that support Ells' learning and adjustment in U.S. schools. The goal of the course is not to provide simplistic recipes for instruction, nor does it argue for a singular approach or method. Instead, the course seeks to engender a critical awareness of the complexity of teaching ELLs and to encourage an understanding of the primary literature that informs ESL instruction.

This course focuses on the teaching of what have traditionally been called language skills (reading, writing, listening, and speaking). Rather than separating language instruction into discrete skills, this course emphasizes the integration of all language skills in teaching literacy. Strategies and techniques for effective literacy instruction for English language learners (ELLs) are presented and applied, and the relationship among schooling, literacy, and social and cultural life are explored. Additionally, strategies for increasing family and community involvement to support English language learners' literacy learning are addressed.

This course covers the nature of language and its basic concepts (e.g., phonology, morphology, syntax, lexicon, semantics, discourse, pragmatics), the functions and registers of English language (e.g., social versus academic language), and the patterns and conventions of written and spoken English. It introduces the theories, concepts and research related to first and second language acquisition/learning, explores the specific features of the English language (grammar) and how those features function as a system, and addresses the current issues and challenges concerning the role of grammar in language teaching.