ESL Add-On Licensure
Prepare for Multilingual Learners in the K-12 Classroom and Prepare for the ESL Add-On Licensure
Interested in working with ML students and adding ESL to your North Carolina teaching license?
Today’s K–12 classrooms are increasingly multilingual. Whether you plan to teach elementary school, math, science, social studies, English, special education, world languages or another subject, you will work with students who are developing English while also learning academic content.
The NC State College of Education’s Multilingual Education coursework prepares future educators to meet the academic and language-learning needs of multilingual learners (MLs) in U.S. K–12 classrooms.
These courses go beyond learning how to teach English as a language. You will learn how to build on students’ linguistic and cultural strengths, integrate language development with academic content, design effective instruction, and use assessment appropriately with multilingual learners.
The coursework also provides strong preparation for students interested in taking the Praxis ESL Test and pursuing ESL Add-On Licensure in North Carolina.
Benefits of Multilingual Education Coursework
- Prepare for the multilingual K–12 classroom. Develop knowledge and skills for working with multilingual learners across grade levels, content areas and educational settings.
- Learn to teach both language and academic content. Discover ways to integrate language development into math, science, literacy, social studies and other subjects without reducing academic rigor.
- Build practical instructional skills. Learn research-informed strategies you can use during field experiences, student teaching and in your own future classroom.
- Understand multilingual learners and their strengths. Examine how language, culture, migration, educational experiences and policy shape students’ experiences in schools, while learning to build on the linguistic and cultural resources students bring to the classroom.
- Learn about bilingual and multilingual approaches to education. Explore bilingual education, dual-language immersion, biliteracy, translanguaging and other approaches for supporting multilingual learners.
- Develop expertise with WIDA. Become familiar with WIDA frameworks and tools used to support the instruction and assessment of multilingual learners in K–12 schools.
- Make better assessment decisions. Learn how language development can affect assessment and how to more accurately determine what multilingual students know and can do.
- Prepare for the Praxis ESL Test. Build knowledge across multilingual education, instruction and assessment that provides strong preparation for the Praxis ESL Test.
- Pursue ESL Add-On Licensure. Upon passing the Praxis ESL Test and meeting applicable state requirements, eligible educators may apply to the North Carolina Department of Public Instruction (NC DPI) for ESL Add-On Licensure.
Please note: ESL Add-On Licensure is conferred by the North Carolina Department of Public Instruction, not NC State University.
Build Your Multilingual Teaching Expertise
The three courses provide a connected pathway from understanding multilingual learners to teaching and assessing them effectively:
UNDERSTAND → TEACH → ASSESS
ECI 436: Introduction to Multilingual Education
Understand multilingual learners and the educational contexts that shape their experiences.
Build a foundation for working with multilingual learners in U.S. schools. Explore multilingualism, bilingual and multilingual education, dual-language immersion, migration, educational policy, and the linguistic and cultural strengths students bring to their classrooms and communities.
This course will help you:
- Understand the experiences of multilingual students and families in U.S. schools
- Explore bilingual, multilingual and dual-language models of education
- Examine how educational history and policy influence multilingual learners
- Develop an asset-based perspective on multilingualism and students’ linguistic and cultural resources
- Build a strong foundation for additional coursework in multilingual education
ECI 427: Multilingual Teaching and Learning Methods
Learn how to teach academic content effectively to multilingual learners.
Move from understanding multilingual learners to designing instruction that supports their success. Learn research-informed strategies for integrating language development with academic content while maintaining high expectations for all students. The course introduces approaches and tools that can help you make curriculum more accessible and responsive to multilingual learners, including WIDA, translanguaging and biliteracy.
This course will help you:
- Develop practical strategies for multilingual K–12 classrooms
- Integrate language development with academic content
- Make curriculum accessible without lowering academic rigor
- Draw on students’ full linguistic resources as tools for learning
- Explore translanguaging, biliteracy and multilingual instructional approaches
- Enter field experiences and student teaching with a stronger instructional toolkit
ECI 432: Assessments for Multilingual Learners
Learn to assess what multilingual learners know and can do.
Assessment can be especially complex when students are simultaneously learning academic content and developing English. This course examines assessment practices designed for multilingual learners and helps future educators interpret assessment information more effectively. Explore formative and summative assessment, language proficiency, validity and reliability, language and biliteracy assessment, and WIDA screening tools. Learn to use assessment information to guide instruction and support student learning.
Undergraduates may enroll with instructor permission.
This course will help you:
- Understand assessment practices for multilingual learners
- Use formative and summative assessment more effectively
- Recognize how language proficiency can influence assessment results
- Understand language and biliteracy assessment
- Become familiar with WIDA screening and assessment tools
- Use assessment information to make better instructional decisions
Prepare for the Praxis ESL Test and ESL Add-On Licensure
Taken together, these courses develop knowledge across three essential areas of multilingual education:
Understanding multilingual learners → Designing effective instruction → Assessing language and academic learning
Students completing this coursework will be highly prepared to take the Praxis ESL Test.
Upon passing the Praxis ESL Test and meeting applicable state requirements, eligible educators may apply to the North Carolina Department of Public Instruction (NC DPI) for ESL Add-On Licensure.
ESL Add-On Licensure is conferred by NC DPI, not by NC State University.
This distinction is important: NC State provides coursework and preparation, while the State of North Carolina determines eligibility and issues the professional license.
Multilingual Education or TESOL/TEFL: Which Coursework Is Right for Me?
NC State offers different opportunities for students interested in language, multilingualism and teaching. The best choice depends on your professional goals, particularly who you want to teach, where you want to teach and what you want to teach.
| If your goal is to… | College of Education Multilingual Education | TESOL/TEFL Coursework |
|---|---|---|
| Work with multilingual learners in U.S. K–12 classrooms | Primary focus | One possible focus |
| Become a K–12 teacher better prepared to serve multilingual students | Strong fit | Varies by program and course |
| Integrate language development with K–12 academic content | Primary focus | Emphasis varies |
| Study multilingual teaching, learning and assessment | Integrated across the coursework | Emphasis varies |
| Learn about WIDA and its application to multilingual learners | Included in coursework | Varies by course |
| Prepare for the Praxis ESL Test | Yes | Yes, through applicable TESOL/ESL pathways |
| Pursue NC ESL Add-On Licensure | Coursework in the ML program supports this goal | Program pathways support this goal |
| Focus primarily on teaching English as an additional language | Strong fit with a focus on K-12 classrooms | Strong fit |
| Prepare specifically for English teaching in international or language-school contexts | Not the primary focus | Strong fit |
Why Choose Multilingual Education in the College of Education?
If you plan to become a K–12 educator, the central question is not simply, “How do I teach English?”
How do I effectively teach math, science, literacy, social studies and other academic content to students who are developing English at the same time?
College of Education coursework approaches multilingualism through the everyday work of schools and classrooms. You will learn to design instruction, integrate language and content learning, build on students’ multilingual strengths, assess learning responsibly, and support multilingual learners across the curriculum.
And these skills are not only for future ESL teachers. Every K–12 educator can benefit from knowing how to teach multilingual learners effectively.
Start Building Your Multilingual Teaching Toolkit
Take one course or build your expertise across all three:
- ECI 436: Introduction to Multilingual Education (fall)
- ECI 427: Multilingual Teaching and Learning Methods (spring)
- ECI 432: Assessments for Multilingual Learners (summer)
Together, the courses provide practical preparation for the multilingual K–12 classroom while building the knowledge needed to pursue the Praxis ESL Test and ESL Add-On Licensure through NC DPI.