Suggested Course Concentrations and Minors for English Majors
While English graduates are known to possess strong reading, writing, and analytical skills, a concentration of courses or a minor in a professional area can make them much more employable. Some suggested minors and concentrations are described below. Check the Undergraduate Catalog, college advisement centers, and department websites for further information.
English Major Concentration in Professional Writing
12 hours (Advisement Center, 1175 JFSB)
In professional writing courses, students learn principles of document design, oral presentation, project management, and workplace computing. While English majors typically focus on learning to write well, majors interested in developing these additional workplace skills should consider a concentration in professional writing.
Editing
22 hours (Advisement Center, 1175 JFSB)
English majors who wish to develop editing skills might consider the editing minor offered by the Department of Linguistics and English Language (ELang). In addition to book and magazine publishers, virtually all corporations, government agencies, and educational institutions produce publications that require trained editors. With their backgrounds in literature and language, English majors make excellent editors. Majors may also count one ELang course as an elective credit toward their degree.
View editing minor requirements.
Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL)
18 hours (Advisement Center, 1175 JFSB)
This minor prepares teachers for positions in teaching English as a foreign language, including instruction overseas or in adult or community education programs in the US. The minor does NOT require a secondary certificate. Returned missionaries and others with second-language fluency are desirable, but advanced language skills are not always required.
View TESOL minor requirements.
Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL K-12)
19 hours (Advisement Center, 1175 JFSB)
This TESOL certificate is meant for English teaching majors who will become certified teachers in public schools. The Utah State Board of Education has approved this minor as part of ESL endorsement. Given the many public school children who do not speak English as a native tongue and the great need for teachers in this area, the endorsement increases career opportunities for English teaching majors.
Foreign Language Minors
18-24 hours (Advisement Center, 1175 JFSB)
Skill in a second language -- especially highly desirable languages like Spanish, Chinese, and Arabic -- can be a real advantage to English majors seeking employment in education, government, and industry. Minor requirements for the various languages taught at BYU can be found at their individual program pages.
Computer Science Minor
15 hours (Advisement Center, N-179 ESC)
As computer programming skills become increasingly important in virtually every academic and professional field, a computer science minor can make an English major significantly more employable. Students take nine hours (three courses) in beginning programming and six elective hours (two courses). The elective hours are meant to allow students to better shape the minor to their particular needs and interests.
Humanities Computing (CHum) Minor
15 hours (Advisement Center, 1175 JFSB)
Computer skills are important in every profession, and future employers will expect English majors to be computer literate. Through CHum, the College of Humanities offers computer classes that will add to students' computer skills. Sixteen available courses include internet publishing, print publishing, publishing workshop, and text processing and analysis.
View CHum minor requirements.
Linguistics Computing (LingC) Minor
18 hours (Department of Linguistics and English Language, 4064 JFSB)
The Department of Linguistics and English Language offers a minor in Linguistics Computing, which focuses on a wide range of topics related to computers and linguistics, including translation, natural language processing (technologies that allow computers to process human languages), and corpus linguistics (creating and using large collections of text for linguistic analysis). These fields and skills are highly marketable and can provide you with analytic tools that will enhance your English BA.
Pre-professional Minors and Classes
(Advisement Center, 3326 WSC)
English majors planning careers in dentistry, medicine, optometry, law, or management should go to the Advisement Center in 3326 WSC for advice on the most useful minors and/or classes in these fields. English majors do very well in the professions, but it is vital that they have the necessary specialized education to support their graduate or professional school applications.
Management Minor
22 hours (Advisement Center, 460 TNRB)
Because many English majors select business as a profession, the minor in management offered by the Marriott School of Management seems an obvious choice. The corporate and business worlds seek English majors with their skills in reading, writing, and analysis and their backgrounds in literature and cultural history, and they particularly seek majors who have also studied management. The minor is demanding, requiring prerequisite classes in economics, mathematics, statistics, and accounting, but there are obvious benefits of such a minor for the English major wanting a career in business.
Strategy Minor
27-28 hours (Advisement Center, 460 TNRB)
Like a minor in management, a minor in strategy through the Marriott School is a great addition to English students who plan on entering the business world. Strategy courses center around structured problem solving, strategic thinking, and organizational concepts that help prepare students to analyze and understand business performance. This minor requires admission into the Marriott School, so students wishing to pursue a minor in strategy will need to plan ahead with their academic advisor.
Communications Minor
15 hours (Advisement Center, D-444 HFAC)
Communications prepares students for careers in fields related to mass communication, such as advertising, communications studies, journalism, and public relations. Grounded in a strong liberal arts foundation, this minor provides English majors with a balance between scholarship and professional skills. Communications students have the opportunity to edit and publish the Daily Universe as a laboratory newspaper for the campus, produce daily television broadcasts on KBYU-TV, produce universe.byu.edu for the Internet, plan advertising and public relations campaigns, and study processes and effects of mass communication.