Benefits of a M.Ed in Literacy and Second Language Studies

The Master of Education in Literacy and Second Language Studies focuses on reading, writing, and speaking as language processes. UC Online’s program takes students on a journey to broaden and deepen their understanding of the social, cultural, linguistic, and institutional factors that contribute to a learner’s ability to read, write, and speak in their first or second language.

Obtaining a M.Ed in Literacy and Second Language Studies can have a profound impact in many areas of your life, especially your role in the community. Apart from possibly increasing your salary earning potential, a master’s degree can help develop and hone skills specific to your career choice. Those who are passionate about helping others and bridging the language barrier would find benefit in a master’s degree in education with a focus on reading and literacy. More specifically, a LSLS M.Ed. degree can build careers working with both children and adults who have reading and literacy challenges.

Benefits of a Master of Education in Literacy and Second Language Studies degree:

Literacy is a gateway to financial, intellectual, and spiritual success

Literacy makes all other learning possible. Avenues to wealth, knowledge, and spiritual fulfillment are difficult- arguably impossible – to access without any kind of learning. Literacy is the gateway to education and learning. Some of the most enjoyable and fulfilling things in life require some level of literacy and learning. By committing your life to the field of literacy and language, you will be helping facilitate those benefits for many, many people. It is hard to imagine a greater gift, or a more noble life purpose. Literacy can provide the opportunity to make a global impact by going into the community with the resources you learn to empower and encourage students, educators, leaders, and each day.

Your master’s should improve your lifelong earning potential

On average, the NCTQ reports that teachers with a master’s degree earn, on average, $5,285 more annually than teachers with a bachelor’s degree as their highest degree. This means that over the course of a teacher’s career, a master’s educator will make an average of nearly $160,000 more than a bachelor’s educator.

Your master’s will prepare you for a broad range of career options

A master’s degree in literacy and language qualifies you for numerous careers not only in all levels of education, but in publishing, government, policy creation, and policy advocacy as well. Some examples of jobs this degree will open to you include:

• Classroom Teacher: A classroom teacher can choose to specialize in early childhood, elementary, secondary, high school, or adult learning. No matter what level or subject area you teach, the expertise gained in learning and literacy will improve your teaching in all subjects. Above the elementary level, this degree will qualify you as an English language arts specialist.
• Literacy Coach/Reading Specialist: A literacy coach or reading specialist will work with classroom teachers to guide their language and literacy instruction in addition to administering and interpreting assessments.  This role serves as a leader of professional development and a mentor to teachers throughout a school or school district.
• Resource Teacher: A resource teacher specializes in teaching literacy and language to students facing educational or physical challenges. A resource teacher often works in conjunction with a classroom teacher, providing one-on-one or small-group instruction to students with special needs.
• Curriculum Specialist: A curriculum specialist works with one school, several schools, or an entire school district to devise, implement, and monitor curriculum. Responsibilities include selecting textbooks and other resources, training teachers in the use of new curricular materials, monitoring standardized test scores and developing strategies to improve them, and communicating goals and results to all stakeholders (students, teachers, administrators, parents).
• Education Writer/Editor: Special skills and knowledge are needed to create all the textbooks, worksheets, and handouts that drive curriculum. An education writer or editor must have a level of expertise that a master’s in literacy and language provides.
• Policy Advocate: The education world is full of many advocacy groups promoting a variety of teaching methods, curricula, and education theories, as well as representing the interests of all sorts of different groups of students, parents, and teachers. These groups need experts to identify and formulate the solutions they champion, and to advocate effectively with policy makers. A master’s in literacy and language confers that expertise.

Literacy is the key that opens the door to all other learning

The ability to read and communicate underlies all education, not just literacy and language education. Without sufficient literacy and language skills, a student cannot learn science, mathematics, social studies, or any other core academic discipline. As a language and literacy expert, you will help identify and remedy students’ language and literacy challenges before those challenges become insurmountable impediments to learning. Your intervention could be the difference between a lifetime of learning and a lifetime of struggling to learn.

At the University of Cincinnati, we’re focused on meeting the needs of today’s modern students and have more than 20 years of experience in the online education space. In addition to a Student Success Coordinator, our practitioner-based program pairs students with a faculty mentor throughout their program tenure.

TheBestSchools.org ranks us as #1 in Ohio and #16 nationally as an online college leader.

Connect online with an advisor today or call 833-556-7600 to learn more about the online M.Ed LSLS program.