<p>Debating on changing my major, I am an incoming sophomore so I really need to make up my mind and start taking tracking courses. Which is the easier major, which is better for teaching English abroad for a career, and which is more versatile in terms of job opportunities beyond teaching English abroad? I want to either major in English and minor in TESL, or major in Linguistics and minor in Spanish. Would appreciate feedback from either Linguistics/English majors! Thanks.</p>
<p>Your best resource is UF’s Linguistics department’s website. You really need to read through the list of courses required and see how that list hits you. Compare it to the English major required courses. The differences should be very striking and I think you will get an idea of what gets you excited.</p>
<p>Neither is the easier major, in my view (I have a double major in English and Linguistics), but the Linguistics major is definitely more technical. </p>
<p>That said, it depends on what you want to do.</p>
<p>Do you just want to be able to go overseas and teach basic English for a while? Any undergraduate from any program can earn a TESL minor or certificate, so even an English degree is not necessary in order to go teach overseas. Your TESL minor program will give you a basic Intro to Linguistics program in which you will start to look at the fundamentals of the English language and will gain some understanding of second language acquistion. Many of the overseas programs have their own training. Being a native English speaker will be of the utmost importance and having that TESL minor/certificate would be very helpful in your efforts to teach those non-native speakers how to learn English.</p>
<p>Do you want to teach the subject of English in a foreign school? Then you are going to need a high school teaching credential and some teaching experience.</p>
<p>If you choose the Linguistics major path, understand that you are pursuing a more technical degree. Your courses will focus on breaking down English, but also all language, into its most basic parts (and not meaning punctuation once you get into the higher level courses, but bits of sound and bits of meaning.) Do you have a good ear for languages? Do you like to read dictionaries and are you interested in the etymologies? Do you wonder why Google searches sometimes “understand” your search terms and other times don’t? Do you have any interest in speech recognition and technology? Are you interested in language research?</p>
<p>You should take a look at the job listings at LinguistList.org to see the world outside of academia that you might enter into with your Linguistics degree. Within the world of academia, there are Linguistics majors in English, TESOL, foreign language and even Computer Science departments.</p>
<p>For me, had I pursued my English/Linguistics degree today, I would be working towards one of those jobs on LinguistList but I liked the combination of right brain - left brain (I always liked English and Math equally well.) </p>
<p>If you are not really excited by the idea of looking at language in such a technical way, and are not really interested in the research, but have more passion for teaching, whether here or abroad, then consider getting the English degree, with both a Spanish and TESL minor, and then get your credential. Or go English with a Spanish minor, then pursue your teaching credential and then complete a TESL program, as many teachers end up having to do these days anyway.</p>
<p>Best of luck!</p>