The program consists of three components: general education, professional education, and English content (literature, linguistics, and writing).

In the English content courses, students study American, British, and world literature and can choose additional courses to enable them to focus on a particular genre or literary period. Students also learn to analyze grammatical structures of the English language, to apply linguistic principles to literature and composition, to analyze writing style based on grammatical structures, and to trace the development of the English language.

Students also hone their writing skills, learning to summarize, paraphrase, analyze, synthesize and evaluate written material and to formulate theses and support them by logical argument. English students learn research writing that demonstrates the ability to use scholarly sources in appropriate ways, with quotations incorporated skillfully and correctly.

In professional education courses, students examine the Biblical principles for education and become familiar with the concepts behind the learning, instruction, and the historical background of the teaching profession. A course on the teaching of English specifically examines the foundations and practices of being an English teacher in today's secondary schools.

Through this major, students earn licensure to teach English and language arts at the middle and high school levels. Students may also earn licensure in a second subject/content area. The Oklahoma Commission for Teacher Preparation requires the OSAT/OPTE test(s) be passed in order to obtain a license in an additional subject/content area. Students interested in completing coursework toward additional licensing should consult the subject area advisor.