The department offers two graduate programs, one in literature and one in language. The requirements for an MA degree in English consist of 21 credit hours in courses numbered 300 or above, successful completion of a comprehensive examination, and a thesis along with any additional prerequisite courses determined by the department to make up for deficiencies in undergraduate preparation.

Students working for an MA degree in English language must take ENGL 301, 327, 341 or 342, and 345. Education 227 (Statistics in Education) must be taken as a non-credit pass/fail prerequisite. In addition, language graduates must take one of the following three graduate courses in the Department of Education: 324, 325, and 328. Two additional elective English language graduate courses from among those offered in the department must be taken.