How To Become An English Professor: What It Is and Career Path

What is an english professor and how to become one

Updated January 8, 2025

4 min read

Quoted experts

Derek Pacheco Ph.D.,

Alexander Beringer

An English professor usually has both academic teaching and research/writing responsibilities. They typically teach undergraduate and graduate students about literary works, historical periods, literary movements, authors, poets, and all aspects of the English language. They also deliver course materials through lectures or small-group seminars and evaluate students through writing assignments, oral presentations, discussion participation, and exams. For graduate students, they may serve as a research or thesis mentor too. In addition to their mentoring and teaching duties, they are also expected to contribute in English, either by publishing high-level academic research or their literary works.

Most graduate schools offer to teach assistantships, where you could have the opportunity to assist professors with their daily teaching duties. At first, you would perform tasks such as locating study materials and grading papers. As you progress through the Ph.D. program and demonstrate your teaching abilities, you'll eventually be given more responsibilities, including writing your curriculum and teaching classes without supervision.

Becoming an English professor is a process that involves moving your way up from instructor to tenured professor, which can take up to seven years. You can begin by searching college and university websites for job openings or websites that advertise jobs for people who hold PhD.s. And after you eventually land on the job, you will probably earn around $66,590.

What general advice would you give to an english professor?

Derek Pacheco Ph.D.

Associate Professor and Director of Undergraduate Studies in English, Purdue University

When talking about job prospects for English majors, I always recommend George Anders' You Can Do Anything (2017). In it, he argues that there are enormous possibilities for humanities and liberal arts graduates in "tech-adjacent" careers-not Big Tech or Silicon Valley per se, but a wide swath of industries (that is to say most of them) transformed by the major digital innovations of the last couple of decades, especially as the cost of technological literacy has come down and the need for human-centered skills has gone up. So, even in a world where STEM and engineers seem to reign, the biggest opportunities tend to be in careers that emphasize time-honored skills like curiosity, creativity, clear writing, deep reading, empathy, racial and cultural sensitivities, and collaboration. A long perspective, the ability to understand and learn from the past as well as to anticipate trends in the future, is also helpful. The great thing about studying English is that these essential career skills are embedded in the activities our students love to do: reading great books, learning about different cultures, times, and places, and crafting persuasive, emotionally-affecting arguments or stories.

ScoreEnglish ProfessorUS Average

Salary

4.4

Avg. Salary $56,038

Avg. Salary $59,228

Stability level

4.9

Growth rate 12%

Growth rate 0.3%

Diversity

5.2

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 0.28%

Asian 11.30%

Black or African American 7.09%

Hispanic or Latino 10.11%

Unknown 4.92%

White 66.30%

Gender

female 48.43%

male 51.57%

Age - 46

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 3.00%

Asian 7.00%

Black or African American 14.00%

Hispanic or Latino 19.00%

White 57.00%

Gender

female 47.00%

male 53.00%

Age - 46

Stress level

4.9

Stress level is manageable

7.1 - high

Complexity level

7.6

Complexity level is challenging

7 - challenging

Work life balance

6.3

Work life balance is fair

6.4 - fair

Key steps to become an english professor

Explore english professor education requirements

Most common english professor degrees

Bachelor's

62.6 %

Master's

24.9 %

Associate

5.0 %

Start to develop specific english professor skills

Skills	Percentages
Classroom Management	31.48%
Grammar	12.09%
Foreign Language	11.18%
American Literature	6.65%
Curriculum Planning	5.15%

Research english professor duties and responsibilities

Develop lesson plans, teach mechanics and creativity in writing, teach reading, math and manage resource room as needed.
Teach essay, rhetoric, and fiction writing to bilingual, ESOL and ESE students.
Conduct exploration/discovery-based lessons and projects focuse on vocabulary, grammar, pronunciation, and writing.
Prepare and deliver lectures to students on topics such as poetry, translation and adaptation.

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