MA in Applied Linguistics for TESOL
The MA in Applied Linguistics for TESOL is aimed at teachers who are at the beginning of their careers and those who have more experience but would like to develop, deepen and enhance their knowledge, skills and practice.
The programme covers the areas of linguistics that inform classroom practice (such as syntax, morphology, semantics, pragmatics and phonetics), raising awareness of these fields and applying them to Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL).
Practical teaching opportunities are a feature of the programme, including teaching to your peer-group and international students from other programmes. There will also be an opportunity to visit a local language college and observe classes.
The programme starts with three linguistics modules (Sounds, Structure and Meaning) and a module on language awareness for teachers (Language Awareness and Analysis) so that you have a firm grasp of the linguistic bases of language teaching and how to apply them to the classroom.
In the spring term the focus is on how languages are learned (Second Language Acquisition), how you can improve classroom technique (The Practice of TESOL), plan for your students’ needs (Course and Syllabus Design) and provide them with materials which will be interesting, effective and motivating (Materials Evaluation and Development).
The dissertation will be an opportunity to plan and develop a piece of empirical research which can be of direct relevance to your current or planned teaching situation.
The following modules are indicative of those offered on this programme. This list is based on the current curriculum and may change year to year. Most programmes will require you to study a combination of compulsory and optional modules. You may also have the option to take modules from other programmes so that you may customise your programme and explore other subject areas that interest you.
- LL832 - Meaning
- LL833 - Structure
- LL834 - Second Language Acquisition
- LL838 - Sounds
- LL840 - Course and Syllabus Design for TESOL
- LL841 - Language Awareness and Analysis for TESOL
- LL842 - Materials Evaluation and Development for TESOL
- LL843 - The Practice of TESOL
- LL899 - Research Dissertation
Modules are typically assessed by a 3,000 - 4,000 word essay, but assessment patterns can include practical/experimental work, report writing, proposal writing, critiques, problem-solving, and seminar presentations.
On successful completion of taught modules, you will write a 12,000 - 15,000 word research dissertation (included in your final grade) on a topic agreed with your supervisor.
Last updated August 31, 2015