The Online MA in TESOL degree program will take approximately two years to complete.

Course Duration: Each course is nine weeks long. Courses begin every ten weeks.

Course Descriptions

EDU 500 Second Language Teaching and Learning

Over the last twenty-five years, there have been major changes to the theory and practice of second language teaching and learning. These changes have been driven by changes in educational theory, changes in the way we think about language and learning, and the development of an active research agenda which has provided important insights and ideas for classroom practitioners.

The purpose of this introductory course is to provide an overview of the field of second language teaching and learning, to identify major trends and issues, and to show where they have come from, to illustrate, in practical ways, how these emerging ideas can be incorporated into the students’ own teaching practice, and to provide students with the basic skills and knowledge that will enable them to benefit fully from the rest of the course.

EDU 510 Grammar for Language Teachers

This course introduces students to key grammatical terms and concepts, as well as to techniques and procedures for describing and analyzing texts from a grammatical perspective. It also introduces practical techniques for teaching grammar.

The focus of the course will be on techniques for teaching grammar from a functional perspective. This approach shows language learners how to use the grammar that they are learning to communicate effectively. Students will be involved in collecting samples of spoken and written discourse, and using these to develop classroom exercises.

EDU 530 Discourse Analysis for Language Teachers

This course is intended as an accessible introduction to the key concepts of discourse and discourse analysis. It also introduces techniques for teaching discourse in the classroom. Topics covered include the nature of spoken and written discourse, cohesion and coherence, speech act theory, rhetorical analysis, discourse and syntax, discourse in the classroom.

EDU 540 Second Language Acquisition

This is an introductory course in second language acquisition. Topics covered in the course include the scope of SLA research, the history and development of SLA research, interlanguage development, the linguistic environment for SLA, learner variables, instructed second language acquisition, and applications of SLA to pedagogy.

EDU 550 Classroom Management and Observation

This course focuses on central issues and concerns relating to the effective management of teaching and learning processes in second and foreign language classrooms. In this course management does not mean the creation of budgets and the creation of time lines, but the creation of a positive pedagogical environment which facilitates learning. The focus of the course is on the professional decisions that teachers must make in order to ensure that learning takes place effectively. Content will include lesson planning; teacher talk, including the effective use of questions, the provision of explanations and the use of feedback; classroom dynamics; instructional groups, small group work, dealing with large classes, one-to-one teaching, and learner-teacher roles; affective issues in the language classroom; and classroom monitoring and evaluation.

EDU 560 Second Language Classroom Research

This course is intended as an accessible introduction to the field of second language classroom research. It covers both methodological and substantive issues. At the end of the course, you should have a good idea of the questions and issues that have been investigated in language classroom, and how they have been investigated. You should also have developed practical skills for investigating your own classrooms.

EDU 570 Classroom-Based Evaluation

The aim of this course is to introduce students to classroom-based evaluation. This is a critically important area for all those involved in curriculum development, program management, and, in fact, any area of educational leadership. The overall goal of the courses is to give students the skills in the design and evaluation of a program of the student’s choice.

EDU 580 Second Language Curriculum Development

This course is intended as an introduction to program planning, implementation and evaluation for second and foreign language education. All aspects of the curriculum process are explored including situation analysis, needs analysis, goal and objective setting, syllabus design, materials development and adaptation, teaching and teacher support, and evaluation.  

EDU 590 Research Methods in Language Learning

The aim of this course is to introduce students to research issues and methods in language acquisition and use, and to familiarize them with recent research in the field. The overall goal of the course is a practical one, that is, to equip students to design, implement and evaluate their own research project.

EDU 600 Research Portfolio

A number of courses in the MA TESOL provide students with an opportunity to conduct a small scale research project and write a report. For the Research Portfolio you will be required to submit reports of TWO such studies. You will need to revise the reports in the light of the feedback that you were given on your original reports.

EDU 610 Thesis

Students will have the choice of culminating their program with either a thesis option or research portfolio option. The thesis option provides students with an opportunity to identify an issue or problem arising out of their prior coursework or their own professional experience. They then design and carry out an original piece of empirical research, and present the results in a substantial piece of writing. Thesis students are required to complete the Collaborative Institutional Training Initiative (CITI) Social-Behavioral- Educational (SBE) Foundations certificate, which is a web-based human research protection education program.