MA Applied Linguistics and TESOL

Develop your abilities as a teacher of English to speakers of other languages, or kickstart your TESOL career on this flexible Masters in Applied Linguistics and TESOL.

You may already be an established TESOL practitioner (or ELT, EFL or EAP) with a minimum of three months of full-time teaching experience, looking to advance your skills and become an expert in your field. If not, as long as you've completed initial ELT, TESOL or TEFL teacher training, you can still apply for this course and do an extra module to build up your practical teaching skills.

In this course, you'll apply contemporary TESOL theory to the classroom. Guided by our expert teaching team, you can apply your learning to the context of teaching you currently work in or aspire to, whether in the private or state sector, teaching adults, primary, secondary or higher education.

You'll use a global perspective to critique your approaches to teaching, conduct your research into teaching techniques, and explore lesson planning and course design.

You can study in a way that fits your existing professional and personal commitments by choosing between full-time, part-time, campus-based or distance learning options.

When you graduate, you'll have a deeper understanding of TESOL and how best to get results as an expert practitioner. You'll be ready to pursue roles in educational management or leadership, curriculum development, editing, publishing or advertising in the UK or overseas.

Course highlights

• Take your TESOL knowledge and teaching skills to the postgraduate level.
• Choose to study in a way that suits you and your professional life, from on-campus or distance learning, full-time (1 year) or part-time (2 or 3 years), and a September or January start.
• Reflect on your classroom practice to improve the way you teach.
• Learn to effectively plan and design a syllabus, courses and assessment methods, and choose to build a portfolio of lesson plans supported by critical reflection.
• Analyse research into how people learn languages and the implications for the classroom.
• Explore the linguistic theory, unpick the hidden systems and biases in the use of language, and conduct research into teaching techniques.

Full-time (on campus or distance learning)

Core

• Dissertation Project MA Applied Linguistics and TESOL – 60 credits
• Second Language Acquisition – 30 credits
• Theory and Practice of TESOL – 30 credits

Optional

You'll take 2 optional modules.

• Analysing Discourse – 30 credits
• Analysing, Evaluating and Writing Materials – 30 credits
• Professional Portfolio – 30 credits
• Using Language Corpora for Teaching and Research – 30 credits
• World Englishes – 30 credits

Part-time (2 years - on campus)

Year 1

Core

• Second Language Acquisition – 30 credits
• Theory and Practice of TESOL – 30 credits

Year 2

Core

• Dissertation Project MA Applied Linguistics and TESOL – 60 credits

Optional

You'll take two optional modules.

• Analysing Discourse – 30 credits
• Analysing, Evaluating and Writing Materials – 30 credits
• Professional Portfolio – 30 credits
• Using Language Corpora for Teaching and Research – 30 credits
• World Englishes – 30 credits

Part-time (2 years - distance learning)

Year 1

Core

• Professional Portfolio – 30 credits
• Second Language Acquisition – 30 credits
• Theory and Practice of TESOL – 30 credits

Year 2

Core

• Dissertation Project MA Applied Linguistics and TESOL – 60 credits

Optional

You'll take one optional module.

• Analysing Discourse – 30 credits
• Analysing, Evaluating and Writing Materials – 30 credits
• Using Language Corpora for Teaching and Research – 30 credits
• World Englishes – 30 credits

Part-time (3 years - distance learning only)

Year 1

Core

• Second Language Acquisition – 30 credits
• Theory and Practice of TESOL – 30 credits

Year 2

Optional

You'll take two optional modules.

• Analysing Discourse – 30 credits
• Analysing, Evaluation and Writing Materials – 30 credits
• Professional Portfolio – 30 credits
• Using Language Corpora for Teaching and Research – 30 credits
• World Englishes – 30 credits

Year 3

Core

• Dissertation / Major Project MA Applied Linguistics and TESOL – 60 credits

Careers this Master’s prepares you for

As a TESOL practitioner with a postgraduate qualification, you'll be ready to teach English to speakers of other languages worldwide to the highest professional standard. There are now more people who learn English as a second language than native speakers (ThoughtCo), so your skills will be in high demand.

When you complete the course, you'll have the specialist knowledge to stand out to employers at institutions such as universities, language schools and private schools in the UK and overseas.

Graduates of this course have gone on areas such as:

• teaching English as a second/foreign language
• teaching ESOL in the UK
• teaching other languages, applying skills learning in this course
• educational management and/or leadership
• teacher training
• materials writing
• curriculum development
• editing
• publishing
• advertising

Graduates of this course have gone onto roles such as:

• Director of Studies (DoS)
• Senior Teacher
• Senior Lecturer of English as a Foreign Language

Career planning

During your course, you'll have expert career support from your tutors and from our Careers and Employability Centre, which you can access for five years after you graduate.

• Female student standing at careers and employability help desk
• You'll benefit from:
• Networking events
• 1-to-1 appointments
• CV and cover letter advice
• Interview preparation and practice
• Workshops to enhance your employability skills
• Recruitment events, including the Student and Graduate Opportunities Fair
• Support starting your own business