Curriculum

Asynchronous Courses

All courses in the online TESOL program are asynchronous (no required live class meetings) so you can more easily schedule your weekly coursework around your other personal and professional responsibilities. Your time zone will not affect your ability to complete your coursework so you can study from any location in the world with appropriate technology and internet access.

You can continue working while you earn your online TESOL master’s degree.

Learning Goals

Our faculty has developed specific learning goals designed to help students significantly increase their understanding of language, pedagogy, and research—all of which contribute to expanded career opportunities. These include the following:

• Applying expertise: selecting and creating appropriate materials for effective language instruction; planning productive instructional units and lessons to maximize second-language learning in all skill areas; assessing student learning meaningfully through the use of various formative and summative tools; and reflecting critically on your teaching practice in order to build on language learners’ strengths and address areas for improvement.
• Conducting research in an educational setting: understanding processes of inquiry relevant to language education; planning research activities for designing language instruction, assessment, and empirical investigation; executing data collection procedures; analyzing data using appropriate quantitative and qualitative methods; and synthesizing and reporting research findings clearly, convincingly, and creatively for a professional audience.

Core Coursework

Linguistics

Examine how knowledge about languages—and how languages are structured, used, and learned—helps to develop teaching practices that enhance your students’ language learning.

Pedagogy

Consider your language learners’ goals and explore how various pedagogical practices can enhance their learning. You will use this knowledge as you create instructional units and lessons designed to maximize your effectiveness in the classroom and your students’ learning.

Research and Assessment

Explore how research studies and assessment tools are designed and conducted—and ways in which research and assessments influence your classroom practices. You will also learn how to design research studies and assessment tools to more closely examine issues of direct concern and relevance to you and your students.

Practicum and Applied Linguistics Capstone

Strengthen your expertise through an applied linguistics capstone and a practicum capstone, which provide a balance of the multiple foci of this program.

Practicum Capstone

Combines reflective practice and professional development in preparing students for a career in language education. Students integrate theory, research, and pedagogy into a coherent and well-informed approach to planning and executing lessons. They also incorporate these three components when developing and using instructional materials and assessment instruments. Activities and products prepare students for successful entry into the language teaching profession.

Applied Linguistics Capstone

Helps students refine their skills as applied linguistics professionals. Students will develop a curriculum project, an empirical research report, or an assessment tool using original data that they have collected and analyzed. This capstone also aims to encourage the students’ reflection on their previous coursework as well as exploration and clarification of their future plans for careers as language teaching professionals.

Teaching Foreign Language

If you are interested in teaching a language other than English, you may be interested in our MA in Teaching Foreign Language, which can be completed online and part-time with a mix of asynchronous and live classes. Review the sample course schedule for online TFL. 

Sample Course Schedule

Summer Start, Part-Time, Two Years