Job Discussion Forums

[Chris_Crossley]

I have just started a distance-learning MA Ed in Applied Linguistics programme with the Open University (UK) and am undertaking a course developed jointly between this university and Macquarie University (Australia). Hence, there are examples of situations in applied linguistics in both the UK and Australia. Relating theory to practice is emphasized in this course, since the students are asked to think about how they would relate the theory behind (for example) how to construct sentences and the functions of words to how they would actually teach it to their learners in the classroom.

One recent chapter I read in one of the course books was about the interpretation of multimodal texts, and an example was a reproduction of a leaflet showing how to install a computer. The chapter's author said that this would be an ideal opportunity to teach the learners about how multimodal texts work in the west and relate that to the "culture" of advertisements (e.g., prominent images in the middle and at a certain angle, blurred or indistinct background, text at the bottom, including any technical details, etc). In my case, though, that culture seems to be here in China already, considering that advertisements here are definitely of the western type, especially advertisements for cars!

Regarding marketability of the degree, I would say that an applied linguistics degree should be regarded as the one indicating continuing professional development. There is one university in the UK that I know of which offers an MA in TESOL - BUT (and it is a big "but") it is geared specifically at those who do NOT yet have any experience at teaching English; it is rather like a CELTA or a Trinity Certificate in TESOL stretched out over a whole year for a considerable sum of money, in my opinion, since it, too, offers the six hours or so of observed teaching practice. (As a matter of fact, I talked about this in one of my recent posts.)

Having said that, one can look at syllabuses of MA AL and MA TESOL degrees offered in order to see the similarities between them, but one should also look at the entrance requirements in terms of experience in teaching English. MA AL degrees will usually require applicants to have at least 2-3 years' experience, so I would certainly look at the pre-MA experience factor if I were in any position to hire people offering MAs in either AL or TESOL.

[emiliegdr]

My MA that I am currently working on is called "Applied Linguistics: TESL". I guess with that name it's both!

[nomadamericana]

The University I am at has two programs:

1) MA in Teaching ESL
2) MA in ESL

The first is for people with no prior teaching experience and it earn them a K-12 license in addition to the MA. It has about 40% Graduate Education courses and 60% in ESL Grad Classes.

The MA in ESL is strictly ESL courses. And there are three focuses that you can choose from TEFL, K-12 Ed or Adult Ed. In order to apply to this program you need prior teaching or international experience. You also have to be proficient in a language other than English.