Job Discussion Forums

[tall kid]

Hi -
I've been reading these boards for a few years and this is my first post.

The general concensus seems to be: get an MA and better job opportunities become available. Although I keep reading questions asking if such and such distance degree is recognized or how long such and such college's degree plan takes to complete, I haven't seen any information about these courses. Can someone please tell me what linguistic analyses means? How difficult is it? Is it really intense grammar? What other classes are usually required for an MA? Does a bachelor's degree in English help in this field? I can't see teaching literature or even going too deep into writing in ESL classes, but I may be way off. After all, I've never been in an ESL class.

I would appreciate any info and/or thoughts you all may have.

[tedkarma]

There have been several vigorous debates on the acceptability of a "distance" degree on this board and a bit of disagreement. The trend is probably towards greater acceptance, assuming the degree is issued from a reputable university.

Acceptance of such a degree is probably regional and though in many (most?) places legally and officially acceptable, it is not always granted by the hiring authority.

Just my opinion on the above.

A good review of "linguistic analyses" is located here:

http://www-personal.umich.edu/~jlawler/210.html

You'll need to look at each individual program to get a sense of what is required - though there will be some general consensus.

An undergraduate degree in English will certainly help you when it comes time to look for work - and will mostly likely help you - a bit - in your graduate program.

I suspect "intense grammar" is not on hand (though you would be expected to have a good knowledge of grammar, of course!) - less a review of your knowledge of grammar - and perhaps more concentration on the development of meaning conveyed by grammatical structures. But . . . my Masters is in Learning Theory - so I'll leave that to the experts!

[Yu]

The grammar course was not all the difficult. Acutally the most difficult course I took for my ma related to pronunciation.
I did not have an English background going into my MA program. Looking back I actually wish I had some more English Lit courses and grammar.
I am not sure how much the MA helped with me finding a job overseas.

[tall kid]

Ted -
Yes, that link is exactly what I was wondering about. A lot of the MA programs all have courses related to subjects that were mentioned:
Morphology
Phonetics
Phonology
Syntax
Semantics
Pragmatics

I was more or less wondering if you or someone else who had been through an MA program could sort of explain in laymen's terms what these linguistic classes are about and how they apply to what you do day-to-day in the classroom.

[movinaround]

[tedkarma]

[movinaround]

[tall kid]

Thanks for the responses. I appreciate the different points of view. I am however, still interested in learning what those syntax and pholomogy (spelled wrong) are actually all about and how they apply in the classroom.
Incidently, the program I am looking at is through a university and requires a year of teaching as part of the program. In order for that to happen, one must become state certified, which includes more teaching. These are big decisions, which is why I'd like to learn a little about what to hypothetically expect down the road, instead of just thinking about the immediate challenges.

[PAULH]

[JZer]

[tedkarma]

Tall Kid,

Yeah - like Paul H says . . .

I finished my PGCE in 1996 (My M.Ed. in 1976!) - and was working full time at the same time with both - so don't remember much.

I recall that I THOUGHT I was quite interested in semantics (the way we use the term in common language anyway) - but found it full of mental gymnastics that were interesting for a while and then quickly grew tiresome.