Job Discussion Forums

arthad · Joined: 18 Nov 2009 Posts: 14 Location: United States

Greetings, all. In May, I'm doing the CELTA at IH Budapest, and in December, I'll graduate with my BA in English literature here in the States. After that, I plan to do a master's program either here or in the UK. My question is about what subject I should choose. I want to do a program focused on linguistic theory rather than practical language teaching, because (1) I'm interested in the theory and (2) I want to be able to do a doctorate in second language acquisition later on. If my MA is in "Linguistics" or "English Language," would that hurt me in the job market? Would I do better to get an MA in "TESOL" or "TEFL" or "Applied Linguistics"? I'm thinking of working in Japan or Korea.

Thanks!

GambateBingBangBOOM · Joined: 04 Nov 2003 Posts: 2021 Location: Japan

arthad · Joined: 18 Nov 2009 Posts: 14 Location: United States

dragon777 · Joined: 05 Oct 2005 Posts: 163 Location: Christmas Island

Yes...do it, lol. Very Happy

fluffyhamster · Posted: Mon Feb 01, 2010 5:13 pm Post subject:

Hi Arthad. The question to me is, as SLA or similar is usually a required module on most AL or TESOL programmes, and you'd therefore get a reasonable taster of it by doing such programmes, why aren't you more keen on doing one of them as opposed to one in more theoretical linguistics? (More theoretical linguistics does of course have an interest in language acquisition, but mainly in the FIRST [i.e. regards babies or quite young/prepubescent children] rather than second-language kind, and there's a general risk that you'll get roped into propping up the nativist research, or at best writing stuffy Generative/UG-skewed books on SLA that few actual language teachers really want to buy or read).

Just a few threads that might be of interest (you can find more by searching), arranged from newest to oldest:
http://forums.eslcafe.com/job/viewtopic.php?t=78474
http://forums.eslcafe.com/job/viewtopic.php?p=811560#811560
http://forums.eslcafe.com/teacher/viewtopic.php?t=9734
http://forums.eslcafe.com/job/viewtopic.php?t=68472
http://forums.eslcafe.com/teacher/viewtopic.php?p=37065#37065
http://forums.eslcafe.com/teacher/viewtopic.php?t=2756

doner · Joined: 21 Jan 2010 Posts: 179

SLA is an evolutional dead end and how do you know that you would like to do a doctorate in it if you have no Masters and no undergraduate background in linguistics?

santi84 · Joined: 14 Mar 2008 Posts: 1317 Location: under da sea

Glenski · Joined: 15 Jan 2003 Posts: 12844 Location: Hokkaido, JAPAN

arthad · Joined: 18 Nov 2009 Posts: 14 Location: United States

Many thanks for the feedback, everyone.

fluffyhamster: Most TESOL and applied linguistics programs seem to be fairly weak on the core areas of theoretical linguistics (phonetics/phonology, syntax, semantics). I want a good grounding in those areas, which is why I'm interested in doing a program oriented more toward theoretical linguistics than pedagogical issues. I want more than just the one SLA module that's often in a TESOL or AL MA.

doner: I'm not absolutely certain that I want to do a doctorate in SLA, or that I want to do a doctorate at all. But I definitely want the option of doing so later on if I choose, and I think a grounding in theoretical linguistics would be very helpful.

santi84: Okay, that makes sense. I'm not necessarily interested in a prestigious university position that requires publications and Japanese language skills; I just want a position somewhere, possibly in Korea or Japan, that pays decently (for a newbie). And no, I don't have paid ESL teaching experience. I'm currently a TA at my undergraduate institution, and I've been a writing and Greek tutor for two years, so I know that I like teaching, but I don't have any paid experience with teaching ESL. That's the reason why I'm doing the CELTA this summer: so I can start getting that experience.
I don't have formal experience or education in SLA. I've done reading on my own in the subject. After I chose my undergraduate institution and started doing English lit, I realized that linguistics would have been a better fit for me; but linguistics isn't offered as a major, and transferring wasn't an option for a variety of reasons. So that's why I'm using graduate school as a chance to switch fields.

Glenski: With the CELTA, I plan to teach either in Korea or Japan, as I said. I may start doing that in January 2011. After I have some teaching experience, I'll go back to school for the MA. I certainly don't expect to get a university job right away. I would prefer a position teaching adults or high school students, but I would teach younger learners if I couldn't find another job. Thanks for the information on Japan. If the competition there is as bad as all that, then I'll focus on Korea.