Job Discussion Forums

[Drizzt]

I want to start a thread identifying masters�programs around the world in either applied linguistics or TESOL. Many of us TEFLers who decide to make the leap from short-term job to life-time career (like myself) are bogged down in the many choices of grad schools, location, on-line or on-campus, etc.

So, if you are in the process of or have complete a master�s in either applied linguistics or TESOL, tell us three things:

1. On-line or on-campus (and if on-campus, where is it located)

2. Approximate cost (if it is an on-campus master�s, include if TAs are offered or not)
3. Overall assessment of the program

[denise]

[fancynan]

Somewhat off topic, but I, too, graduated from MIIS - however, as an undergraduate. When I attended, junior and senior years of undergrad were available. There were a total of approximately 400 students which included undergrad, and grad studies in business, international policies (my major) or in T & I. The cost then was about $5,000 a year, which, in light of $0 tuition at California state schools, was significant. That was 25 years ago and I followed it up with a Master's from Thunderbird in Arizona. Fond memories of both schools!

[denise]

[Pollux]

There must be some people who are doing an MA or who have done it and have an opinion about it. Help us out.

[natsume]

I'm particularly interested in California public universities. Anybody?

[Drizzt]

Since there haven�t been many responses yet, I will tell you guys some programs I�ve seen that seem quite good. I have applied to all four of these programs for the fall of 2007:

MA in applied linguistics at Texas Tech University in Lubbock, Texas

MA in TESL/applied linguistics at Iowa State University

MA in applied linguistics at the University of Florida in Gainesville, Florida

MA in applied linguistics at San Diego State University


The program at Iowa State seems particularly interesting because there are variety of focus areas to choose from, such as CALL specialization, literacy specialization, English for special purposes specialization, testing, etc.

Texas Tech seems an ideal place for me because for starters I am Texan and can take advantage of in-state tuition, but also the Lubbock has a low cost of living, and from what I�ve seen Texas Tech offers quite a few TAs

San Diego State...it�s in San Diego, need I say more?

And finally, the University of Florida seems to have the biggest and most extensive linguistics department of the aforementioned from what I�ve seen. Also it�s the highest ranked university of the four.

Well I hope that�s good for a start! Keep em coming posters!

P.S. -- all of these programs are on-campus

[Gordon]

I have compiled a list of accreditted distance masters programs in TESOL. Go to the link below and then click on distance masters.

I went to the University of Southern Queensland in Oz by distance here in Japan. It was a good program, but a little slow in their marking a nd feedback which at times made it difficult to complete the next assignment. I did find them very accomodating and would recommend them to others.

[ntropy]

I have also heard the Queensland program is good for distance education options. HCT in UAE recommends it for prospective teachers

[wildchild]

You can also use 'Linguist List' to obtain a list of programs in a large variety of subfields across the globe and access their webpages through hyperlinks. Linguist List is based at Eastern Michigan and Wayne State University in the US.

https://testlsadc.emich.edu/teach/programs/index.html

[thelmadatter]

I got my MA in English Language and Linguistics at the Univ. of Arizona (essentially a MA in TESOL but the director distains teaching ... he would rather it be a feeder program for linguistics PhD candidates)

On campus.

Cheap for Arizona in-state residents (~$4000/yr tuition)

TA and scholarships available.

Program ... only OK at best. I really think much of its function for the U of Arizona's English Dept is to boost its stats for foreign students. No thesis, if you can believe that. I asked about that and I was told that many of the Chinese students do not come from that kind of education background, so they were being "culturally sensitive" (yeah I think its a cop-out too)

However, when I went there, the teaching of applied lingusitic theory was solid even if it came up way short on the teaching of teaching. Even the TAships were for teaching composition ... not second or foreign language teaching.

So why did I go there? I was married with an underage child at the time, living in Tucson. No other option, really.

[Drizzt]

Thelmadatter,

Great post, thats exactly the type of info Im hoping to add to this thread!

[wildchild]

After reading thelmadatter's post, I thought (and wrote) the following:

I got the feeling from my former linguistic's Prof, who is a phonologist and doesn't have much interest in teaching ESL, that an MA wasn't very cool. From his experiences, MAs were for folks who couldn't finish their PhD and that it was some kind of door prize so the students wouldn't feel like a total failure. It seems that he wasn't really aware of what the terminal MA in TESOL programs are all about; they serve to train individuals as language professionals and that it is a quite respected degree amongst language teachers of the world.

One may want to keep in mind, however, that should they choose to pursue the PhD later, they will have to do another MA (so I have heard).

Cheers

[Atassi]

[spiral78]

Wildchild, I don't know what you mean by another MA. I can move with my MA from UBirmingham (England) directly into a Phd program.....why would anyone require a second MA?! Please clarify.