Job Discussion Forums

[redeyes]

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[naturegirl321]

I've heard good things about Birmingham, . You might try checking out this forum. http://www.eslcafe.com/discussion/dz1/ to find out about MAs.

[GambateBingBangBOOM]

I replied to this thread on the North American discussion board. You seem to have posted the exact same message in many different boards. You get a greater chance of people responding doing that, but you lose the chance of people bouncing ideas off each other (replying to each other, like a 'discussion')- which is overall likely a loss.

[krayola]

How can an MA be disreputable?? It's an MA!

I'm doing my Distance MA TESOL at University of Technology Sydney (UTS) and so far so good.

The content is interesting and very relevant for ESL teachers. It's made me a much better teacher even after only one Semester.

I do think that some lecturers should utilise the internet much more for Distance students and the admission requirements should be stricter.

I'm amazed to think this course could be disreputable, but I'm assuming it's the one-year FT duration that puts it in a bad light. Right?

[spiral78]

'Disreputable' isn't probably the best word to use. The distinction is that some universities are considered tops in our field, and some fall lower on the scale.

Some that I know of on the 'tops' list of being strong in EFL/ESL and Applied Linguistics include

Birmingham (the UK edition, not Alabama:))
Surrey, Leicester, St. Mary's, Edinborough
MacQuarie, Australia
New School, US

Others?

[redeyes]

Krayola, I wouldn't like to pass judgment on those Australian colleges -- I simply don't know -- I am just going from reports on these boards and work place chat.

Spiral, do you have much info on the IOE London University MA Distance? London Uni has a reputation that ( many say ) rivals Oxbridge generally speaking, which is why I am very surprised that there is almost no mention on these boards about their TESOL MA Distance -- do you know anything about it?

Their tutors look to be pretty top notch, and have written many mainstream Ox/Camb. coursebooks/MA theory/CDA texts etc -- so why no mention anywhere on these boards I wonder?

Thanks all.

Redeyes.

[GambateBingBangBOOM]

Reposted (and expanded) from the North American board:

They [the less well known programs] aren't talked about simply because most people haven't heard of them. Those schools don't do a whole lot of advertising outside of their country and so people go with the universities they've heard of through advertising and knowing other people who did their program (that they decided to do over others based on knowing others who did that program, reading about them on boards like this one or through advertising). Birmingham advertises very widely in many countries in Asia, and therefore many people in Asian countries do their MA with them, and therefore people think it must be better than other schools- just like people think CELTA must be better than other one-month intro certificates, because people have heard of it.

I wouldn't read anything into it.

I also wouldn't believe that Australian universities are quasi diploma mills. Universities in Australia are regulated by their government. That kind of information is put out to counter the cost difference by people who paid a lot more for their degree by doing it at a British university ('Oh, I paid ten thousand dollars more for my degree than you so it MUST be better than yours!') But it's not. In fact, professors from well known schools may move to a different school in the same area (often for the same reasons why anybody moves from one place of work to another- the conditions are better).

There may also be a slight snobbishness about the country itself (like a hierarchy of countries with the US and UK on the top and then other countries being sort of US-light [Canada] or UK-light [Australia or New Zealand]) which comes from being overseas for a long time and getting that kind of attitude from the local people of the country so often that it starts to rub off.

The reality is that the choice between countries is really a choice in basic orientation of Applied Linguistics / TESOL in the country (is language and therefore language teaching a primarily social thing, or primarily an intellectual thing)- do universities in the country generally go on a systemic-functional tradition, or something closer to structuralism? If it's a program housed in a Linguistic department, how much theoretical linguistics is involved? (Is it mostly about theories of SLA with phonetics and phonemics that are closer to theoretical linguistics than teaching English, or is it mostly English language teaching specific?)

If you are trying to decide on a university that isn't as common with overseas teachers (there just isn't all that much advertising) then the best thing to do is actually NOT ask on a board like this. Instead ask real life people that you know and respect who come from the country if they've heard of the university. Even if they've heard of it, but don't know a lot about it (because they're from a different area of the country) often they'll have friends that they grew up with who went to that area and they can ask them. Networking. That way you are far less likely to get responses from people who, although are not trying to steer you in the wrong direction on purpose, may have some sort of bias that you aren't aware of.

Keep in mind that a possible reason why universities don't advertise their masters in TESOL or Applied Linguistics overseas is that they just don't need to. They get people from within their country and are already known as a good school in their own country.

For example, it's not available by distance (most Canadian universities don't have distance programs- snobbery that's costing the universities hundreds of thousands a year just from Canadians overseas who go to off-campus programs from universities in other countries), but you never hear of people mentioning University of Toronto's M.Ed in Second Language Education, but that's a relevant degree from one of the 'unofficial Canadian Ivy League' schools, and many textbook publishers use OISE (the name of the Faculty of Education at University of Toronto) to write little reviews.

[Justin Trullinger]

[adrianmark]

I did my MA in Applied Linguistics and TESOL through Leicester Uni, via distance learning. Can't speak highly enough of the program but be prepared to work your socks off for 3 years.

Rule of thumb - if it appears to be a stroll in the park then it ain't a real MA. I did mine whilst raising 2 kids and working full time, 6 days a week in my case. Damn hard work but most satisfying at the end.

Check Leicester Uni's website, all the info is there. Just make sure you live near a good library because you sure will need it:)

Good luck and go for it.

[GambateBingBangBOOM]

[naturegirl321]

Also ask if you will have access to the journals when you're doing your thesis. Once I finished my coursework, and had my thesis topic approved, I no longer had access to the virtual campus and had to find all my own material. Almost all of it online since the libraries here don't let you check out the books