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lazycomputerkids · Joined: 22 Sep 2009 Posts: 360 Location: Tabuk

I completed a two semester, graduate level course in Applied Linguistics in 1990. I read the quarterlies. I presented a paper at a TESOL conference. My practicum was a Summer program for wives, largely, of foreign national professors trapped at home.

I pored over a transformational grammar tome of a weight sufficient to have required a whole tree for its creation...Syntactic structures and activism are forever parallel to me.

And I recall at the conferences, way back then, ESL's concern with "professionalizing" its ranks.

I don't recall C/DELTAs being around then.

Does anyone on this forum care to contrast and compare university study and C/DELTA?

Mia Xanthi · Posted: Sat Jan 23, 2010 12:22 am Post subject:

Having worked with many UK teachers with DELTAs, I would say I have as much respect or more for the DELTA as I do for an MA in linguistics. The DELTA is a very demanding course with much more focus on actual teaching skills than the usual MA. It's tough to get through, and it produces very knowledgeable and competent teachers.

IMHO, the CELTA is a "top-up" qualification that simply cannot compare with an MA.

scot47 · Joined: 10 Jan 2003 Posts: 15343

The prestige in this part of the world is for university studies. MA good but PhD better. Of course those academic degrees are no guarantee that the holder can teach.

lazycomputerkids · Joined: 22 Sep 2009 Posts: 360 Location: Tabuk

Thanks for the responses, Mia & Scot.

I was hoping to snag a teacher with a Master's who would share a sense of what fraction of their study is covered with DELTA training, or vice-versa.
I wonder if someone with a Master's in applied linguistics feels a DELTA certification is a redundancy or if someone with a DELTA feels their training has advantages to the academic focus of a degree.

And I imagine the strength of a university's department is relevant.

In my experience, I was surprised to discover I learned somewhat more about methodology than many graduates of Education departments. The descriptive nature of linguistic readings required broader research than the prescriptive methods mandated by state policies.