Hi all,
I'm looking at doing a Master's degree while I am overseas teaching English. I was wondering if anyone had completed the Applied Linguistics program offered by the University of New England (UNE) and what they had thought of it.
Is it recognized as a quality institute?
Also, I am Canadian and would eventually like to return to Canada to work with new immigrants. Would a Master's degree from this school be recognized?
Does anyone know where I could find a list of accredited online programs for Canada?
Any help or input that you could give me would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks.
University of New England (Australia) Masters program - help
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Sally Olsen
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It depends which country you are in. Could you tell us so we could recommend a correspondence course for your Masters? Japan for instance has some good courses from English universities and Australian and they come to visit you if you are near a big city.
You won't need a Master's if you want to work with immigrants in Canada unless it is a special job that you want with the government to do with policy and so on. It is hard to get teaching jobs though and they are very poorly paid. The government has a new policy that people must pass the English or French test before they come to Canada now so they don't fund programs. The ones for the refugees are run by private companies and pay very poorly. The others are run by churches and are often volunteer positions. The big industry in English teaching is young foriegn students and again the pay is poor and school sometimes go out of business without paying the teacher. They don't hire ESL teachers in the schools in BC anymore and the students are just placed in regular classrooms. There might be a specialist or two but you must have your BC teaching degree.
Do you have any qualifications to teach in Canada? If not, then the program at Carleton University on Ottawa is my favourite - a year's diploma. They were doing some correspondence courses so you might check that out. The University of Toronto and OISIE is the best known and most prestigious. UBC has the most beautiful campus and friendly colleagues. They are interested in Systemic Functional Linguistics which is big in Asia right now. I'ver heard Halifax is the most fun and Calgary has the best scholarships. Just hearsay though.
You won't need a Master's if you want to work with immigrants in Canada unless it is a special job that you want with the government to do with policy and so on. It is hard to get teaching jobs though and they are very poorly paid. The government has a new policy that people must pass the English or French test before they come to Canada now so they don't fund programs. The ones for the refugees are run by private companies and pay very poorly. The others are run by churches and are often volunteer positions. The big industry in English teaching is young foriegn students and again the pay is poor and school sometimes go out of business without paying the teacher. They don't hire ESL teachers in the schools in BC anymore and the students are just placed in regular classrooms. There might be a specialist or two but you must have your BC teaching degree.
Do you have any qualifications to teach in Canada? If not, then the program at Carleton University on Ottawa is my favourite - a year's diploma. They were doing some correspondence courses so you might check that out. The University of Toronto and OISIE is the best known and most prestigious. UBC has the most beautiful campus and friendly colleagues. They are interested in Systemic Functional Linguistics which is big in Asia right now. I'ver heard Halifax is the most fun and Calgary has the best scholarships. Just hearsay though.
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woodcutter
- Posts: 1303
- Joined: Sat Jun 19, 2004 6:14 am
- Location: London
The OP and one other person have contacted me through Dave's cafe regarding this topic, so I thought I'd put something here which I could refer people to.
I have now completed the MAAL at the University of New England, and I think it isn't difficult to complete your studies and even do reasonably well if you attempt an Australian on-line MA in applied linguistics. (Australia certainly uses very high marks, numerically, compared to the UK). Many of the students who take an MA in applied linguistics seem to have little prior knowledge of the subject. There are now a lot of people getting their qualifications in this way, and MAs of that type don't enjoy a particularly high reputation. To my mind the teaching at UNE is good, mostly very professional, but the student body isn't so great. UNE in particular has a broad intake, and I think many other Aussie universities have large courses of a similar type. Australia, worldwide, is seen as a bit of a backwater in education terms, perhaps, and North Americans tend to look down on the fact that the courses are short - even though the length of the courses is the same as the quite prestigious British model. As far as I can see, standards in Oz are no worse than elsewhere. UNE is a middle-to-low ranking (?) normal Aussie uni, (it isn't some kind of rip-off outfit). In the end, not many employers know too much about these things, or will care, so for a lot of jobs "having an MA" will probably be enough. Taiwan and some Middle-Eastern countries will not accept distance learning of any kind, however. UNE announced recently that theirs was the first on-line MAAL to receive accreditation in the USA.
On-line learning no doubt has a big future, and is much better, in my own bitter experience (!), than distance learning when somebody does not have access to a good library. There is a vast amount of interesting stuff on the web, although, access to a few more key-texts would have been helpful. The actual content of the courses is always being revamped, but you will probably find that an on-line course involves a lot of on-line discussion. That can be good, but is often a forced route march through people being polite and grudgingly writing only what they guess the teachers wish to hear. There were also some multiple-choice tests, which people viewed as rather mickey-mouse. To my mind all courses of any type should check for knowledge of basic facts, but it shouldn't only be a scramble-through-the-notes exercise. You needn't do a huge thesis at the end of your studies, a thesis proposal or other options are available. That won't look good if someone asks about it at interview, and you didn't happen to do one, I suppose.
The course at UNE takes from 1-4 years, and costs about 9000 US Dollars, you don't need to buy a lot of books, and you have access to an online library. I would have struggled without having access to a good printer, however. The discussion posts are time-consuming, but I suspect graduation with not too much effort is unlikely to prove difficult.
I worked pretty hard and got a "High Distinction". A British Uni distance course previously gave me an F and kicked me out. That doesn't look good for Australia, but it is probably more a reflection of my own approach, which I altered, and what I learned in the meantime.
I have now completed the MAAL at the University of New England, and I think it isn't difficult to complete your studies and even do reasonably well if you attempt an Australian on-line MA in applied linguistics. (Australia certainly uses very high marks, numerically, compared to the UK). Many of the students who take an MA in applied linguistics seem to have little prior knowledge of the subject. There are now a lot of people getting their qualifications in this way, and MAs of that type don't enjoy a particularly high reputation. To my mind the teaching at UNE is good, mostly very professional, but the student body isn't so great. UNE in particular has a broad intake, and I think many other Aussie universities have large courses of a similar type. Australia, worldwide, is seen as a bit of a backwater in education terms, perhaps, and North Americans tend to look down on the fact that the courses are short - even though the length of the courses is the same as the quite prestigious British model. As far as I can see, standards in Oz are no worse than elsewhere. UNE is a middle-to-low ranking (?) normal Aussie uni, (it isn't some kind of rip-off outfit). In the end, not many employers know too much about these things, or will care, so for a lot of jobs "having an MA" will probably be enough. Taiwan and some Middle-Eastern countries will not accept distance learning of any kind, however. UNE announced recently that theirs was the first on-line MAAL to receive accreditation in the USA.
On-line learning no doubt has a big future, and is much better, in my own bitter experience (!), than distance learning when somebody does not have access to a good library. There is a vast amount of interesting stuff on the web, although, access to a few more key-texts would have been helpful. The actual content of the courses is always being revamped, but you will probably find that an on-line course involves a lot of on-line discussion. That can be good, but is often a forced route march through people being polite and grudgingly writing only what they guess the teachers wish to hear. There were also some multiple-choice tests, which people viewed as rather mickey-mouse. To my mind all courses of any type should check for knowledge of basic facts, but it shouldn't only be a scramble-through-the-notes exercise. You needn't do a huge thesis at the end of your studies, a thesis proposal or other options are available. That won't look good if someone asks about it at interview, and you didn't happen to do one, I suppose.
The course at UNE takes from 1-4 years, and costs about 9000 US Dollars, you don't need to buy a lot of books, and you have access to an online library. I would have struggled without having access to a good printer, however. The discussion posts are time-consuming, but I suspect graduation with not too much effort is unlikely to prove difficult.
I worked pretty hard and got a "High Distinction". A British Uni distance course previously gave me an F and kicked me out. That doesn't look good for Australia, but it is probably more a reflection of my own approach, which I altered, and what I learned in the meantime.
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fluffyhamster
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Well done on getting the MAAL from UNE, Woodcutter! It surely beat ploughing through Huddleston with the Uni of Sconebakeshire. Now you can hang the glossy certificate on your wall and feel justified in earning megabucks whilst teaching pretty much as you always have. 
P.S. How's the Chinese takeaway business going?
P.S. How's the Chinese takeaway business going?
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woodcutter
- Posts: 1303
- Joined: Sat Jun 19, 2004 6:14 am
- Location: London
One fellow student did leave teaching to take over a pork pie business. Perhaps thats where the megabucks are, I'm not gettin 'em so far.
I always try to teach how the school wants its teaching done, so I do have professional variety though. I'm currently teaching the "watch the CD-rom, parrot and play" method created by the Korean education board. It has its plus points.
By the way, I recently opened my certificate and in fact no special grade is awarded, there is just an accompanying breakdown of marks. Also only 20 people graduated with me. There seemed to be a lot more on the courses.
I saw someone criticize these courses on the grounds that non-PhDs may be sometimes involved with teaching. I think that can be the case anywhere. Furthermore the lower they are, the harder they try, and that is equally important.
I always try to teach how the school wants its teaching done, so I do have professional variety though. I'm currently teaching the "watch the CD-rom, parrot and play" method created by the Korean education board. It has its plus points.
By the way, I recently opened my certificate and in fact no special grade is awarded, there is just an accompanying breakdown of marks. Also only 20 people graduated with me. There seemed to be a lot more on the courses.
I saw someone criticize these courses on the grounds that non-PhDs may be sometimes involved with teaching. I think that can be the case anywhere. Furthermore the lower they are, the harder they try, and that is equally important.