Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages

Overview

The Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages program at Southern Illinois University prepares students both intellectually and experientially so that as professionals they are capable of making wise and informed choices among different language teaching approaches, methods, and techniques. In addition, students will understand how differences among individual students, teaching and learning situations, and socials structures influence decisions they will be called upon to make as teachers or other language professionals. The TESOL master’s program provides a firm and broad foundation in current theories of language and language learning and graduates will be prepared to take on careers as teacher educators and curriculum or assessment specialists as well as classroom teachers.

The programme

There are two options for completing the MA TESOL degree: a thesis option and a non-thesis option. In both cases 36 credits are required. Both options include five components: a group of core courses totaling 15 semester hours, a selection of language skills-related courses totaling 6 semester hours, a teaching specialty course (3 semester hours), free electives totaling 6 semester hours, and research training (6 semester hours)-- either a thesis (thesis option) or additional course work from a selected group of focus courses with a substantial research component (non-thesis option).