TESOL Program

The program in TESOL provides students with a solid foundation in the English language so that pedagogical and research questions related to the teaching, learning and assessment of English as a second or foreign language (ESL/EFL) may be formulated, examined and resolved. More specifically, the TESOL program helps students develop strategies, firmly grounded in theory, research and practice, to teach ESL in the , to teach EFL internationally, or to do research on the teaching, learning or assessment of English as a second or foreign language. The program emphasizes study in the following areas:

• Second language teaching methodologies
• Teaching of the language skills
• Content area education for ESL students
• ESL/EFL materials development and curriculum design
• Language teacher education
• Language teacher observation and supervision
• Second language acquisition
• Second language assessment
• Classroom interaction
• Second language teaching and literacy
• Language program evaluation
• Technology and language teaching and learning

Graduates from the TESOL program typically teach ESL or EFL in elementary or secondary schools, in colleges or universities, in language schools or institutes in the or abroad, or in businesses or international organizations. Others work for publishers or computer companies that produce ESL/EFL products. Finally, many TESOL graduates work as language program administrators or teacher educators in schools, colleges, or universities around the world.

As New York City offers one of the most diverse settings in the world for teaching ESL, the TESOL program collaborates with a number of schools in the city to provide students with opportunities to teach or do research in these settings. In addition, the TESOL and Applied Linguistics programs jointly sponsor the Community Language Program (CLP), a program to teach ESL and foreign languages to adults. The CLP serves as an on-site language education lab in which students enroll-ed in the TESOL and Applied Linguistics programs teach the courses, help administer the program, supervise other teachers, and use the CLP as a setting for empirical inquiry. For more information on the CLP, see the website at www.tc.edu/tesol/CLP.