TESOL MA

The TESOL MA General track offers a 36-point Master of Arts degree for students planning to teach in any variety of settings, except in New York State public schools. Graduates typically take positions, such as teaching adults in community colleges, Intensive English Programs on four-year campuses, private schools with language programs, and jobs abroad. Through comprehensive and innovative coursework, hands-on experiences in our on-campus language school, and research projects, students explore the theories and practices of English language teaching to speakers of other languages.

Students earning the Masters of Arts degree have five types of requirements: (1) general courses,(2) track-specific courses, (3) elective courses within AL and TESOL, (4) out-of-program breadth courses, and (5) an exit project. 

All course decisions must be made in consultation with the student's assigned faculty advisor. Students should choose elective and breadth courses that align with their career path. Below are the descriptions for the MA in TESOL General: 

General Courses (15 points):

• A&HL 4000: Educational linguistics (3)

• A&HL 4085: Pedagogical English grammar (3)

• A&HL 4087: Introduction to second language acquisition (3)

• A&HL 4088: Second language assessment (3)

• One language use course from the list below (for AL and TESOL General only):

• A&HL 4001: Sociolinguistics and education (3)

• A&HL 4090: Introduction to Corpus Linguistics

• A&HL 4104: Discourse analysis (3)

• A&HL 4105: Conversation analysis (3)

• A&HL 4106: Text and textuality (3)

• A&HL 5020: Interactional sociolinguistics (3)

 Track-Specific Courses for the MA in TESOL (9 points): 

• A&HL 4077: TESOL classroom practices (3)

• A&HL 5301:  Practicum I: Integrated skills (3)

• One course from the following:

• A&HL 6301: Practicum II: Listening (3)

• A&HL 6302: Practicum II: Speaking (3)

• A&HL 6303: Practicum II: Reading (3)

• A&HL 6304: Practicum II: Writing (3)

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Elective Courses (6 points):

Elective courses in Applied Linguistics and TESOL (6 points):

• A&HL 4101: Phonetics and phonology (3)

• A&HL 5085: Advanced syntax (3)

• A&HL 4001: Sociolinguistics and education (3)

• A&HL 4104: Discourse analysis (3)

• A&HL 4105: Conversation analysis (3)

• A&HL 4106: Text and textuality (3)

• A&HL 5020: Interactional sociolinguistics (3)

• A&HL 5105: Classroom discourse (3)

• A&HL 5106: Language socialization (3)

• A&HL 6031: Advanced conversation analysis (3)

• A&HL 4089: Teaching writing to ESL students (3)

• A&HL 4090: Introduction to Corpus Linguistics (3)

• A&HL 5011: Technology-based language teaching and material design (3)

• A&HL 6097: Task-based language teaching  (3)

• A&HL 5008: Interlanguage analysis (3)

• A&HL 5087: SLA in the classroom (3)

• A&HL 5090: Computational Linguistics for Applied Linguists (3)

• A&HL 6087: Advanced second language acquisition (3)

• A&HL 5199: Topics in language assessment (3)

• A&HL 5512: Historical perspectives on language testing research (3)

• A&HL 5519: Instructed second language acquisition and assessment (3)

• A&HL 6000: Second language test validation (3)

• A&HL 6040: Classroom-based language assessment (3)

• A&HL 6060: Generalizability theory for second language assessment research (3)

• A&HL 6089: Second language performance assessment (3)

• Courses can be taken at an affiliate campus in the Columbia community with advisor’s approval.

Breadth Out-of-Program Courses (6 points): 

Breadth courses are Teachers College classes offered outside of the AL/TESOLProgram. Note that they must be approved by the assigned academic advisor. Exit Project:

• In addition to course requirements, students must complete a master’s degree project written on a research topic arising from their course-related interests and subject to approval by an advisor (The advisor can be different from or the same as your assigned academic advisor). This project can be a review of literature on a scholarly topic or a practice-motivated review of literature or it can be an empirical paper. It is normally completed at the beginning of the last semester of study. For more information, click here. 

Students can normally expect to complete the M.A. in Applied Linguistics or TESOL in four semesters (i.e., two years).