StudyQA — Master: Education (TESOL) — Oxford Brookes University

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Description Contents Requirements

The MA in Education (TESOL) is designed for experienced teachers and educational practitioners in all sectors from primary to adult education who have a special interest in the interface between language and education. It includes a flexible programme of study including assessments tailored to your professional context and interests. The core modules focus on the full coverage of skills and knowledge areas for TESOL, combined with generic educational modules which enable you to pursue a wide range of careers within the profession. The programme can be studied full time or part time over three years, both on campus and online, including a fully distance mode of study.

We invite applications from teachers, lecturers and language school managers, who have a minimum of 200 hours TESOL teaching experience. We value our students range of experiences and perspectives. The MA is designed to stimulate intellectual curiosity, while developing key TESOL professional expertise including critical enquiry, critical reflection, research activity and international perspectives.

What will you study?

The MA in Education (TESOL) includes:

Compulsory Education modules

* Reflective professional development
* Educational research
* Dissertation

Compulsory TESOL modules

* Language teaching: methods and approaches
* Language acquisition: principles and practice
* Descriptions of English: Language in the classroom

Optional TESOL modules (students can select one)

A selection of the modules below will be offered each year

* Teaching English for specific purposes
* Sociolinguistics
* Comparative and International Education (campus only)
* Contextualised learning in the foreign language classroom (online only)
* Literature in the language classroom
* Independent study

Why Brookes?

The School of Education at Oxford Brookes is one of the largest Schools of education in the UK, combining high quality teaching and significant research and consultancy activity in an outstanding location, with superb sporting, recreational and study facilities.As a Postgraduate student you will be joining a University which is widely regarded as a major contibutor to the improvement of education and learning, locally and nationally. The School of Education is a focal point for lively, informed debate on education through its seminar and lecture programmes, including the high profile Oxford Education debates.You will have the opportunity to volunteer as English language mentors for Oxford based asylum seekers.For international students there is a support service to help you with your academic writing.Our 110-acre Harcourt Hill campus offers all the benefits of a complete academic community on one site. We have all the facilities that you'd expect from a University like Oxford Brookes but its the people that really make the School of Education such a great place to study. You will be working with highly regarded academics who are at the forefront of their subjects. Drawing on our cutting-edge, research-led teaching, our courses will advance your knowledge and develop your professional skills. Academics work alongside students from a wide range of backgrounds, and with the support of a caring and efficient administrative staff, provide a rich and diverse intellectual and social environment.

Course length

Full-time: 12 months
Part-time: 36 months, or 24 months fast-track

TESOL is taught by distance learning or on campus full-time. Students can combine different modes of study depending on their needs.

The MA course is based on the completion of a compulsory element, plus optional modules.

Compulsory element:

* Reflective Professional Development aims to develop your reflective practice and provide you with an opportunity for systematic review of your progress, helping you to explore and document the coherence and progression of your experience of the course.
* Educational Research will enable you to develop knowledge of a range of research approaches, methods and techniques and to consider ethics in educational research. You will have an opportunity to develop your research skills through preparatory work for the dissertation.
* The Dissertation or Major Project will involve a piece of investigative research and will comprise approximately one third of your degree work. Your dissertation will focus on a research problem of interest to you. It need not be based in an educational setting and may be literature based, but should be relevant to educational concerns. Please note that there is also an alternative for creative practitioners and artist teachers, the Major Project in Education.
* Language Acquisition Principles and Practice aims to provide you with a thorough grounding in the theoretical models of both first and second/foreign language acquisition and with psycholinguistic theories of learning and skills acquisition. By the end of this module, you will have reflected on the relevance of different kinds of theoretical knowledge of language learning to your own perceptions of teaching and learning in the ELT/ESOL classroom, and how these theories might have practical impact on learner-focused classroom practice (core module).
* Language Teaching Methods and Approaches focuses on the practice and reflective development of the teacher in the classroom. The module aims to develop teacher understanding of the process and principles behind professional skills such as researching their own classroom, planning for learning, designing and evaluating teaching materials, and formulating and evaluating the syllabus. It also focuses on how the teacher can develop principled pedagogic approaches to language and explore the validity and effectiveness of these approaches for specific classrooms, contexts and student needs (core module).
* Descriptions of English Language in the Classroom explores the linguistic description of English with a focus on language in use. The module will go on to look at how our understanding of the English language relates to how we apply this knowledge in the classroom: what the teacher should know about language, what the learner should know, and how classroom materials such as pedagogic grammars and course books approach this (core module).
* Sociolinguistics deals with the effect of society on the way language is used. The module focuses on four core research areas: i) language and society; ii) language and variation; iii) language and interaction, and iv) language and culture. Key themes that recur throughout the sessions include language attitudes, the use of standard and non-standard linguistic varieties in education, language and identity, and World Englishes.

Freestanding modules - open to students on all pathways:

* Action Research (double module) comprises a taught unit on action research methods, including managing change leading to an action research project. The project will require students to research aspects of their own work-based practice.
* Independent Study offers the opportunity to engage in independent study of a topic, issue or area that is not available elsewhere within the course. You will, in consultation and negotiation with a tutor, identify a topic, issue or area of personal or professional interest and relevance and then draw up a course of independent study, which may include library and practical research.

Credit towards an MA award can be made up of appropriate work completed outside the course, for example the Oxford Brookes Postgraduate Certificate in Advanced Educational Practice (CAEP). Other work such as a PGCE taken at master's level, or the DELTA, may be awarded credits by the university in accordance with the regulations of the university's credit accumulation and transfer scheme (CATS).

This MA course attracts students from a wide range of backgrounds and nationalities, normally graduates with a recognised teaching qualification, or other educational professional experience. English Language Requirements IELTS band: 6 CAE score: (read more) Cambridge English: Advanced (CAE) is part of the Cambridge English suite and is targeted at a high level (IETLS 6.5-8.0). It is an international English language exam set at the right level for academic and professional success. Developed by Cambridge English Language Assessment - part of the University of Cambridge - it helps you stand out from the crowd as a high achiever. 75 (Grade B) TOEFL iBT® test: 78 IMPORTANT NOTE: Since April 2014 the ETS tests (including TOEFL and TOEIC) are no longer accepted for Tier 4 visa applications to the United Kingdom. The university might still accept these tests to admit you to the university, but if you require a Tier 4 visa to enter the UK and begin your degree programme, these tests will not be sufficient to obtain your Visa. The IELTS test is most widely accepted by universities and is also accepted for Tier 4 visas to the UK- learn more.