Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL)

Course detail Description

Through our Master’s course you will learn sophisticated approaches to second-language pedagogy, second-language learning theories, linguistic analysis and research methods. This will give you a solid foundation of professional knowledge and expertise in preparation for a teaching placement and provide skills to continue your professional development. Our optional modules and dissertation module will allow you to connect this knowledge to specialist areas such as language assessment, the development of teaching materials and teaching English in a variety of contexts. You are also required to have four weeks of supervised teaching practice through our collaboration with International House, the leading provider of the initial teacher training certificate. If you are successful in the placement you will gain an additional qualification through International House, either the Cambridge English CELTA or the IH Certificate in Teaching English as a Foreign Language.

This course provides you with a thorough introduction to current research, theory, principles and practices in English language teaching. It will enable you to acquire a range of practical skills for teaching English as a second/ foreign language, and will prepare you to engage independently and critically with current language teaching and research issues. It will give you the basic research skills you need to investigate language learning, and to help you to develop your individual pedagogic style by reflecting on practice.

This course was designed to enable you to acquire a range of practical skills for teaching English as a second/foreign language, and to prepare you to engage independently and critically with current language teaching and research issues. It will also give you the basic research skills you need to investigate language learning, and to help you to develop your individual pedagogic style by reflecting on practice.

We will teach you through lectures, teacher-led class discussions and group work, and you will typically have 40 hours of this for every 30-credit required module. We also expect you to undertake 260 hours of independent study per 30-credit required module. Contact hours for optional modules may vary slightly. During your dissertation we will provide you with seven hours of one-to-one contact with a supervisor and 20 hours of lectures on research skills to complement your 573 hours of independent study. Typically, one credit equates to 10 hours of work.

We will assess your performance on our required modules through a variety of formats such as essays, practical tasks such as language analysis, oral presentations, design of lesson plans and teaching materials, and evaluation of textbooks and language tests. We assess most of our optional modules through one 3,500-word essay per module, although assessment methods may vary depending on the optional modules you choose. You will also write a 15,000-word dissertation.

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Structure

Year 1

Courses are divided into modules. You will take modules totalling 180-200 credits.

King’s College London reviews the modules offered on a regular basis to provide up-to-date, innovative and relevant programmes of study. Therefore, modules offered may change. We suggest you keep an eye on the course finder on our website for updates.

You are required to take the following modules:

• Language Teaching Methodology (30 credits)

• Analysing English for Learning & Teaching (30 credits)

• Second/Additional Language Learning: Research, Theory & Practice (30 credits)

• Research Methods and Dissertation in Applied Linguistics/Language Learning and Teaching (60 credits)

In addition you are required to take two modules (30 to 50 credits) from a range of optional modules. Optional modules may typically include:

• Materials Development in English Language Teaching (15 credits)

• English for Academic Purposes (15 credits)

• Language Assessment (15 credits)

• The Digital ELT Classroom (15 credits)

• Sociolinguistics (15 credits)

• Linguistic Politeness (20 credits)

• Language and Power (30 credits)

• Language, Culture & Society (20 credits)

• Teaching and Learning Pragmatics (15 credits)