The MA TESOL course is a postgraduate (Level 7) teacher training course for people who want to become teachers of English as a Foreign Language (EFL). As there are currently 1.5 billion English language learners worldwide (British Council, 2020), demand for EFL teachers is high.

The MA TESOL is a distance learning course so there is no timetabled teaching or learning (e.g. lectures and seminars). The course aims to give you the flexibility to study while working, but within a structured learning framework that is designed, developed and led by highly experienced academic staff.

Each week begins with an online video presentation, which is given by the Module Tutor. This sets the context for the topic of the week (e.g. grammar/vocabulary). Following this, you will be given specific texts to read and/or video material to watch before completing individual and group tasks related to the weekly topic. You will have a week to interact and collaborate online with your fellow students to complete tasks before posting them to designated discussion forums on Canvas, the University of Wolverhampton’s learning management system.

Guidance and support will be given by the Module Tutor throughout the week while you are completing the reading and individual and group tasks and extensive feedback will be provided at the start of the following week. You will also have regular individual and group tutorials with your Module Tutor, which will take place online at a time that is mutually convenient.

There is a compulsory online induction week at the start of the course so that students can get to know each other, the staff and University of Wolverhampton and, especially, so that you can become acquainted with the course, its teaching and learning methods and the technologies used.

All modules are compulsory and are delivered sequentially, which allows you to build on previous modules as you progress through the course:

Year 1

7EG003 Language Awareness for English Language Teaching

7EG004 Theory and Practice of English Language Teaching

7EG005 English Language Course & Materials Design

Year 2

7EG006 Specialisms in English Language Teaching

7EG007 Digital Technologies in English language Teaching

7EG008 TESOL Research Skills

7EG009 Dissertation

The MA TESOL course is part-time and is comprised of six 20-credit modules and one 60-credit dissertation module. Each 20-credit module involves two hundred learning hours and lasts one semester (12 weeks) while the 60-credit dissertation module involves six hundred learning hours and is completed within six months.

You should aim to spend approximately 10 hours per week on your studies (120 hours). The remaining learning hours will be dedicated to course communication and administration and module assessment.

As the course is designed for graduates who have little or no English language teaching experience, you will complete six hours of assessed teaching practice with real English language learners. This will take place face to face and/or online, depending on your individual circumstances and the availability of real English language learners. The assessed teaching practice sessions will occur in three of the six taught modules.

You will also have the opportunity to observe live and recorded English language classes to inform your assessed teaching practice.

Assessment tasks will involve reading, structuring your thoughts and presenting them in either a spoken or written form:

• Completion of weekly individual and group tasks
• Participation and contributions in online discussions
• Essay
• Presentations
• Projects
• Reflective journal
• Professional development plan
• Dissertation research proposal
• Dissertation on a topic of interest to you, within the field of TESOL

The six taught modules take place over two years, which means you will complete three taught modules per year. Once you have completed the taught modules, you will complete a small-scale independent research project and write a 15,000-word dissertation.

As you will be a newly qualified English language teacher, it will be essential to gain two years’ experience as a classroom teacher in a face to face and/or online context. With this experience, you should then be able to:

• Become a teacher of English for Academic Purposes (EAP) / English as a Foreign Language (EFL) in a university
• Progress to a management position in a commercial language school
• Move into teacher training
• Open your own language school
• Write teaching and learning materials, online resources and apps
• Become an examiner for an EFL exam board
• Work in education consultancy / recruitment
• Do a TESOL-related PhD

The University of Wolverhampton is welcoming, inclusive and has a particularly supportive environment. The student body is diverse in terms of nationality, ethnicity, socioeconomic background and age. This will prepare you to enter an increasingly diverse and globalised EFL job market.

The MA TESOL course is delivered by a team of knowledgeable, experienced and practising EFL teachers based in the International Academy at the University of Wolverhampton. The International Academy delivers Pre-sessional English and International Foundation Year courses, English language support workshops and tutorials, English Equivalency and testing, Summer and Winter School programmes and works with local hospitals providing OET provision.

To apply and find out more about the MA TESOL course, visit the MA TESOL online course information. 

To contact the Course Leader, please email Claire.Richardson@wlv.ac.uk