TESOL

We’ll aid your understanding of the key theories and principles in TESOL, providing a balance of academic and professional content and experience. You’ll develop your ability in language analysis and understanding, as well as furthering your knowledge on how to incorporate this appropriately in class materials.

We have a flexible and supportive learning programme that develops your current understanding and knowledge in TESOL, while providing you with the necessary research and reflection skills to continue on your academic or professional career path.

Throughout the course the amount of independent study gradually increases, both within and across modules, in order to build your confidence and self-reliance. As your future continuing professional development is also important to us, reflection, as a key skill, is interwoven into all modules to nurture your ability to continue learning beyond the MA TESOL.

Trimester one
In the first trimester, your studies will include a mix of practical and theoretical elements. You’ll have your first placement opportunity, which you will be encouraged to reflect on in class.

Trimester two
In the second trimester, we’ll continue developing your practical teaching skills through detailed discussion of relevant theories, alongside your second placement. You’ll begin to prepare for your dissertation by strengthening your knowledge on research methodology and developing a dissertation proposal.

Trimester three
The third trimester sees the culmination of the skills you’ve developed as you gather and analyse data, and write up this research in your dissertation.

This course includes or offers the following modules. Please check the programme document for more information on which modules are core, required or optional.

• Theory and Practice of TESOL
• Language Analysis for TESOL
• Second Language Learning and Teaching
• Research Methods in Social Science
• Dissertation
• Independent Study
• Contemporary Issues in Inclusive Education
• Research and the Professional Part 1
• Research and the Professional Part 2

There are no written exams. You’ll submit a portfolio of tasks, which may include oral presentations, reflection on module learning and teaching practice, essays, and analysis tasks.

You’ll be taught through lectures, seminars, workshops, directed classroom-based activities and discussion. Peer-teaching opportunities, presentations and student-led workshops are also employed throughout the programme. You’ll be given a dedicated tutor to support your development.

We encourage you to keep a journal during your placements, to enhance and support reflection on your experiences. This aids continuation of discussions linking theory to practice which begins in class and continues throughout the programme on an individual self-reflection and peer-reflection basis. Your fellow course participants are an important resource to draw on through shared experiences and stories as you build a community of practice.

To find out more about how we teach and how you'll learn, please read our Learning and Teaching Delivery Statement.

Students who complete the MA TESOL will have many career opportunities including:

• English language teaching (general or specialised)
• Language teacher trainer
• Materials writing
• Curriculum development
• Language textbook editor
• Director of Studies/Assistant Director of Studies
• PhD studies.

You’ll be based mainly at our Newton Park campus, just outside of the world heritage city of Bath. Our campus buildings – which include a period manor house, gatehouse, keep, and state-of-the-art learning and performance facilities – are set in an eighteenth-century landscape complete with a lake and pavilions.

With excellent links to nearby Bristol, you benefit from all the advantages of a buzzing, modern city, while being based in a beautiful, rural location just outside Bath city centre.

Some modules may also be held at Corsham Court, a sixteenth-century English manor house based outside Chippenham. Find out more in our Life in Bath section.

You'll have access to:

• Computing and IT facilities
• Library
• Virtual Learning Environment (VLE)
• Writing and Learning Centre
• English Language Unit
• Individual tutorial sessions.

In the UK, a Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) check is required to work with children and vulnerable adults. All course participants will need to complete the necessary paperwork before starting their placement for the programme. There is an additional fee required for this process.