Penn State College of the Liberal Arts Department of Applied Linquistics

Department Resources

MA TESL Handbook

The M.A. in Teaching English as a Second Language provides advanced professional preparation and study in the teaching and administration of English as a second or foreign language in the U.S. or abroad.

Program of Study

The M.A. TESL program consists of 36 credit hours of coursework that include a variety of experiences whose aim is to provide authentic, integrated opportunities for students to plan, teach, reflect, research, and lead in ESL and EFL programs for adult learners.

Foundations 9 credits
This group of courses is designed to develop your understandings of the social, historical, and theoretical foundations of the field of Applied Linguistics and TESL.

  • APLNG 482 Introduction to Applied Linguistics
  • APLNG 484 Discourse Functional Grammar
  • APLNG 591 Second Language Acquisition

Professional Core 15 credits
This group of courses provides you with opportunities to integrate your understandings with practical experiences in ESL instructional settings.

  • APLNG 410 Teaching American English Pronunciation
  • APLNG 412 Teaching Second Language Writing
  • APLNG 493 Methods for Teaching English as a Second Language
  • APLNG 583 Methods of Language Assessment
  • APLNG 595 Internship

Methods of Research in Language and Language Learning 3 credits
A course in this area will enhance your understandings of and skills in doing research on language and language learning. Courses that you may choose include the following:

  • APLNG 581 Discourse Analysis
  • APLNG 586 Analyzing Classroom Discourse
  • APLNG 592 Introduction to Qualitative Research in Applied Linguistics
  • APLNG 593 Research Design and Methodology in Applied Linguistics
  • other course with approval of your advisor

Electives 9 credits
The courses you choose here will strengthen your understandings and skills in an area or areas in which you have special interests:

  • APLNG 510 Health and Aging in Multilingual Contexts
  • APLNG 511 Applied Linguistics and Health Sciences
  • APLNG 512 Language and Adult Lifespan Development
  • APLNG 570 Second Language Reading
  • APLNG 571 FL Materials Development
  • APLNG 572 Communication in Second Language Classrooms
  • APLNG 573 Communicative Language Teaching
  • APLNG 575 Language Ideology
  • APLNG 576 Language Socialization across Home, School and Community
  • APLNG 584 Sociocultural Theory and Second Language Learning
  • APLNG 588 Computer-assisted Language Learning
  • APLNG 589 Technology in FL/SL Education
  • other course with approval of your advisor

A minimum of 18 hours of coursework at the 500 level is required. You may also take up to 3 credits of directed independent study (IS). Please see the guidelines below for more information on IS courses. You must maintain a minimum grade-point average of 3.00 in all coursework in order to maintain good academic standing and to graduate.

Teaching ESL abroad opportunities upon completion of the program exist with exchange programs established in South Korea, Turkey, Chile, and Mexico. For information on these opportunities, contact the Director of Graduate Studies.

Departmental Roundtable Sessions and Guest Lecture Series
In addition to the coursework, you are strongly encouraged to participate in the regularly scheduled departmental roundtable sessions and guest lecture series. The sessions include presentations and discussions of research-in-progress by members of the APLNG community as well as presentations by visiting speakers. See News and Events on the department website for a schedule of events.

Directed Independent Study Course Guidelines

In consultation with faculty, students may design a Directed Independent Study (IS) to investigate in-depth a topic previously encountered during regular course work. The Directed Independent study may not replace any course offered on a regular basis.

An IS can be taken for up to three credits. No more than 3 credits of IS can be taken in any one semester; no more than 3 credits of IS credit may be applied toward the MA degree; no more than 6 credits of IS credit may be applied toward the PhD degree. The IS is given a letter grade and subject to all graduate course grading and academic policies.

Each IS must have a syllabus. The faculty member and graduate student are both responsible for ensuring that a copy of the syllabus is on file with other course syllabi in the departmental office prior to the beginning of the semester in which the IS will be given.

The IS syllabus should include at the minimum the following information:

  1. Topic
  2. Number of credits to be earned
  3. Objectives
  4. Requirements
  5. Time-line for completion
  6. Evaluation methods

Advisors and Committees

Upon entering the program, each M.A. TESL candidate receives a temporary faculty advisor. By the end of the first semester of study, you must select a permanent faculty advisor from among the department faculty. This person can be the individual who served as temporary faculty advisor or it can be another faculty member. You should contact the faculty member directly to ask if he/she is willing to act as permanent advisor. Also, by the end of the first semester, you should decide on your concentration.

In your second semester, it is time to constitute your M.A. committee. This is a two-person committee consisting of your advisor and one additional faculty member, selected in consultation with your advisor. You should contact the faculty member directly to ask if he/she is willing to serve on your committee. During your time as a student, you should consult with your committee on a regular basis regarding your program of study and completion of either the e-portfolio or M.A. paper.

E-Portfolio

The MA teaching e-portfolio serves to demonstrate the depth and breadth of your understanding of language pedagogy. The development of the portfolio is an on-going process that begins as soon as you decide on your concentration. University resources for creating an e- portfolio can be found at http://portfolio.psu.edu/index.html. The e-portfolio must provide evidence to demonstrate that you have accomplished the following program objectives:

  • the ability to design and evaluate instructional materials, technology, media, and other resources that meet the specific instructional and language related needs and abilities of students;
  • the ability to reflect on, critically analyze, and evaluate your own teaching practices;
  • the ability to articulate a philosophy of language teaching grounded in current language and learning theories;
  • an understanding of the complex social, cultural, political, and institutional factors that affect language teaching and students' language learning;
  • knowledge of research and research methods for studying language teaching and learning;
  • knowledge of the teaching field (English);
  • participation in collaborative projects with others.

There are several types of evidence that you can use to demonstrate that you have accomplished these purposes. These include, but are not limited, to the following:

  • documents you produced in your courses. These may include seminar papers, reaction papers, exams, assignments, and/or completed projects;
  • documents you produced outside of any specific course that analyze and synthesize your various experiences in the program;
  • documents you produced in the internship including handouts, exams, a collection of journal entries about your teaching experiences, interviews with other students about their perceptions of specific instructional activities and so on;
  • documents about your participation in the program written by someone else, including written observations/evaluations completed by a supervisor, a cooperating teacher, or a peer observer; formal course evaluations, and so on.

Each document in the e-portfolio must contain a label or caption that describes what each document is and for which objective(s) it provides evidence.

Evaluation: You must submit your e-portfolio to your committee at least two weeks before the end of the semester in which you are to graduate (fall or spring only). Your e-portfolio will be evaluated on the basis of the depth and breadth with which the evidence given demonstrates that all the objectives of the M.A. TESL program have been accomplished. You will be expected to present your e-portfolio to the APLNG community at the end of the semester in which you will graduate (fall or spring only).

M.A. Paper

The M.A. paper represents your research interests and is usually developed from your work done in one or more courses. This requires careful consultation with your M.A. advisor. Examples of M.A. papers completed by former students are kept on file in the Department office, and you are encouraged to review these. Some examples include: empirical research involving data collection and analysis; empirical research involving analysis of secondary data; development of curriculum; literature reviews of particular topics, and development of assessment instruments.

The following steps and deadlines apply to writing the M.A. paper.

  • By the end of your second semester in the program, you must decide on a topic and timeline for completing the paper in consultation with your advisor.
  • You must submit a completed draft of the paper to your advisor at least six weeks before the end of the semester in which you are to graduate (fall or spring only). Your advisor will provide you with feedback within one week.
  • You must submit a revised paper to your committee at least 4 weeks before the end of the semester in which you are to graduate (fall or spring only). Your committee will provide you with feedback within two weeks.
  • You must make final revisions, construct a Signature Page and collect your committee members’ signatures at least one week before the end of the semester in which you are to graduate.
  • Upon completion, bound signed copies of the paper are to be distributed to the department office, to your advisor, and to your M.A. committee member. You will be expected to present your paper to the APLNG community at the end of the semester in which you will graduate (fall or spring only).