M.A. in Teaching English as a Second Language (TESL)

Requirements for the Master of Arts in TESL

A. Required Core Courses (30 units)

• LING 502 Seminar in Second Language Acquisition (3)
• LING 506 Foundational Concepts of Phonetics and Phonology (3)
• LING 510 Foundational Concepts of Linguistics (3)
• LING 517 Foundational Concepts of Language Development and Acquisition (3)
• LING 520 Issues in ESL Reading and Writing (3)
• LING 521 Issues in ESL Listening and Speaking (3)
• LING 525 English Structures for ESL/EFL Teaching (3)
• LING 530 Introduction to TESL (3)
• LING 555 TESL Practicum (3)
• LING 568 TESL Testing and Assessment (3)

B. Electives (6 units)

In consultation with the chair/advisor, candidates will select 6 units of electives at the 400-, 500-, or 600-level, as long as the total number of 400-level courses does not exceed 9 units in their program. Coursework may include LING courses or courses in other departments in consultation with the chair/advisor.

Preapproved Electives for the M.A. in TESL

• EED 577 Language Arts and ESL Instruction
• EED/SED 626 Literacy Instruction for English Learners
• LING 403 Morphology
• LING 404 Syntax
• LING 406 Language and Social Interaction
• LING 408 Semantics and Pragmatics
• LING 411 Historical Linguistics
• LING 427 Languages in Contact
• LING 447 Bilingualism in the U.S.
• LING 455 Computational Linguistics
• LING 495A-Z Selected Topics in Linguistics
• LING 500 Seminar in Phonetics
• LING 501 Seminar in Phonology
• LING 503 Seminar in Cognitive Linguistics
• LING 505 Seminar in Discourse Analysis
• LING 515 Survey of Applied Linguistics
• LING 541 Seminar in Sociolinguistics
• LING 566 Research Methods for Linguistics
• LING 578 English for Specific Purposes
• LING 590A-Z Selected Topics in Linguistics/TESL
• LING 604 Acoustic and Instrumental Phonetics
• SED 514 Computers in the Instructional Program
• SED 625ESL Theory and Research in Teaching ESL in Multilingual Classrooms
• SPAN 400 Structure of the Spanish Language (3)
• SPAN 401 Language and Culture (3)
• SPAN 425 Spanish Phonetics (3)
• SPAN 497 Comparative Structure of Spanish and English (3)
• SPAN 530 Spanish Dialectology
• SPAN 600 History of the Spanish Language
• SPAN 603 Seminar in Romance Linguistics

C. Foreign Language Component:

Graduate students are required to complete two 3-unit progressive semesters (or the equivalent) of coursework in one language foreign to them. Students whose native language is not English and who received a substantial part of their education in a language of instruction other than English can pass all or part of the language requirement with evidence, at the discretion of the department. If prior coursework is used to satisfy this requirement, only courses completed within five years of admission to the program will be accepted.

D. Culminating Experience (3 units):

In order to complete the M.A. degree in Linguistics, graduate students submit a graduate project, which is comprehensive in nature. Graduate students work on the different components of this project throughout the program; the final project is publicly presented during their last/graduating semester. These 3 units of culminating experience are part of the degree count.

Graduate Project

Students during their last semester will enroll in LING 698D. Students on probation or who have remaining incompletes, or who have not completed the foreign language component, will not be permitted to enroll in LING 698D until these issues are all resolved. Students who fail the graduate project a second time are disqualified from the M.A. in Linguistics degree program.

E. Unit Count for the M.A. in TESL

• Catalog: M.A., Teaching English as a Second Language
• General Admission Requirements & Standards for the M.A. in Linguistics and TESL