MATEFL

Students enrolled in TEFL 393 prepare for Comprehensive Exams, one of the capstone options available for MA TEFL students. Comprehensive Exams consist of two 3-hour examination sessions administered over two days. They take place on campus and are scheduled in the students’ last term of study at AUA. Students attend an initial orientation session, receive detailed exam guidelines, including dates, times, and location of the comprehensive exams, a reading list, and sample exam questions. This course does not meet face-to-face on a regular basis, but will include an initial meeting and additional sessions as needed. Students are strongly encouraged to form study groups and use all the materials provided to them to prepare for the comprehensive exams. 

In this course, students will implement their capstone projects, which depending on the project, may include data collection and analysis, development and piloting of materials. In the process, they will have a few face-to-face class sessions, meet with their Capstone Committee or adviser on a regular basis, and write an MA Thesis or MA Design Project. In addition to the written work, students will present their final capstone publicly. The course does not meet face-to-face on a regular basis.

This course introduces students to theoretical principles and current practices of teaching and assessing learners of English starting from preschool until teenage years. The course also covers fundamentals of bi- and multi-lingual education. Practical course assignments include observations, material development, and teaching. Three hours of instructor-led discussion per week.

Once viewed primarily as a domain studying computer-mediated means of learning and teaching languages, this field has expanded to include new tools such as mobile and cloud technologies, and social media. This course will survey current trends and best practices in new technologies specific to the TEFL field. It will provide an overview of related theory and practice in the areas of social media and networks, digital video and storytelling, digital games, 3D virtual worlds, mobile technologies, distance and open education, open educational resources, and cloud computing specific to TEFL. Students will engage in research, hands-on, and material development projects to enhance their practical skills of using technologies for teaching purposes. They will also learn how to harness the strengths of new technologies to become life-long learners in their profession. Students are expected to be conversant in Internet and basics of second language acquisition.

This course explores the various theories that scholars and researchers have put forward concerning second language acquisition, or how people learn languages.  Since it is language learning that is being examined, it is important to understand what language is.  Linguistics explores this question, and hence, this course draws to some extent on insights from linguistics.  In addition, as people and learning have both social and psychological dimensions, the course also draws on insights from sociology and psychology.  In other words, SLA is an inter-disciplinary subject that draws on all three disciplines, as well as the sub-disciplines and research areas that inter-relate them. Three hours of instructor-led discussion per week.