TEFL 327 Leadership and Management in Language Teaching - Spring 2025

The role of leadership and management in the arena of English teaching has greatly expanded in the past twenty years, influenced by the growing acceptance of management principles. This development makes the topic highly relevant to MA TEFL students, some of whom will be required to manage language programs or schools. This course places emphasis on quality, efficiency, economic sustainability, accountability to stakeholders and a focus on service. Students will familiarize themselves with these principles and the matching practices. Thirty instructional hours based on instructor-led discussion.

TEFL 305 Research Methods - Spring 2025

This course will lay the foundations for the students to learn about various principles and issues regarding research methods in second or foreign language teaching and classroom research. The course will look at the various viewpoints involved in research, the issues raised by quantitative and qualitative research, how the research program is to be structured and carried out, and how to report findings.

TEFL 306 Teaching Practicum MA TEFL - Spring 2025

TEFL 309 Curriculum Design - Spring 2025

This course will help students to develop a deeper understanding of the principles and procedures that inform current practices in language curriculum design, how they impact classroom pedagogies and shape materials development. TE 309 will also equip students with a variety of theoretical resources and insights for the formulation and implementation of appropriate language courses. Students will gain insight into EGP (English for General Purposes) and ESP (English for Specific Purposes). ESP includes many areas such as EAP (English for academic purposes), EOP (English for occupational purposes), EST (English for science and technology), etc. In EFL contexts such as Armenia's, a majority of students not majoring in English study the language in ESP programs. Therefore, MA TEFL students need to understand the concepts of both EGP and ESP to be prepared to serve the needs of the Armenian EFL context.

TEFL 323 Second Language Acquisition - Spring 2025

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.

TEFL 390 Independent Studies in Advanced Academic Writing - Spring 2025

TEFL 392 Capstone project - Spring 2025

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.

TEFL 393 Comprehensive Exams - Spring 2025

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.