Teaching English as a Second Language M.A.
Current and Prospective Student Information
Teaching English as a Second Language M.A. and Licensure
The Teaching English as a Second Language (TESL) program will prepare you to teach students in the United States and throughout in the world. A campus-wide focus on cultural diversity will introduce you to a community of learners in a local context.
What would you like to learn more about today?
Program Admission
Prerequisites
The Teaching English as a Second Language (TESL) program has two major pre-requisites:
- An introductory course in linguistics
- One year of college or two years of high school study in one second language or the equivalent
If you have met both of these pre-requisites and all your application files are complete, you can be admitted to the program without any conditions. If you have not met one or both pre-requisites, you can be admitted to the program on the condition that the pre-requisites are met as soon as possible. After the pre-requisites are met, Graduate Studies will regularize your admission by removing the conditions.
If you have not completed an introductory course in linguistics, you can take English 361: an introduction to linguistics online at St. Cloud State. You can also take this course at another university and transfer the credits. Without completion of this course, you are not allowed to enroll in English 564, 566, 663, 664 or 666, the major linguistics courses in the program, but could take other courses in the program simultaneously with English 361.
For the second language requirement, you can meet this requirement by having taken one year, two semesters or three quarters, of one second language or two years of high school second language can count as one year of college second language. Please note that American Sign Language would count as a second language.
TESL M.A. Program Requirements
Program Length
Program length will depend on program choices. For the TESL MA: Thesis or stared paper option, the TESL MA: TEFL emphasis and the TESL MA: K-12 ESL licensure emphasis for second licensure, full-time students can complete the program in four semesters or two years.
For the TESL MA: K-12 ESL emphasis for initial licensure, the program can take six semesters with some summer courses or in three years.
Transfer courses
Unless special arrangements exist, Graduate Studies allows only 10 credits to be transferred.
These courses must:
- Be graduate credits.
- Come from a graduate program that is accredited by the national government of the country where the university is located.
- Must not have counted for a previous graduate degree.
- Fit into the Teaching English as a Second Language master’s program with names and course descriptions that match the courses for which they are being transferred.
Two other arrangements do exist:
- Students who have completed graduate course work at other Minnesota State institutions can transfer up to 15 credits or five three-credit courses. The Minnesota State universities in Mankato, Moorhead and Winona have graduate course work in TESL, so students taking these courses at these institutions should be able to apply 15 credits of TESL related course work from their original universities to the TESL master’s program at St. Cloud State.
- Students who are admitted graduate students at St. Cloud State’s international partner universities with dual degree program agreements can transfer up to 15 credits or five three-credit courses into the TESL master’s. St. Cloud State has a dual degree agreements with:
- Woosong University in Daejeon, South Korea
- Kyunghee University in Jeonju, Korea
- Under these agreements, students at partner universities could complete the St. Cloud State master’s by adding 15 more credits or five courses and a six credit thesis to 15 credits or five courses of TESOL MALL course work.
All transfer courses have to have been completed within seven years of when the student’s TESL degree is awarded.
K-12 ESL License
Culminating Project
Students complete this master’s program with a culminating experience to showcase the knowledge gained through the program. Choose from two options — a thesis or to write two starred papers.
Culminating project committee
Whether you are doing a thesis or starred papers, you will need to set up a committee to review your thesis.
You will be responsible for selecting three faculty members to join your committee and asking them to serve on the committee. You will also be responsible for scheduling two meetings with the committee — a preliminary and final conference.
- Thesis Committee: The chair and second reader are normally faculty members of the TESL/Linguistics faculty of the English department and should be faculty members whom you have taken classes with. The chair most likely would be someone who has a scholarly interest in the topic of your research.
- Starred Paper Committee: The chair and second reader might be professors from the courses within which the original papers were written. The third reader would be from outside the English Department. The committee chair might recommend a third reader to the online student who would not be very familiar with other faculty members at St. Cloud State.
Culminating experience meetings
At the preliminary conference, your culminating experience committee will review your proposed thesis or starred papers. At the final conference the committee will analyze your finished thesis or starred paper and ask questions. For both meetings, the following procedures will be followed:
- The committee will be called to order by the committee chair.
- The student will be asked to summarize the proposal or the final project.
- Faculty members will comment and ask questions of the student.
- After this period of questioning, the student will be asked to leave the room so that the faculty can discuss their decisions about the proposal or the final project.
- After the student returns, the chair informs the student of the results of the committee meeting, the faculty sign the appropriate documents and give the student corrections if they have made them.
Preliminary conference
In the preliminary conference you will meet with your three faculty members who will give you feedback on the proposal for your thesis or starred papers. Online students could conduct this meeting via an Internet conference that you set up with the committee chair.
Final conference
You will again be responsible for contacting your three faculty members and arranging a time for your final meeting. Your chair can arrange for the room if you are an online student.
Before the meeting, you should have prepared and distributed electronically a full draft of their thesis or starred papers. During this meeting, the faculty members will ask questions about the completed theses or starred papers. By accreditation requirements in the United States, this final conference should be a face-to-face meeting, even for online students. In other words, you need to do one of the following:
- Come to St. Cloud for the final conference.
- Arrange for the three faculty to come to the student.
- Set up a video conference.
For more information about the culminating project or committee conferences, email the TESL Director Jim Robinson.
Culminating project examples on the St. Cloud State Repository
Employment and the Profession
Students with a master’s degree in Teaching English as a Second Language work in school districts throughout Minnesota, the United States or across the world. The TESL master’s program prepares current and future teachers for careers in the United States in community and technical college, adult education, intensive English programs, and elementary and secondary schools. Careers outside of the U.S. can be obtained at colleges and universities, English institutes, and other international schools.
The program also helps you prepare for teaching other second or foreign languages such as Chinese or Japanese in the United States or for Ph.D. programs in applied linguistics or related fields.
Popular Employment Resources