MA by Distance Learning

Writer(s): 
Annette Kaye

 

I was interested to read Daniel Dunkley¹s article on MAs in TESOL by Distance Learning (TLT 21.3) and would agree with most of the general points he makes on this subject. However, there are not just five accredited institutions in the UK that provide these courses, although Dunkley does not mention it, the University of Leicester also offers an MA in Applied Linguistics and TESOL by Distance Learning.

I started doing the University of Leicester MA in Applied Linguistics and TESOL by Distance Learning in May 1996. I had been considering doing an MA for some time, but was deterred by the high costs and attendance requirements of all the courses I had seen advertised. I saw the Leicester course advertised in The Guardian Weekly; the course was relatively inexpensive, had no attendance requirement and as Leicester is my home town, I knew the University is a bona fide establishment. Moreover, the first module of the course can stand alone as The Advanced Certificate in TESOL. This was particularly attractive to me. I had not done any academic study for several years, and this gave me the opportunity to start an MA without committing myself initially to more than a short period of study and the fee for one module. If I decided after the first module that the complete MA course wasn¹t for me, I would still have the Advanced Certificate to show for my time and money.

I was very much lacking in confidence when I started, but my tutor was excellent, offering lots of encouragement, suggestions, and feedback on first drafts, etc. We communicate by email and he always replies within four working days. I passed the first module, have just started the third, and am fairly confident now that I can complete the course.

The Course

The course takes 27 to 30 months to complete. It comprises five modules and a dissertation. The modules are:

  • The Advanced Certificate in TESOL
  • Descriptions of English
  • Sociolinguistics and Discourse Analysis
  • Second Language Acquisition
  • Syllabus, Course Design, Evaluation, and Option
  • Materials

A folder of Course Units is provided for each module. In addition, students should buy or have access to at least two relevant texts per module. The texts can be difficult to find and are expensive in Japan, but can be obtained relatively easily and cheaply from several book shops in the UK. The staff of the School of Education Library at Leicester are extremely helpful at finding articles etc., and very prompt at copying them and posting them to you (for a small fee).

Assessment

At the end of each module, the student has to submit a portfolio of work for assessment. This varies from module to module, but typically consists of several short assignments of a few hundred words each, plus one extended piece of writing of about 4,000 words. The final dissertation should be about 20,000 words.

Fees

The cost per module varies slightly according to where you live. For people living in Japan, the cost per module in 1997 is £495, and the total cost (excluding additional texts) is £2,970. These figures will be revised next year, but once you start, the cost per module is fixed at the initial level.

Attendance

There is no attendance requirement, but students are welcome to visit Leicester to use the libraries and to meet their tutors.
I wanted to do an MA partly because I knew I would need one, as Dunkley says, if I decided I wanted to teach in a university or college in Japan. My other reason for doing an MA was that with my daughter at university and my son in his last year at school, I felt I needed some mental stimulation to be able to keep up with them! I expected it would be a bit of a slog. However, while I wouldn¹t describe the course at Leicester as easy, neither is it excessively demanding of either time or effort. What has really surprised me is that I am enjoying it immensely. Further details on the MA in Applied Linguistics and TESOL at the University of Leicester can be obtained from:

Miss Helen Whitfield,
The Continuing Professional Development Office,
University of Leicester,
School of Education,
21 University Road,
Leicester LE1 7RF
England.

 

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