Master of TESOL/Applied Linguistics
Victoria University of Wellington
Key Information
Campus location
Wellington, New Zealand
Languages
English
Study format
Distance Learning, On-Campus
Duration
1 year
Pace
Full time
Tuition fees
NZD 48,200 *
Application deadline
Request info
Earliest start date
Request info
* for the full programme
Introduction
All our courses are offered online at the moment for international students because of the COVID-19 pandemic border closures in New Zealand.
Boost your English-teaching career
Studying the Master of TESOL (Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages) will help you develop your teaching skills.
You’ll strengthen your understanding of language learning, explore common challenges that language teachers and learners face, and reflect on your learning and teaching experience.
In all these areas, you’ll be guided to make links between teaching practice, research, theory, and the contexts within which people teach and learn languages.
World-class programme
The University's TESOL programme is highly regarded worldwide. It has a strong international orientation which reflects New Zealand’s unique position in the Asia–Pacific region. Our graduates have gone on to teach English and work in educational leadership roles in New Zealand and around the globe.
The MTESOL programme builds on the legacy of sixty years of graduate TESOL education at Te Herenga Waka—Victoria University of Wellington.
Staff teaching in the programme is internationally recognised researchers. They draw on their extensive experience as language teachers and teacher educators to bridge the gap between research, theory, and teaching practice.
Globally ranked
The School of Linguistics and Applied Language Studies is internationally renowned for its research. Our Linguistics programme is consistently rated among the top 100 in the world in the QS World University Rankings.
The QS World University Rankings is an annual publication that ranks universities around the world. It gives overall rankings and subject rankings for more than 18,000 universities worldwide.
Flexible study
Study full time or part-time—whatever suits your needs best. You can choose to study on campus, online, or through a combination of the two. Start your study at the beginning of any trimester—February, July, or November.
Studying from overseas
If you study this programme from outside New Zealand, you’ll benefit from a strong network of learning support staff. They’ll help you access library resources, learn about research in language teaching, and develop effective study strategies. They can also offer writing support if English is not your main language.
Distance learning support
If you're learning off-campus, web-based resources will help ensure you have a rich learning experience and that you can be in regular contact with your lecturers.
Workload
If you are studying full time, you can expect a workload of 40–45 hours a week for much of the year. Part-time students doing two courses per trimester will need to do around 20–23 hours of work a week. Make sure you take this into account if you are working.
Qualification family structure
The MTESOL, PGDipTESOL, and PGCertTESOL make up a tiered family of qualifications. These are “staircased”, so that courses completed for a smaller qualification can count towards a larger one.
- Postgraduate Certificate in TESOL (60 points)
- Postgraduate Diploma in TESOL (120 points)
- Master of TESOL (180 points)
If you have enrolled in the MTESOL but for some reason have to withdraw before finishing it, you may be able to gain the PGCertTESOL or PGDipTESOL as an exit qualification.
Or, if you’re not quite ready to commit to the MTESOL, you can enrol in the PGDipTESOL or PGCertTESOL. Then, once you’re confident this is the pathway for you, you can easily move into the Master’s programme.
Wide range of topics
To get a balanced understanding of the field, you’ll take courses from three different areas: teaching practice, language awareness, and language learning.
Courses in the MTESOL programme cover a wide range of topics:
- teaching language skills—listening, speaking, reading, and writing
- language testing and assessment
- language for specific purposes
- computer-assisted language teaching
- discourse analysis
- formulaic language
- identity and language
- second language acquisition
- teaching pronunciation
- grammar and vocabulary
- task-based language teaching.
Curriculum
What you’ll study
On the 180-point MTESOL programme, you’ll take 12 courses. Seven of these are core courses covering the areas of teaching practice, language awareness, and language learning. You can then choose a further five elective courses to complete the degree.
With the approval of the Programme Director, you can replace one or more taught courses with a supervised 15-point research course (LALS 580 or LALS 581), a 30-point research project (LALS 582), a 60-point dissertation (LALS 583), or a 90-point thesis (LALS 584). Each of these research courses has specific entry requirements.
Duration and workload
You can study the MTESOL, PGDipTESOL, or PGCertTESOL full time or part-time, and you can start in any trimester—February, July, or November.
You’ll typically complete the MTESOL in four trimesters of full-time study, although it is possible to complete it in three trimesters of intensive study. Studying part-time, it may take from two to four years.
If you’re studying the PGDipTESOL full time, you’ll study eight courses over two trimesters. If you’re studying the PGCertTESOL full time, you’ll study four courses over one trimester.
Full-time students can expect a workload of around 40 hours a week. Part-time students will need to do around 20 hours of work a week. Make sure you take this into account if you are working.
You can estimate your workload by adding up the number of points you’ll be doing. One point is roughly equal to 10 to 12 hours of work.