Master of Arts (M.A.) in Teaching English as a Second Language/Applied Linguistics

Iowa State University

Immerse yourself in the dynamic intersection of language, culture, and education with Iowa State University's Teaching English as a Second Language/Applied Linguistics graduate program. Designed for educators passionate about language acquisition and cross-cultural communication, our program offers a comprehensive blend of theory and hands-on experience. The MA in TESL/Applied Linguistics (TESL/AL) prepares students for careers in teaching English to non-native speakers of English, either in the U.S. or abroad. Students with MA degrees in TESL teach adults and younger learners in a wide variety of contexts, supervise language programs, work for testing organizations, and create language teaching materials. Students admitted to the degree program can use their elective courses to pursue extended expertise in areas such as Computer-Assisted Language Learning, Language Assessment, English for Specific Purposes (ESP), or Corpus and Computational Linguistics. The degree has a foreign language requirement that may be fulfilled in a number of ways. Students whose native language is other than English are considered to have met the language requirement after satisfying the Graduate College English requirement. For undergraduates at ISU, the MA in TESL/AL can also be completed through the concurrent degree option, which allows linguistics majors who meet admission requirements to pursue an MA degree in TESL/AL with just one additional year of study. This degree program requires a minimum of 30 hours of graduate credit. Students can choose to complete a thesis or one of two creative-component options.

College of Liberal Arts and Sciences