Sheffield, United Kingdom
DURATION
1 year
LANGUAGES
English
PACE
Full time
APPLICATION DEADLINE
Request application deadline
EARLIEST START DATE
Sep 2025
TUITION FEES
GBP 17,725 *
STUDY FORMAT
On-Campus
* £17,725 for international/EU students | £10,620 for UK students
Key Summary
Introduction
Step into the world of transformative education with our MA TESOL programme, designed for both aspiring educators and experienced teachers, this course equips you with the skills and credentials to elevate English teaching careers to global standards.
- Explore the teaching of the English language globally.
- Gain a deep understanding of the underpinning theories and practices.
- Develop a reflective and critical approach to your teaching practice.
- Enhance your skills in planning, teaching, assessment, course design and material development.
- Acquire research skills to conduct systematic inquiry into the field.
Join a vibrant international community of MA Teaching of English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL) students and an international team of experienced educators and leading researchers.
Whether you're at the start of your career or an experienced teacher aiming to advance, this course supports your growth. It's designed to help you develop the skills and knowledge for senior roles or a PhD, preparing you for a successful career in TESOL.
Our curriculum has recently been updated to address current trends, including multilingual learner profiles, diverse global Englishes, and the impact of artificial intelligence on education.
Curriculum
This course is designed so that inexperienced teachers can succeed and ensures that experienced teachers will be able to enhance their career prospects in public and private establishments at primary, secondary, tertiary and adult levels of education.
On this course you’ll explore language learning and teaching theories. You’ll reflect on your own experiences while practising your planning, teaching and assessment skills – as well as conducting ethical research in TESOL. The module assignments offer you flexibility to focus on specific TESOL areas – such as English for Academic Purposes, Young Learners or Assessment – while your dissertation allows you to specialise in a research setting of your choice.
You learn through:
- interactive workshops
- guided observations and personalised feedback
- collaborative activities such as lesson planning, microteaching and group work
- guided reading
- taking part in lectures
- coursework and presentations
- personal tutorials
- collaboration with a research supervisor
Key themes
Our MA TESOL course blends theory and practice to prepare you for a dynamic career in language education. You’ll develop expertise in English Language Teaching (ELT) while critically exploring pedagogical issues in second-language learning and teaching. The course equips you with a deep understanding of language theory, teaching methods, and research practices.
Key features include:
- Global Perspectives: Analyse and adapt language teaching materials, exploring how English is used worldwide.
- Innovative Teaching Methods: Gain hands-on experience with contemporary approaches like post-method pedagogy and AI's role in education through practical activities.
- Diverse Learner Profiles: Understand the needs of varied language learners, including ESOL, EAL, and CLIL, to excel in multilingual and globalized classrooms.
- Research Excellence: Learn ethical research methodologies and conduct a personalized project addressing current TESOL challenges.
With a focus on practical application and critical scholarship, our course ensures you’re prepared to thrive in modern language education.
The quality of Sheffield Hallam University MA TESOL student work is often recognised externally. Our students regularly receive the British Council ELT Master's Dissertations Award, including:
- 2023-24 Academic year: Exploring foreign language speaking anxiety among Vietnamese university students, Ngoc Duyen Nguyen.
- 2020-21 Academic year: Stories of Kuwaiti English Language Teachers: A Multimodal Narrative Inquiry, Shahd Almnaies
Course support
All TESOL academic staff are research active and have both professional and academic qualifications as well as international teaching experience.
- You’ll be supported via regular classes for improving your academic writing and speaking, targeting the language and skills needed for your assignments,
- Access to our Skills Centre with one-to-ones, webinars and online resources, where you can get help with planning and structuring your assignments,
- Industry-specific employability activities such as learning in simulated environments and networking opportunities,
Formative feedback on assessments at key points in each module, through verbal and written methods.
Applied learning
At Sheffield Hallam University, we take pride in being an applied university, and our course reflects this ethos by linking theory to practise and equipping you with knowledge and skills that can be directly applied in your teaching context. This practical approach is embedded in the course structure, with assignments designed to strike a balance between written tasks and oral presentations, ensuring you gain recognition for both academic and practical teaching skills.
Networking Opportunities
This course is run in partnership with the MA Education course. Students share some common research modules as well as elective modules. This enables you to network beyond your immediate course cohort. Additionally, you are given access to an exclusive Hallam MA TESOL alumni LinkedIn group where you can keep in touch with teaching staff and alumni, as well as unlock opportunities beyond your stay at Sheffield Hallam University.
Our TESOL team is research-active and consists of leading educators who regularly collaborate with key stakeholders such as the British Council for research and accreditation purposes. MA TESOL students are regularly invited to the academic events and projects hosted by the academic team including seminars, invited talks and conferences where they can join communities of professional practice.
Career Opportunities
This course prepares you for a career in English language teaching, management and teacher education for English language teaching, research careers or progression into EdD and PhD degrees. Our previous graduates have secured jobs nationally and internationally in various contexts such as universities, private language centres, international language schools, and further education institutions.
Key learning experiences directly relate to the international professional skills of English language teachers. For example, observing lessons taught by experienced teachers, planning appropriate lessons, designing learning resources, and sharing and reflecting on teaching experiences to promote team building and professional development are all relevant in the professional context.
As a Sheffield Hallam University graduate you will be eligible for lifetime employability support. During your time at Hallam, the careers and employability team will support your employability through individual appointments, their website and digital resources to support your career planning. You will also be invited to attend careers conferences on campus or online. After graduation, you will still be able to access employability support from the careers and employability team.Our advisers offer one-to-one appointments for CV, cover letter, and job application support, as well as tailored advice regarding your career decision making, skill development, and interview practice.
Graduates from our teaching programme have taught in over 100 countries across the globe. Our alumni include professors, lecturers, heads of schools, directors of studies, senior teachers, textbook writers, authors, and, most importantly, the best and most-loved teachers of English language in the world!