Next Application Deadline April 1 Get Info

Launch your career as a leader in language education.

Our TESOL and Teaching Foreign Language (TFL) master’s degrees give you valuable professional experience while you earn your degree. You’ll be prepared not only to teach but to train other language teachers, conduct research, develop curricula, manage language programs, and lead in the various fields of language education. 

We guarantee a minimum 50% scholarship for admitted in-person students.

Start Term Credits Duration In Person Online
Fall or spring
 
TESOL: 40
TFL: 42
3 semesters
(12–16 months)
Monterey, California Online, asynchronous MA in TESOL available

Find out if TESOL or TFL is right for you

Study In Person or Online

We offer the TESOL and Teaching Foreign Language degree programs in the following formats—choose the program that works best for you:

A Multidisciplinary Approach to Language Education

The TESOL and TFL MA programs prepare language educators for teaching English as a second language and teaching foreign languages. The curriculum that we offer our students is one that integrates theory and practice and research. And so, all of our courses address all three.

Creating an environment where the students are all on the same page and providing more for visual learners.

We’re teaching for the student who’s having the hardest time. Right, so if you. >> I wanted to pair linguistics with teaching and MIIS really did a good balance these two things. It’s not just teaching and it’s not just linguistics, it has this balance of theory and practice.

We give our students lots of opportunities to do real life projects out in the community that are the same kinds of work they’ll be doing once they graduate.

We have an on-campus student organization called BUILD, which allows students to take lower level language classes that are taught by volunteer student teachers here at MIIS. So a lot of the student teachers are people in my program in Teaching a Foreign Language, or Teaching English as a Second Language. I was able to apply what I’ve learned in my classes, and experiment with different methods and trial and use things when I teach BUILD.

I currently work, down in Custom Language Services, which has this English For Diplomats program and so, lot’s of different things I’m learning in the classroom I can take and try on and see if it works. I didn’t have a lot of teaching experience, and through the program I able to problematize a lot of different things that you go into the classroom with.

And then actually go into a classroom and try to teach these things.

Our students work with real clients out there who need help in developing curriculum for their programs. We’ve had ongoing groups of students go every year to work with a group of Haitian teachers of English, where they’re working with them on developing not only their English language skills, but their pedagogical skills for teaching English in Haiti. There’s a real commitment to quality teaching, and, as faculty members, we get to put that into practice every single day and be mentors for our students.

Giving the students a chance, more than one student a chance, to give definitions, I think would be a good idea.

So the professors in the TESOL program are, their door is always open. Whether they are in office hours or not, they welcome you to come in, and they encourage you to come in, even if it’s not for their class. They can help you with your linguistics, they can help you with your teaching, your grammar, whatever class you’re in, they can try to offer help or they can send you in the right direction.

It’s always exciting to see what our students do when they finish their MA degrees, when they go out into the field. We have students who have done really critically important works. We have students who are contributing to curriculum development and really expanding the notion of language teaching across many different settings. They go on to do a lot of different things and very exciting things.

I recently got a job offer teaching Chinese at a high school level in Austin, Texas. I’ll be using everything I’ve learned in my degree program, and I just feel like right now I’m so much more prepared in terms of my academic training and also pedagogical training.

You’ve got lots of different resources around to help you. You’ve got alumni that, as you step on the campus, are ready to help you even though they don’t know you. You’ve got on-campus help with advising, teachers, faculty. And then you have a whole support of your colleagues. These networks of people that are here to help you. So, I think, you step on to a campus where it’s just a built-in community right from the start.

Advance Your Career

Career and Academic Advising

We coordinate your career and academic advising, making sure your coursework aligns with your career goals. Your advisors will guide you from course registration to preparing for interviews and negotiating new career opportunities.

Practical Experience

You will build valuable professional experience while you earn your degree through working in our language programs and taking semesterlong practicum and capstone courses.

Careers

You’ll graduate with the capacity to take on many leadership roles in language education. Join the ranks of our successful, in-demand alumni, many of whom were recruited by employers before they even completed the program. See how they are thriving in their careers.

Curriculum

Our rigorous curriculum is taught by renowned language education experts. It balances coursework in the domains of language, pedagogy, and research, with the goal of expanding your career opportunities. You will learn to effectively teach languages to in-person and online students.

You will develop teaching practices that enhance your students’ language learning, create instructional units and lessons that maximize your effectiveness in the classroom, and design research studies and assessment tools to highlight the most relevant opportunities for improvement. Your capstone courses will strengthen your expertise, integrating all of the learning from your program.

Earn the 40-credit TESOL or the 42-credit TFL in three semesters or in just one year with our one-year hybrid option.

See curriculum for more details.

3 Semesters
50% GUARANTEED SCHOLARSHIP

Customize Your Degree

You will have numerous opportunities to customize your degree and put theory into practice.

  • Complete your degree in fewer credits through our advanced entry option if you have previous TESOL, TFL, and/or linguistics coursework.
  • Pursue a career-related specialization
  • Copublish with faculty
  • Work in our language programs
  • Help plan our annual language conference
  • Integrate Peace Corps service into your degree
  • Work toward earning your teaching licensure.

Check out the program details for your options.

What is the difference between TESOL and TFL?

These two degree programs are designed to share faculty and courses, and students take the majority of their classes together so you’ll benefit from collaboration across languages and cultures.

Professors and Practitioners

You will be taught by exceptional faculty with years of professional experience in organizations such as the TESOL International Association, the American Association for Applied Linguistics (AAAL), the American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages (ACTFL), and the International Research Foundation for English Language Education (TIRF).

Your professors are genuinely committed to your success and dedicated to modeling effective pedagogy in their own teaching. They will be active mentors and colleagues to you while you are a student and throughout your career. Meet your faculty.

Guaranteed 50% Scholarships

We guarantee a 50% scholarship ($12K+ per semester) if you request scholarship consideration in your online application. Review tuition costs.

How to Apply

We take a holistic approach when considering your application by looking at your academic background, international exposure, professional experience, and career goals. We welcome applicants with or without teaching experience, and our program has numerous opportunities for you to gain professional teaching experience before you graduate.

Admission requirements for our online TESOL program are the same as the in-person TESOL program. We do not require GRE or GMAT scores for our master’s programs but competitive scores may strengthen your application and positively influence scholarship decisions. Learn how to apply.

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Language Education Career Outcomes

Our graduates find rewarding careers as teachers, program directors, curriculum developers, assessment specialists, and teacher educators in the U.S. and around the world.

Career Outcomes

97%
employed within one year of graduation
25+
different employers of recent graduates
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Next Application Deadline: April 1

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