Introduction

The Open Distance Learning Master of Arts in Teaching English as a Foreign or Second Language (MA TEFL / TESL) is run by the Centre for English Language Studies (CELS), which is part of the University of Birmingham's Department of English.

The programme is designed for practising teachers of English as a second or foreign language. The central philosophy behind the programme is that you, as a teacher, should have the opportunity to research and use in the classroom the concepts and theories you encounter during your course of study. With this in mind, we have written a set of interactive course materials for working teachers to complete in part-time, self-study mode over a period of 30 months. The programme is only offered in selected countries where we can provide comprehensive academic and administrative support for participants, and there is also a WORLDWIDE version.

Course tutors

Four full-time members of staff are responsible for running the MA TEFL / TESL ODL programme:

• Dr Nicholas Groom (Coordinator)
• Dr Jeannette Littlemore
• Dr Gabriela Saldanha
• Dr Crayton Walker

Programme aims

The long term goal of the programme is to enable you to develop your performance in the area of TEFL. This may involve work as a classroom teacher, as a teacher trainer or as manager or administrator. Given this, the broad aims of the programme, in terms of Classroom Teaching, Teacher Development, and Language Programme Management, can be summarised as follows:

• to create a greater awareness of the dynamics of the classroom and the actual and possible structure of classroom discourse
• to acquaint participants with a range of approaches to TEFL and to provide criteria for selecting those approaches relevant to their own teaching situation
• to enable participants to make principled decisions on classroom methodology based on an understanding of research into second language acquisition, an understanding of recent approaches to language teaching, an awareness of the dynamics of language use
• to provide a framework for language analysis and description which will enable participants to make principled decisions in selecting and analysing language materials for use in the classroom.
• to enable participants to articulate fluently and persuasively the aims listed above and the rationale which lies behind them
• to provide an understanding of the wider context of language learning as part of an educational, social and political system
•  to enable participants to identify and organise syllabus content to meet a range of students' needs
• to provide an understanding of methods of evaluation and assessment of teaching programmes and individual students
• to provide an introduction to a variety of research methods and their application

More specific statements at the level of objectives are given in the course descriptions.