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This course is eligible for Master's loan funding. Find out more.
This course is eligible for Master's loan funding. Find out more.

Overview

Want to teach English abroad? This MA TESOL course is perfect for UK and international graduates with little or no professional teaching experience.

Designed to kickstart your career in English language teaching you’ll explore the latest advancements in TESOL research, policy, and practice, and gain in-depth knowledge of language teaching and assessment.

Why TESOL?

  • Global Teaching Skills: Develop your expertise in lesson planning, resource creation, and innovative teaching and assessment methods - all through an international lens to prepare you for a global teaching career.
  • Research and Application: Enhance your research and evaluation skills and discover how to apply them in diverse professional contexts.
  • Learn from Leaders: Work with outstanding teachers who are globally experienced and research-active and access a rich professional and academic network, alongside cutting-edge facilities and specialist resources designed to support your success.

Interim Awards Earn interim awards at Postgraduate Certificate or Postgraduate Diploma level as you progress during your studies. Should you decide to leave the course early, you could still be awarded one of these qualifications.

Key Information

Entry requirements

Entry requirements for this course are normally:

  • An Honours degree (2:2 or above) in English, humanities or in a foreign language or an equivalent professional qualification.

If your first language is not English, you will need to meet the minimum requirements of an English Language qualification. The minimum for IELTS is 6.5 overall with no element lower than 6.0, or equivalent. Read more about the University’s entry requirements for students outside of the UK on our International Entry Requirements page.

Start dates

21 September 2026

11 January 2027

Duration

1 year full-time

Course Detail

Current Issues in TESOL

In this module you will gain an insight into current topics which attract research and discussion in the field of TESOL. You will be guided through key readings from recent journal articles, textbooks, and/or digital media related to key debates in TESOL, and be encouraged to critically evaluate key issues and consider how they can be applied to your own professional practice. The module will be evaluated through a presentation and contributions to an online discussion.

Grammar & Assessment for Language Teaching

One of the most important aspects of any English language teacher's knowledge is knowledge of English itself, especially information which is likely to be useful to learners. This module should equip you with knowledge and a set of skills for describing language for teaching at the levels of pronunciation, vocabulary, grammar and whole texts. The language knowledge is complimented by an understanding of assessment and how assessment informs teaching practice. You will develop an understanding of the reasons why it is not appropriate to consider assessment as divorced from other types of knowledge which teachers need to be good teachers. Teachers need to have a good understanding about the nature of language in order to assess it effectively. By the end of the module, you should be able to use meta-language appropriately and apply your language knowledge to teaching and assessment scenarios.

Principles and Practice of TESOL

In this module you will explore the theory and practice of English language teaching. You will examine approaches and materials for the teaching of grammar, lexis and the receptive and the productive skills from both a practical and theoretical perspective.

Second Language Teaching and Learning

In this module you will consider factors which affect second language teaching and learning. You will explore key topics, concepts and theories related to second language teaching and learning and their relevance and implications for language teaching in a variety of contexts.

study either Materials Development for TESOL or the Dissertation.

Materials Development for TESOL

The module introduces you to the key principles in the design, adaptation and evaluation of materials in the field of TESOL. You’ll explore a range of published language-learning materials while also developing your knowledge of the theory behind materials design and evaluation. You’ll apply your learning and knowledge through the design and adaptation of materials for learners in a context relevant to your own professional practice.

Dissertation

This module will deepen your knowledge and understanding of educational research. You'll learn about traditions of educational research; positivism, interpretism and action research and the strengths and challenges of carrying out research in these traditions. This module will provide you with the opportunity to carry out a piece of research based on a contemporary or work-related issue or problem.

This course has modules making up 180 credits over the 1* year, with each credit being 10 hours of study (1800 hours in total).

An average of approximately** 24% (287 hours) of the study time on this course is spent with your tutors face to face in lectures, seminars and workshops.

The remainder of the time will be spent on independent study. Assessments take place through a variety of classroom activities, written assignments, reports, personal subject audits and the development of portfolios of evidence. There are no formal examinations and the assignments are carefully designed to help you to develop your teaching practice further.

*Subject to mode of study.

**Based on current core modules.

Calculated using data from the academic year 2024/25, as of November 2024.

Further information

The teaching year for most courses normally starts in September with breaks at Christmas and Easter, finishing with a main examination/assessment period around May/June. Teaching on other courses including professional courses, postgraduate taught, research, distance learning and apprenticeship may have other start dates including January and May. All start dates can be found on each course page and term dates are also available. Students on a full-time course may have to attend every day of the week. Timetables are normally available one month before registration.

Our courses are taught at our University campus and you can expect that your lectures and seminars will be held face to face, except in cases of emergency or if specifically stated otherwise in the module description.

Feedback (usually written) is normally provided on all coursework submissions within three term time weeks – unless the submission was made towards the end of the session in which case feedback would be available on request after the formal publication of results. Feedback on exam performance/final coursework is available on request after the publication of results.

You may progress to the next stage of your course or research degree, subject to meeting University assessment criteria and professional, statutory or regulatory body guidelines.

  1. Our teaching staff rank first in England for the proportion with higher degrees and teaching qualifications, as well as being top five for those holding doctorates (HESA 2025). So you’ll learn from some of the best, helping you to be the best.

  2. We are second in the country for National Teaching Fellowships, which mark the UK’s best lecturers in Higher Education, winning a total of 24 since 2008 (2025 data).

  3. We won the first Global Teaching Excellence Award, recognising the University’s commitment to world-class teaching and its success in developing students as independent learners and critical thinkers (Higher Education Academy, 2017).

Visit ‘Our experts’ page where you’ll find in-depth profiles of all our academic staff

Research excellence

Research plays an important role in informing all our teaching and learning activities. Through research our staff remain up to date with the latest developments in their field, which means they can help you to develop knowledge and skills that are current and highly relevant.

Find out more about our research staff and centres.

Discover more about the course

Your Career

Discover the job roles our graduates are working in now.

Inspiring Graduate

Get inspired by real students and their careers.

Careers advice

Check out the personalised guidance we offer you.

Student Support

Discover all the support available so you can thrive.

Further Study

Learn about pursuing a Master’s or PhD at Huddersfield.

Research Excellence

See how our innovative research shapes what you'll learn.

Important information

When you enrol as a student of the University, your study and time with us will be governed by our terms and conditions, Handbook of Regulations and associated policies. It is important that you familiarise yourself with these as you will be asked to agree to them when you join us as a student. You will find a guide to the key terms here, along with the Student Protection Plan.

Although we always try and ensure we deliver our courses as described, sometimes we may have to make changes for the following reasons:

Changes to a course you have applied for but are not yet enrolled on

If we propose to make a major change to a course that you are holding an offer for, then we will tell you as soon as possible so that you can decide whether to withdraw your application prior to enrolment. We may occasionally have to withdraw a course you have applied for or combine your programme with another programme if we consider this reasonably necessary to ensure a good student experience, for example if there are not enough applicants. Where this is the case we will notify you as soon as reasonably possible and if you are unhappy with the change we will discuss with you other suitable courses we can transfer your application to. If you do not wish to transfer to another course with us, you may cancel your application and we will refund you any deposits or fees you have paid to us.

Changes to your course after you enrol as a student

Changes to option modules

Where your course allows you to choose modules from a range of options, we will review these each year and change them to reflect the expertise of our staff, current trends in research and as a result of student feedback or demand for certain modules. We will always ensure that you have an equivalent range of options to that advertised for the course. We will let you know in good time the options available for you to choose for the following year.

Major changes

We will only make major changes to non-optional modules on a course if it is necessary for us to do so and provided such changes are reasonable. A major change is a change that substantially changes the outcomes, or a significant part of your course, such as the nature of the award or a substantial change to module content, teaching days (part time provision), type of delivery or assessment of the core curriculum. For example, it may be necessary to make a major change to reflect changes in the law or the requirements of the University’s regulators or a commissioning or accrediting body. We may also make changes to improve the course in response to student, examiners’ or other course evaluators’ feedback or to ensure you are being taught current best practice. Major changes may also be necessary because of circumstances outside our reasonable control, such as a key member of staff being unable to teach due to illness, where they have a particular specialism that can’t be adequately covered by other members of staff; or due to pandemics, other disasters (such as fire, flood or war) or changes made by the government.

Major changes would usually be made with effect from the next academic year, but may happen sooner in an emergency. We will notify you as soon as possible should we need to make a major change and will consult with affected groups of students and any changes would only be made in accordance with our regulations. If you reasonably believe that the proposed change will cause you detriment or hardship we will, if appropriate, work with you to try to reduce the adverse effect on you or find an appropriate solution. Where an appropriate solution cannot be found and you let us know before the change takes effect you can cancel your registration and withdraw from the University without liability to the University for any additional tuition fees. We will provide reasonable support to assist you with transferring to another university if you wish to do so and you may be eligible for an exit award depending on how far through your course you are.

In exceptional circumstances, we may, for reasons outside of our control, be forced to discontinue or suspend your course. Where this is the case, a formal exit strategy will be followed in accordance with the student protection plan.

The Office for Students (OfS) is the principal regulator for the University.

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