Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages

With English language and literacy issues at the forefront of educational reform efforts worldwide, the MAT@USC TESOL integrates a high quality teacher preparation program with comprehensive TESOL training.

This master’s degree prepares students to be English language teaching specialists in a variety of settings and educational levels. Courses focus on methods and strategies for teaching the English language, including the planning, implementation and assessment of instruction in a range of settings. You will explore and apply research that supports effective English language teaching for linguistically and ethnically diverse students across all content areas.

This curriculum makes it possible for dedicated educators from around the world to master the English language while studying sociological and psychological theories and their application in the classroom. You can expand the range of your classroom expertise by studying methods that will prepare you to work with children, youth or adults, either in the U.S. or abroad.

Curriculum

Courses in the program are divided into four broad categories, which provide students with theoretical foundations, teaching strategies and practical experiences necessary for successful entry into the teaching profession.

MAT@USC TESOL Course Descriptions

The MAT TESOL coursework includes core MAT courses and several courses in TESOL pedagogy and content. Courses prepare teachers to move from understanding theories about learning to applying those theories in the classroom. The coursework is structured to prepare teachers to be successful with all levels of students in a range of contexts.

• Human Differences and Teaching Special Populations
EDUC 510

The purpose of this course is to prepare MAT-TESOL candidates to understand and effectively apply what we know about how humans learn in order to design classroom-learning experiences for their English language students. Candidates will address the primary theories and perspectives related to learning, including behavioral, developmental, cognitive, social cognitive, socio-cultural, and constructivist learning theories. Candidates will also examine how these different theories relate to theories of second language learning and to student assessment, motivation, self-regulation, and classroom management in the TESOL classroom.

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• Framing the Social Context of High Needs Schools
EDUC 516


This course is best suited for candidates seeking exclusively domestic ESL teaching positions


Framing the Social Context of High Needs Schools (Social Context) prepares candidates to understand the relationship between the actions of the teacher and the extent to which students are enabled to learn in the classroom and school context. Candidates will engage in a process of critical reflection and inquiry to adjust their teaching based on student outcomes. This course introduces candidates to content and skills that will be built upon throughout the remainder of the MAT, and focuses on the “how” of facilitating learning at the classroom level.

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• Teaching from a Comparative and International Perspective
EDUC 563

This course is best suited for candidates seeking ESL/EFL teaching positions abroad or those who wish to teach domestically and work with adult students


This course focus is similar to EDUC 516, but emphasizes the nature and issues of global education rather than domestic. This course will engage candidates in a critical reflection cycle and an examination of the social context of schooling and learning from an international perspective. Candidates will explore various aspects of schooling and learning in different cultures and explore connections between different features and prevailing cultural beliefs and societal values. Candidates will also examine issues of social stratification and marginalization, whichreflect the nature of schooling worldwide as a contested space and a means of status and power attainment. The aim of this course is to prepare candidates to be more successful and knowledgeable international educators, who are able to effectively promote student learning in any context.


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• New Media Literacies in High Need Schools
EDUC 506

New Media Literacies in High Needs Schools is designed to provide candidates with the opportunities to explore an emerging body of literature where media and communication studies converge with educators, researchers, and public policy makers. This course attempts to facilitate the convergence of students’ interests in communications, cultural studies, media production, and literacy education. Candidates will examine curricular materials, as well as apply learning theories, content knowledge, and the pedagogical repertoire of skills acquired in concurrent courses and threaded throughout the program as the basis for decision-making to positively affect student participation, learning, and outcomes.

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• Instruction for English as a New Language
EDUC 501T

This course includes systematic study of effective ways to structure learning opportunities for diverse student populations. An understanding of the instructional needs of language minority populations is developed and an awareness of the appropriate programs and services to meet those specific needs is presented. The course is intended to engage graduate students in exploring a variety of theories, issues, procedures, methods and approaches for use in bilingual, English as a second language, and other learning environments. It provides an overview of the historic and current trends and social issues affecting the education of language minority students. It also provides candidates with practical experience in the implementation of instructional strategies addressing the needs of a diverse student population. Major units of the course include: language learning theories; socio-cultural contexts of language development, principled selection of instructional strategies for teaching language and non-language subjects; a focus on the development of academic language, assessment of language and non-language competencies; and selected issues in teaching language minority populations.

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• Foundations of Literacy Development and Instruction
EDUC 504

Candidates will take EDUC 504 or EDUC 505

This course is designed to prepare teachers and prospective teachers in the application of a balanced, integrated, and interactive perspective to teaching reading/language arts in grades K through 8. The focus of the course is on the foundational skills and strategies needed in the developmental phase of “learning to read,” which is essential to the next phase of “reading and learning for life.” Focus is placed on literacy practices in the home and community and continues on to the formal, practices and experiences of school. Candidates examine how to foster literacy learning and support children’s ways of learning, including those with special learning styles or needs; those from language backgrounds other than English; and those from diverse cultures and/or socio- economic backgrounds. Candidates further engage in a critical look at what it means to be literate in the 21st century, challenging traditional perspectives of literacy development and instruction.


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• Integrating Literacies in Secondary Content Instruction
EDUC 505

Candidates will take EDUC 504 or EDUC 505

This course prepares candidates to integrate literacy with their secondary students’ construction and development of content area enduring understandings. Candidates will become ongoing decision makers across instructional contexts through the application of theory and promising instructional practices for diverse student populations. This course highlights facilitation, mediation and intervention in the development of literacies and language integrated within the content areas. The course foregrounds the connection between language and literacy as a vehicle for developing content knowledge and articulating one’s thinking and learning.


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• Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages Pedagogy A
EDUC 561

The purpose of this course, the first in a two-course sequence, is to provide an introduction to methods of teaching English as a second/foreign language that can be used to design lessons appropriate for student ages, English abilities, and backgrounds. This first course provides a comprehensive overview of the history and development of methods for Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL) along with a critical examination of the underlying principles of these various methodologies. Included is an examination of the theory and practice of teaching the four skills (reading, writing, listening, and speaking) along with grammar, vocabulary, and pronunciation. Attention will focus on how various approaches and techniques can be realized in practice, in a range of contexts or educational settings, and for a variety of different learners.

Throughout the course, we will be looking at examples of different teaching methods in classrooms, both on video and in your live observations of teachers. In addition, participants in the class will demonstrate the use of specific methods while being videotaped, and these videos will be analyzed and discussed.


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• Assessment and Instructions for Diverse English Learners
EDUC 521

This course introduces candidates to relevant research and practices in facilitating effective assessment in the language classroom. This course reviews concepts of reliability and validity and examines a range of assessment strategies relevant for English language teachers. The course also approaches this topic from an equity and diversity perspective, keeping in mind learning environments, issues in teaching special populations, and beliefs about how people learn.

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• Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages Pedagogy B
EDUC 562

The two-part TESOL series Pedagogy A/B provides candidates with an introduction to methods of teaching English as a second/foreign language. This second part is designed to introduce students to the micro-components of effective teaching. These include curriculum and lesson planning, details of lesson sequencing and delivery, and creating a classroom environment conducive to learning. Classroom management issues are addressed, including how to teach mixed-level classes, large classes, and addressing student diversity.


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• Capstone in TESOL
EDUC 526A
EDUC 526B

These courses are designed for in-service or experienced teachers.

Capstone in TESOL is a two-part course designed for in-service and experienced teachers. Candidates will address a problem in their own practice and implement an action plan to improve. During implementation, candidates are expected to gather materials such as reflection papers, action plan(s), literature reviews, class observations, interviews in any form written, audio or videotaped, and explain how the use of these materials would or would not improve the candidate’s teaching and students’ learning. Additionally, candidates are expected to show evidence of their own professional growth. Evidence will include instructional materials, video clips of their work with learners, examples of communication with colleagues, student families and their communities, student work, and written analyses that contextualize the artifacts being presented. Candidates will create a portfolio, which includes a write up of their action research project. Through the process of developing the portfolio, candidates will provide evidence that they are able to facilitate high levels of learning for every student in their classrooms.


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• Systems of the English Language
EDUC 571

This course engages students in a study of the systems of the English language and of how they can utilize this knowledge to enhance the practice of teaching English as a second or foreign language. Students will first review the origins of English and then be introduced to the fundamental systems of the English language. These systems include words (vocabulary, morphology, lexicon), sounds (phonetics and phonology), sentences (grammar systems and syntax) and language in use (discourse). Throughout the course, students will also compare English to other languages and identify similar and contrasting features in other languages commonly encountered by teachers. Through this course participants will acquire background knowledge of the English language systems in order to better guide English language learners.

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Program Length

The program is a minimum of 30 units and can be completed in just over one year for full-time students, or spread over two to three years for part-time students.

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