Course summary

This course is studied entirely in China. It is jointly delivered by the University of Leeds and Guangdong University of Foreign Studies and allows experienced Chinese Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL) professionals to gain a deeper understanding of how languages are learned, and the strategies used to teach and assess them. You’ll explore current trends, new ideas and prominent challenges within TESOL, and assess the theoretical frameworks for the language learning, teaching and testing processes. You’ll have the opportunity to appraise the procedures and outcomes of different approaches to pedagogy and evaluation in TESOL and develop the ability to relate new ideas to your own professional environment. Four core modules allow you to explore current theories of language acquisition, the complex context in which any language learning takes place, different approaches to and strategies for TESOL, and current theories and practices around language assessment. You’ll be taught at Guangdong University of Foreign Studies by tutors from both universities and be registered as a full-time student at Leeds, giving you access to all of our online library resources as well as those available at Guangdong University of Foreign Studies. The course is taught from Friday evenings to Sunday afternoons, to enable serving teachers to enrol. However, it is a full-time Master’s degree and demands a considerable amount of independent study. As a large team of education practitioners, we have a wide range of experience of teaching and teacher education work in many contexts in the UK, China, and around the world. As researchers, we have a broad range of expertise across the discipline with ongoing research projects in teacher development, language learning motivation, curriculum reform and values-based teaching. This course is not suitable for those without professional TESOL experience.