Master of Arts
Nuria Alonso García, Ph.D., Program Director
Feinstein 315
401.865.2048
The Graduate Studies program in Global Education and TESOL (Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages) is an inquiry-based curriculum that supports experiential learning, engaged research, reflection, and application. Graduates critically examine the social, cultural, economic, and political aspects of global education and TESOL, learn through field experiences, and are able to situate their teaching in a global context. The program is designed to prepare its students to build careers as study abroad practitioners, ESL instructors, language program coordinators, diversity officers, community education specialists, program designers, international student coordinators, and other administrative roles in the growing fields of ESL and international education.
The program is organized in the following thematic modules: i) global education, citizenship and social change; ii) bilingualism and foundations of TESOL: theory and praxis; iii) global mobility, institutional policy, and the commodification of international education. Graduates will complete coursework in all three areas prior to choosing and investigating a specific topic of research as part of the Capstone Seminar in Global Education and TESOL that may adopt the design of a thesis, an action research report, a digital media product, or a journal article. Sample research topics include Understanding Global Education from a Historical and Contemporary Lens; Identity, Heritage and Language; Comparative Educational Systems and Foreign Language Frameworks; Language Analysis for Lesson Planning and Assessment; Language Policy and Political Issues in Education; Promoting Dialogue between Diverse Worlds: Intercultural Literacy.
Graduates will also complete a supervised teaching practicum and are expected to submit a program portfolio at the completion of the practicum.
The program consists of 30 credits. The M.A. is designed to be completed in one calendar year where academic coursework is sequenced in two-summer and two-semester terms. A growing number of institutions at the national level are offering students the opportunity to earn both the Bachelor’s and the Master’s degree in just five years, rather than the usual six or seven, and often at less tuition cost. These degrees, referred to as accelerated programs, are intended for those students for whom the M.A. offers optimal preparation for their career goals, or is perceived as additional training before pursuing a doctorate or a professional degree. Even if the Global Education/TESOL M.A. is designed to be completed in one year, students have up to five years to finish the program. Successful completion of the program qualifies graduates for an M.A. degree in Global Education & TESOL.
Please Note: The Global Education/TESOL M.A. program is NOT linked to Rhode Island teacher licensure.
Total Credits: 30 The academic coursework of the program is sequenced in two-summer and two-semester terms as articulated below:
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