MA in Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages (MATESOL)

The MATESOL degree is intended to prepare candidates to be professional leaders in the many roles that teachers play: classroom instructor, peer coordinator, teacher preparation, curriculum and materials developer, program administrator, etc. To this end, the curriculum is designed to provide candidates with an understanding of the structure of the English language, a familiarity with the dominant theories of language learning/teaching, insights into how language proficiency is best developed in different individuals, and practical approaches and experiences that are central to the development of candidates as teachers of English as an international language.

Why Choose Illinois MATESOL?

While the general orientation of instruction is toward practical matters, courses also have a significant theoretical component and give attention to relevant research. Students and faculty share the responsibility to integrate theory and practice as effectively as possible. Candidates can expect to become familiar with publications in the field and to be stimulated to keep abreast of recent professional literature, especially discussions concerning teaching methodologies, review of teaching materials, and other matters of pedagogical concern.

How to Apply

Follow this link to the Application Page

Financial Aid

Nearly all of the UIUC MATESOL students are the beneficiaries of some form of financial aid for at least part of the time they spend working on their degree. Most degree candidates with native or native-like competence in English receive appointments as graduate assistants teaching English in the ESL Service Courses or in the Intensive English Institute  for at least two academic years. In addition, there are a limited number of library and laboratory assistantships open to MATESL students; the assistantships offered to English language learners require proof of near-native English speaking ability. If you are an English language learner applicant for a teaching job in ESL, you must present a TOEFL Speaking Score (or an equivalent score in IELTS) of 26 (or greater) for full consideration. 

The most common form of Financial Aid for the MATESOL program is in the form of a 33% Teaching Assistantship.  This means that students with the TA position will teach one section of ESL per semester (approximately 3 hours of teaching per week), with additional hours devoted to lesson preparation, grading, office hours, meetings, etc.  All Assistantships of at least 25% include a full waiver of the university tuition cost and almost all student fees.  They also include a monthly salary. 

There is a separate financial aid application process for each academic term. Fall and Summer applications are processed together, usually in March or April of each year. Spring applications are processed typically on October or November of the previous year. Please check back at this webpage from time to time, to see if new financial aid forms are posted for a forthcoming semester.

All newly admitted MATESL students are automatically considered for financial aid for their first semester of study. There is no separate financial aid application system as part of the admission application. After arrival, all MATESOL students must re-apply for financial aid each semester, regardless of any guarantee of longer-term awards (e.g., in the admission letter). This re-application allows MATESL students to indicate if they wish to teach a different class.

The Department welcomes applicants from other campus degree programs.

General Degree Requirements

The program of study leading to the MATESOL degree requires candidates to complete a minimum of 40 hours with a grade point average (GPA) of 3.00 or higher (B or better). Twelve of the forty hours must be taken from 500-level courses (that is, graduate only). These forty hours may include up to eight hours of thesis credit (EIL 599).  In addition to coursework, students must complete either a Comprehensive exam for each of the required courses or a Master's Thesis (more information on these below).

Core Course Requirements: 32 Hours

Elective Courses: 8 Hours

Applicants must satisfy prerequisites for entry into the program. All applicants for admission to the MATESOL Program must have taken a college level introduction to linguistics and must have at least two years of a foreign language. In addition, applicants must have also taken a basic course in language teaching methods and materials. These prerequisites may be satisfied by courses taken after becoming a student at the university, if necessary; however, credit for courses taken to satisfy curriculum prerequisites does not count toward the 40 hours necessary for the MATESL degree itself.

EIL Courses

See here for EIL Courses.

Comprehensive Exams or The Master's Thesis

As noted above, all students must complete either the Comprehensive Exams or a Master's Thesis in order to graduate from the program.  This decision is partially made based on your own preferences (some people definitely have no interest in a thesis), but the option to do a thesis is also determined by your performance in the program and your continuing satisfactory progress on that thesis.

Comprehensive Examination

Approximately one-half of the students in the MATESOL program compete the degree requirements by successfully passing the Comprehensive Exams.  See here for Comprehensive Examination details.  

MATESL Thesis Option

For students who have a strong interest in research (whether theoretical or pedagogical) completing a thesis would be an excellent goal.

For information pertaining to the MATESOL Graduate Program Thesis Option, please refer to the links below:

• What do you need to do?  Thesis Information (.pdf) (.docx)
• When would you need to do it? MA Thesis Checklist 
• What have other MATESL students done?  There are many great samples of theses written by graduates from our MATESOL program available on the MATESOL Library website: https://linguistics.illinois.edu/resources/libraries-and-reading-rooms/tesl-library/matesl-theses

Additional Thesis resources (items with * are books available in the MATESOL library)

• MA Thesis Information from Graduate College
• Writing in the Social Sciences:  A very nice brief handout
• * Cohen, L., Manion, L., & Morrison, K. (2018). Research Methods in Education (8th ed.). New York: Routledge.
• *Mallinson, C., Childs, B., Van Herk, G. (2018). Data Collection in Sociolinguistics: Methods and Applications (2nd ed.). New York: Routledge.
• *Pearson Casanave, C., 2014). Before the Dissertation: A textual mentor for Doctoral students at early stages of a research process. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press.
• *Pearson Casanave, C. (2020). During the Dissertation: A textual mentor for Doctoral students in the process of writing. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press.
• *American Psychological Association. (2020). Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association (7th Edition). 

Specialization in Writing Studies

Within the pedagogical and research tracks, candidates may choose to use their elective units to develop a Specialization in Writing Studies (SWS), an option approved jointly by Linguistics and the Center for Writing Studies (CWS). The requirements for such a specialization are the following:

Course Requirements

1. ENGL 505/C&I 563 Writing Studies I
2. ENGL 506/C&I 564 Writing Studies II
3. EIL 445 Second Lang Reading and Writing

Research/Elective Requirements

1. Candidates who qualify for and choose to write a master's thesis under MATESOL guidelines (See Master's Thesis document)
   • must include on their thesis committee, as thesis director, a MATESOL faculty member affiliated with CWS;
   • must focus the thesis on a topic related to pedagogy, administrative problems, or research on a writing-related topic in the context of second language research. Students may develop and test instructional materials, design and evaluate an administrative procedure or program, or design and conduct a research project;
   • must prepare a formal proposal describing the research, to be submitted to a MATESOL faculty member affiliated with CWS for approval at least six weeks prior to the start of the project;
   • must deposit the Master’s Thesis in the Writing Studies Office within two weeks of completion; and
   • must complete all requirements stated in the Master's Thesis document

2. Candidates who do not write a master's thesis may choose one of the following two options:

   Option A: take one additional non-MATESOL course in Writing Studies, chosen from the list approved by CWS and DEIL for the specialization in Writing Studies (see page 2 for this list)

   Option B: conduct a Master’s Project by completing a four-hour EIL 591 independent study under the direction of a MATESOL faculty member affiliated with CWS. The EIL 591 independent study must result in a Master’s Project that, when completed, would be deposited in the Writing Studies Office within two weeks of its completion. The Master's Project must be related to pedagogy, administrative problems, or research on a writing-related topic in the context of second language research. Students may develop and test instructional materials, design and evaluate an administrative procedure or program, or design and conduct a research project.

Frequently Asked Questions(FAQs)