UWP Lecturers ESL/EFL or TESOL Certificates

[Lash Keith Vance]

  Link: File-List

   

  Greetings All,

   

  I’ve been asked a number of times about the
  usefulness and advisability of completing a
  certificate or Master’s program in TESOL (Teaching
  English to Speakers of Other Languages).  I have a
  Master’s degree in TESOL, and I just wanted to
  share my thoughts with you about my experience.

   

  1)      The acronym game: know your acronyms

    + TEFL--Teaching English as a Foreign Language
    + TESL--Teaching English as a Second Language
    + TESOL--Teaching English to Speakers of Other
      Languages

   

  Generally, TESOL certificates and Masters degrees
  mainly encompass an ESL focus with a few courses
  dealing with EFL issues.  This is important because
  EFL courses often deals with pronunciation, speech
  issues, and American culture.  TEFL
  certificate--Teaching English as a Foreign
  Language--are typically designed for people who want
  to teach English abroad in Japan, Korea, or some
  other country.  EFL students learn English in an
  environment where another language is spoken almost
  exclusively.  ESL courses deal more with writing and
  continued formal language acquisition with English
  still being the predominant language of the area. 
  At UCR, we do not address pronunciation, speech
  problems, or acculturation in our classes.  If you
  do want a certificate, you would want one in TESL or
  TESOL.

   

  2)      Certificate vs. Masters:

   

  Obviously, a Masters degree is typically far more
  intense an experience than acquiring a certificate. 
  Masters programs generally last 2-3 years (as a
  normal Masters does), and these are graduate-level
  courses.  The one I attended at Cal State San
  Bernardino had a normative time for completion (with
  the thesis included) of approximately 30 months.  A
  couple of the classes I attended were very strenuous
  (statistics and theories of language acquisition),
  and this was after I received my Ph.D.  This is fair
  warning that if you go this route, be prepared to
  work at it.  Masters degrees invariably delve into
  the theory behind language acquisition, the idea of
  transference of language 1 to language 2,
  behaviorist models, Chomsky’s theories of
  language, and other pertinent general education
  theory.  There are often some classes that focus on
  connecting theory to praxis as well; particularly
  helpful from the array of courses were the ones
  regarding “unit” design, classroom objectives,
  and assessment.

   

  Certificate programs often have far more of the
  “practical bent” to them.  Again, these kinds of
  programs are designed for teachers who have or will
  have a varied classroom demographic and need some
  additional tools to deal with ESL and Generation 1.5
  students (almost 2nd generation students who have
  many language markers from the 1st language).  There
  is often a requirement for “student teaching” as
  well as frequent teaching observations accompanied
  by critiques of lesson plans, in-class discussion,
  and reaching teaching objectives within the class.

   

  Accredited certificate programs often require a
  year’s worth of courses or a very intense summer
  (such as at UCR’s Extension Center).

   

  3)      Online Certificate Programs vs. Classroom
  Certificate Programs

   

  To have value for your CV, the program you attend
  should be accredited.  There are some online
  advertisements for ESL/EFL certificates in as little
  as a month.  If you simply complete a month-long
  program from just any site on the Internet, it would
  have little professional value for your CV.  Linda
  Strahan recently attended the UC System-wide ESL
  Committee, and she broached the issue with ESL
  specialists from all the various UCs.  Members from
  every UC affirmed that no self-respecting UC can or
  should accept an unaccredited certificate. 
  Otherwise, anyone could produce a “nice looking
  certificate” using Word for Windows.

   

  Thus, to have any value to you, you should be sure
  of the quality of the program you are participating
  in.  UCR Extension, for instance, does have a fairly
  well-known and respected certificate program.  There
  may be others in the area. 

   

   

  4)      Should you get a TESOL or ESL certificate?

   

  There is a misnomer that if you have such a
  certificate that you would be guaranteed employment
  at UCR.  This is not the case.  Do not decide to
  spend your cash and time on such a program with this
  in mind.  However, a certificate or a Masters degree
  would:

   

  A)    help you professionalize and become a better
  teacher

  B)     better your overall employment file

   

  Please remember that our employment files are
  evaluated holistically at UCR.  This means that a
  great employment file often shows many elements:
  varied teaching experience, good student
  evaluations, subject expertise, course materials,
  educational background and degrees, professional
  activities, etc.  A certificate in TESOL or ESL can
  professionalize you even more; it can bolster your
  overall file; it can provide a coherent rationale
  for many of the things you may already be doing in
  your classes.  If you do want to complete a
  certificate or Masters program, be sure that it is
  from an accredited institution and that it primarily
  serves to professionalize you even more.

  Take care,

  Keith Vance

Lash Keith Vance, M.A., Ph.D., M.Ed
Director of Computer-Assisted Instruction
Lecturer Representative
University Writing Program
University of California, Riverside

Office: 1103C HMNSS
Email : lashv at ucr.edu
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: http://lists.ucr.edu/pipermail/englecturers/attachments/20090312/82026b0a/attachment.html