A GOOD AFFORDABLE DISTANCE ESL DEGREE?

A co-worker asked me about distance ed for ESL. I'm in Korea and teach English--and he's a native Korean. He has an undergrad degree in business and speaks English well, over 800 on the TOEIC.

The question is, where would such a program be? He's interested in the USA, but I told him the possible high cost might make him want to think about Canada, Aussie, or England instead of America.

Can someone help me out here? Thanks!

 

If your friend is looking for an MA in TESOL (or Applied Linguistics or Education: TESOL Option, etc.), there are a number of good programs out there. You are certainly correct that a non-U.S. program would be much less expensive. Having lived in Korea before (I taught at Korea University in Seoul), I can tell you that there are a number of quite good programs that would be acceptable. If I were recommending some, I would say:

Aston University (www.les.aston.ac.uk/lsu)
Deakin University (www.deakin.edu.au)
Edith Cowan University (www.cowan.edu.au)
Monash University (www.monash.edu.au/de)
University of Manchester (www.distlearn.man.ac.uk/dl)

In the U.S. there is:
City University www.city.edu
Shendandoah University www.su.edu

Also, David English House in Seoul is the local tutor for the University of Birmingham's program. The advantage is having someone local to which to turn with questions.


Tom Nixon
--
Co-Author,Bears' Guide to the Best Education Degrees by Distance Learning


[Note: This message has been edited by tcnixon]

 

Hello, Jimwe!

Aside from the excellent recommendations by Tom Nixon, I can add that the University of South Africa (UNISA) has a Master's in TESOL. This is the cheapest DL Master's in TESOL that you can find anywhere in the world.

Best regards,


Karlos Alberto "Caballero" Lacaye
[email protected]

 

Karlos is absolutely correct. I purposely did not include the UNISA degree because, having worked in Korea, I have serious concerns about how accepted a degree from Africa (anywhere in Africa) would be accepted by employers. My educated guess would be there would be little acceptance.


Tom Nixon
--
Co-author, Bears' Guide to the Best Education Degrees by Distance Learning

 

Dear Tom,

Interesting. From what I have been able to gather, MA's in TESOL from native English-speaking countries are highly regarded in Asia, and South Africa is a native English-speaking nation. They should know this without asking, for this is not the case of an unknown native English-speaking little island.

In the case of other TESOL qualifications from other African nations, they are not worth the same as those from South Africa, for most other African nations are not native English-speaking countries. And if they are, they are not as famous as South Africa. I can even go further: in the case of a TESOL qualification, I prefer one from South Africa than one from, let's say, France, Germany, Spain, Greece, Italy, etc., since these last countries are not native English-speaking nations in spite of the fact that they are in Europe.

Tom, if some (or most) people in Asia prefer a MA in TESOL from, let's say, Greece over one from South Africa, I definitely fail to understand their rationale.

Respectfully yours,


Karlos Alberto Lacaye
[email protected]

 

Have been doing some work in the VET sector with some South African academics recently - they rank UNISA above no university at all, but that is about where it sits in their opinion.

I do suggest that there may be some basis for this and some research would be advantageous for those contemplating a UNISA degree. I have done some but will not be publishing it here.

Peter French