History

American University was one of the first universities in the United States to offer a master's degree concentration in TESOL, which was launched in the mid sixties. In addition to the Master's program, a TESOL certificate option soon followed. In 1995, the program was extensively revamped to include new course offerings, a greater emphasis on methodology, as well as the addition of the TESOL Summer Institute, a package of two seven week sessions of intensive summer courses and a special Summer Intensive Workshop, with a different focus each year. In 1997 the MAT: ESOL program (a joint program with American University's School of Education, Teaching, and Health that leads to K-12 certification) was initiated. In 1999, the TESOL Program entered into collaboration with the Peace Corps' Master's International Program, whereby students can earn up to nine credit hours of course work at no cost based on their Peace Corps experience. In 2000, the program introduced another innovation: its one-credit courses (typically of five weeks in duration) which allow students a greater variety of course offerings, so that each student can build an individual program to measure.

Students

The program typically has around 110 students—35 to 40 students in the Certificate program, 45 to 50 in the Master's program (including those in the Peace Corps track), and the rest in the MAT: ESOL or other joint programs with the School of Education, Teaching, and Health. Many students begin in the Certificate program, but get so caught up in their classes that they opt to go on to the Master's (all TESOL courses taken at the graduate level in the certificate are fully transferable to the M.A. in TESOL). Class size is usually between 15 to 20 students, although some of the beginning required courses may have 20 to 25 students. Many of the one-credit or advanced level courses have 10 to 15 students. The TESOL Practicum course, designed to give students teaching experience, is formally capped at 10.

Our student body is as diverse as the audience who wishes to learn English. Traditionally, our program has had a significant number of mature students; that is, students who have taught for some time but have returned to gain teaching credentials, or career switchers including CIA trainers, former military officers, lawyers, business executives and diplomats. These days, a larger proportion of our students are traditional grad students who have recently completed their undergraduate programs. However, the experiences our students bring to the classroom remain diverse, and students find that they learn a great deal not only from their professors but from their peers, as well.