BA Teaching English as a Foreign Language (TEFL) ,with Placement Year

What do you need to know about the English language to teach it? How do you teach English in a variety of different contexts? Do you want to understand more about the types of contexts English Language teachers work in? Do you want to graduate with a professional qualification as well as a degree? Are you interested in starting a career in TEFL and in English Language Teaching in the UK as well as in international contexts?

You explore a broad range of topics that give you a thorough grounding in English language, teaching methodologies as well as practical training in TEFL. You study topics including:

• Second language learning
• Foundations of TEFL
• Language in Society
• Practical training in TEFL methods linguistics and sociolinguistics
• The structure of the English language

In each year it is possible to take a modern foreign language option, if you wish, instead of an English language option.

In your first year, you take two practical TEFL modules where you learn about teaching methodology, receive guided preparation sessions, and engage in teaching practice. Taken together, these modules are worth 60 credits and provide the content required for a TEFL-initiate qualification. On successful completion, you're awarded a stand-alone certificate in TEFL which will help you start your teaching career.

We are 1st in UK for research impact in modern languages and linguistics (Grade Point Average, Research Excellence Framework 2021).

If you want a global outlook, are interested in human communication, and want to study for a degree with real-world practical value in an established department, welcome to Essex.

Study abroad

Your education extends beyond the university campus. We support you in expanding your education through offering the opportunity to spend a year or a term studying abroad at one of our partner universities. The four-year version of our degree allows you to spend the third year abroad or employed on a placement abroad, while otherwise remaining identical to the three-year course.

Studying abroad allows you to experience other cultures and languages, to broaden your degree socially and academically, and to demonstrate to employers that you are mature, adaptable, and organised.

If you spend a full year abroad you'll only pay 15% of your usual tuition fee to Essex for that year. You won't pay any tuition fees to your host university

Placement year

On a placement year you can gain relevant work experience within an external business, giving you a competitive edge in the graduate job market and providing you with key contacts within the industry. You will be responsible for finding your placement, but with support and guidance provided by both your department and our placements team.

If you complete a placement year you'll only pay 20% of your usual tuition fee to Essex for that year.

Our expert staff

Our staff maintain excellent student-staff ratios with capped language-specific seminars.

In theoretical linguistics, Kyle Jerro and Hannah Gibson work on the structure of words and sentences, focusing on English and other languages. Scott Lewis and Nancy Kula work on sound structure.

In sociolinguistics, Rebecca Clift, Enam Al Wer, Ella Jeffries and Amanda Cole all work on different aspects of how language varies, and investigate which factors cause such variation.

In applied linguistics, Karen Roehr-Brackin and Adela Gánem-Gutiérrez focus on the learning of second and further languages, whilst Tracey Costley, Christina Gkonou, Neophytos Mitsigkas and Nasser Jabbari focus on issues to do with the classroom teaching of English as a foreign language.

In psycholinguistics, Claire Delle Luche and Laurie Lawyer use experimental techniques such as eyetracking and EEG to understand how children learn language, how adults process language, and what happens when language ability is impaired by brain disorders or other factors (e.g. hearing impairment).

In all of these areas, we combine a theoretical approach with high-level, qualitative and quantitative, empirical and experimental technique; in particular, we have a strong interest in recent developments in inferential statistics.

Specialist facilities

• Our ‘Visual World' Experimental Lab records response times and eye movements when individuals are presented with pictures and videos
• Our Eye-Tracking Lab monitors eye movement of individuals performing tasks
• Our Psycholinguistics Lab measures how long it takes individuals to react to words, texts and sounds
• Our Linguistics Lab has specialist equipment to analyse sound
• An exciting programme of research seminars and other events
• Our Albert Sloman Library houses a strong collection of books, journals, electronic resources and major archives
• Our Languages for All programme offers you the opportunity to study an additional language alongside your course at no extra cost

Your future

Studying language and linguistics allows you to develop your research and IT skills by collecting and analysing linguistic data using state-of-the-art technology, and a combination of team-work and independent projects enhances your communication, problem-solving, and management skills.

Graduates of our department have gone on to have careers in a wide variety of fields, including teaching (in the UK and abroad), journalism, branding, advertising, marketing, travel, communications, publishing, speech and occupational therapy, interpreting, translating and media. Other graduates have gone on to work for a wide range of high-profile companies including:

• The British Council
• English in Action
• Royal Bank of Scotland
• Macmillan Publishers
• Cambridge University Press
• Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer
• Decisive Media Ltd

We also work with the University's Student Development Team to help you find out about further work experience, internships, placements, and voluntary opportunities.