Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages - Master of Arts

This program is designed to help meet the national and international need for teachers of English as a second language.

In addition to meeting the requirements of the university, of the College of Arts and Letters, and of the Department of Linguistics, Languages and Cultures, students must meet the requirements specified below.

To be considered for to the Master of Arts degree program in Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages, each applicant must:

1. include in the application a 500-700 word statement providing the applicants academic background and reasons for pursuing the advanced degree for which application has been made.
2. have three persons who are qualified to comment on the applicants ability to pursue graduate study forward letters of recommendation to the department.
3. have the results of the Graduate Record Examination General Test forwarded to the university if the applicant is a native speaker of English.
4. take one of the tests of English language proficiency described in the Graduate Education section of this catalog if the applicants native language is not English.

To be admitted to the program on regular status, an applicant must have:

1. a baccalaureate degree in English or another language–oriented field.
2. a cumulative grade–point average of at least 3.25 for the baccalaureate  degree program.

In addition, an international applicant is required to have fulfilled the university's English language proficiency requirement as described in the Graduate Education section of this catalog in one of the following three ways:

1. have a total score of 600 (paper version) or 100 (internet version) or above on the Test of English as a Foreign Language with no subscore below 55 (paper version) or 22 (internet version), or a minimum total score of 7.0 on the International English Language Testing System (IELTS) with no subscore below 6.5.
2. have an average score of 85 or higher on the Michigan English Language Assessment Battery with no subscore below 83 and have the approval of the English Language Center.
3. have an average score of 85 or higher on the English Language Center Test with no subscore below 83 and have the approval of the English Language Center.

Students are admitted for fall semester only.

Requirements for the Master of Arts Degree in Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages

Most students complete the program under Plan B (without thesis), although Plan A (with thesis) is also available.  A total of 37 credits is required for the degree under Plan A, and a total of 36 credits is required for the degree under Plan B.  The student's program of study must be approved by the student’s advisor.  The student must meet the requirements specified below:

Due to cancellations of many international English language proficiency tests, MSU will be temporarily accepting the following tests for international students applying for fall semester 2022. In addition, MSU will be expanding the ability for students to receive provisional admission. If a provisionally admitted student is able to take a test that meets our regular admission standards prior to enrollment, we will update their admission status to regular.