Masters in English Language Teaching (MLitt)
This postgraduate programme, is run in collaboration with the Beijing Foreign Studies University (BFSU) China, and leads to a postgraduate qualification in English Language Teaching awarded by the University of St Andrews. It offers students an efficient way to achieve a postgraduate degree from a high ranking UK university, yet includes a semester spent studying in China.
St Andrews
The University of St Andrews is the oldest university in Scotland and the third oldest in the UK after Oxford and Cambridge. Over the centuries it has contributed to a Scottish tradition of academic excellence. Today its teaching and research place it 4th in the Times UK university rankings (2009)and 3rd in the Guardian UK university rankings (2009), and it came top in the UK National Student Survey on student satisfaction. All of which make it Scotland's first university.
St Andrews is a non-campus institution situated in a beautiful, historic old town where students can study in a safe, clean and peaceful environment. It attracts students from all over the world, so you can be sure of a cosmopolitan experience. Do not imagine, however, that because St Andrews is an ancient university it is old-fashioned; in among the old stone buildings there are up-to-date classrooms, high-tech laboratories and other modern facilities.
Beijing
Beijing Foreign Studies University is the oldest and one of the leading foreign studies universities in China. It was founded in 1941 as the first institution of higher education in China to specialise in foreign language studies. Today it is China's most prestigious school for the study of language and runs courses in over 30 different foreign languages and it counts a huge number of diplomats and foreign relations officials among its graduates. It has nearly 1,000 students from around the world studying Chinese each year, as well as 4,500 Chinese students of foreign languages, thus offering many opportunities for language and cultural exchange.
Beijing Foreign Studies University is a 'key' university under the Ministry of Education. BFSU has earned the name of 'garden university' for its attractive physical environment. It has recently undertaken a major upgrading of its sports facilities, including the construction of a full-size swimming pool in addition to excellent all-weather track and field facilities, and tennis and basketball courts. It is situated in the Haidian (NW) District of Beijing, close to Renmin University, the Beijing Institute of Technology and the China Theatre. Within walking distance are the Beijing Dance Academy, the National Library of China and Zizhuyuan Park as well as the Beijing Zoo. Beijing offers many attractions to visitors combining a wealth of cultural/historical sites in the greater metropolitan area with the increasingly cosmopolitan and bustling characteristics of the city.
Course structure
Semester One takes place at the Beijing Foreign Studies Institute where students take three 20 credit modules and one compulsory audit module delivered by the faculty of the National Research Centre for Foreign Language Education, which includes some of the most distinguished names in Linguistics in China.
Modules:
- Description and Analysis of English
- Foreign Language Education
- Schools of Linguistics and Academic Reading
- Research Methodology (compulsory audit)
Semester Two takes place at the University of St Andrews, where students take two 20 credit modules and two 10 credit modules.
Modules:
- Teaching and Language (including SLA)
- Teaching and Learning (including methodology)
- Teaching Young Learners (YLs)
- Teaching English for Academic Purposes (EAP)
Successful completion of the two semesters leads to the qualification of PG Diploma in ELT (120 credits). Students who have achieved the required grade average can proceed to the dissertation stage.
Dissertation: students usually undertake a piece of classroom research written up as a 15,000 word dissertation during the summer. Successful completion of this leads to the award of the MLitt in ELT.
Entry requirements
A good first degree first degree 2.1 (upper second class honours) or equivalent and a high level of proficiency in both written and spoken English. Students whose first language is not English need an IELTS overall score of 7.0 with a minimum of 6.5 in the Writing section and no other subscore lower than 6.0.