{"id":1974,"date":"2011-08-25T12:11:19","date_gmt":"2011-08-25T11:11:19","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/eltchat.com\/?p=1974"},"modified":"2011-08-25T12:11:19","modified_gmt":"2011-08-25T11:11:19","slug":"is-an-ma-tesol-a-good-investment-or-an-expensive-luxury-eltchat-summary-240811","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/eltchat.org\/index.php\/2011\/08\/25\/is-an-ma-tesol-a-good-investment-or-an-expensive-luxury-eltchat-summary-240811\/","title":{"rendered":"Is an MA TESOL a good investment or an expensive luxury?  #ELTCHAT summary 24\/08\/11"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"color: #3366ff;\"><em>This summary was contributed by Ty Kendall \u2013 @TyKendall (Twitter) and was originally posted on his <a href=\"http:\/\/notanotherteachingblog.edublogs.org\/2011\/08\/24\/eltchat-summary-240811-is-an-ma-tesol-a-good-investment-or-an-expensive-luxury\/comment-page-1\/#comment-42\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><span style=\"color: #3366ff;\">blog<\/span><\/a>\u00a0and reproduced here with his permission. Thank you Ty!\u00a0<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Chat topic:\u00a0<strong>Is an MA in TESOL a good investment or an expensive luxury?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>After the false start caused by the previous week\u2019s twitter\/tweetdeck technical problems, we were finally able to have this chat about the real value of an MATESOL in our profession.<\/p>\n<p>The participants were divided between those with an MA TESOL and those without, so there was insight from both sides\u2026<\/p>\n<p>I have tried to be a bit more \u201cglobal\u201d in this summary, as sometimes the chats can get a bit euro-centric.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><strong>Advantages of an MA TESOL aka Why do one?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Career value (in adult education in Australia).<\/li>\n<li>Keeping up with the competition (especially when applying for new positions)<\/li>\n<li>Advised\/suggested\/coerced by DOS\/management.<\/li>\n<li>Increased potential for advancement \/ better salary.<\/li>\n<li>It\u2019s an investment in your own P.D.<\/li>\n<li>For many people, an MA provided grounding, orientation, direction, inspiration.<\/li>\n<li>Opportunities for further reflection, growth.<\/li>\n<li>Can open more doors than a DELTA, more possibilities.<\/li>\n<li>In the U.K it is expected in some contexts to have, or be working towards your MA \/ DELTA at some point in your career.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><strong>Disadvantages of an MA TESOL aka Why not to do one?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Can be repetitive, a mere revision for those who have BA equivalent TESOL qualifications.<\/li>\n<li>DELTA still has more prestige than MA in many teaching contexts.<\/li>\n<li>Some MAs are still largely theoretical (depending on location). More practice needed (in this respect DELTA has the edge).<\/li>\n<li>The issue of university prestige (snobbery?) rears its ugly head. An MA at University \u201cA\u201d being perceived as worth less, less respected than an MA at University \u201cB\u201d (another problem which DELTA avoids).<\/li>\n<li>MAs perceived as leading to mostly academic careers (not necessarily true however).<\/li>\n<li>May just be a validation of what you can already do. Must have pure motives to justify the cost in time\/money etc.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<div>\n<div style=\"width: 510px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/lisablake.files.wordpress.com\/2009\/11\/qualifications.gif \" alt=\"\" width=\"500\" height=\"286\" \/><p class=\"wp-caption-text\">Image from http:\/\/lisablake.wordpress.com\/ \u00a0 http:\/\/bit.ly\/n2KSo9<\/p><\/div>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><strong>Other Questions (and answers):<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Q:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Does doing MA TESOL by distance or part time affect the outcome?<\/p>\n<p>A:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u201cI did half f2f and the rest distance, made no difference to me\u201d (cioccas).<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Q:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Which is better..an MA TESOL or DELTA?<\/p>\n<p>A:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u201cIt depends on what the teacher needs\u2026I don\u2019t think it is a matter of \u2018betterness\u2019\u201d (EveWeb)<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><strong>Opposing opinions<\/strong><strong>:<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHaving the MA didn\u2019t make me a better teacher but it led beyond the classroom\u2026\u201d (OUPELTGlobal)<\/p>\n<p align=\"center\">versus<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHaving the MA DID make me a better teacher and teacher educator\u201d (Marisa_C).<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><strong>Here is a selection of some of the comments:<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>\u201cDon\u2019t have one personally, would be interested to know if any career value as is expensive to get one\u201d (efl101)<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHaving experienced one, I am more to the luxury option, really\u201d. (Zwrzi).<\/p>\n<p>\u201cBefore an MA I understood teaching. After the MA I understood learning.\u201d (gknightbkk).<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIn government institutions, higher ed and further ed \u2013 an MA is an advantage in Australia\u201d (cioccas).<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI found that an MA complemented my experience in teaching it also confirmed my intention to make a career in teaching\u201d (ELTExperiences).<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAn MA also refines one\u2019s insights into how to do research\u201d (AnaCristinaPrts).<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIn Venezuela, having an MA doesn\u2019t guarantee we are going to obtain a higher position or salary. It\u2019s more focused on PD\u201d (EveWeb).<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHow many MAs have teaching practice?\u2026it was assumed we had experience\u201d (PatrickAndrews).<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI\u2019\u2019m a CELTA tutor, as I have DELTA, but can only work at a Uni cos I have an MA. Maybe the answer is to have both\u201d (warnhopepark).<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><strong>Tentative Conclusion<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>It seems that the answer to the question \u201cIs MA TESOL a good investment or an expensive luxury?\u201d is relative. It depends on many variables:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>What the teacher wants for themselves, for their own P.D, for their future career.<\/li>\n<li>What part of the world you live in.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Judging by the comments of the chatters, an MA is practically salivated over in Asia (Japan, Korea). Or at the very least highly desired\u2026In the Middle East (Israel) the government even encourage you with assistance, whereas in Venezuela, having an MA is not much help at all, as it doesn\u2019t necessarily equate to better prospects or any increase in money.<\/p>\n<p>The DELTA is the only alternative for many teachers, as it is far cheaper and a credible option, but this suffers from a lack of recognition in some countries, such as Israel (naomishema) and is often seen as inferior to an MA in many contexts.<\/p>\n<p>Both the MA TESOL and DELTA have advantages and disadvantages and both have their uses. Essentially the MA TESOL will be a good investment for the career TESOL teacher who wants a solid validation of their skills, but it will also inevitably be perceived as a luxury for those who already have DELTA or any tertiary qualification in ESOL\/teaching. With University fees constantly increasing, I fear it will always be EXPENSIVE either way! So it can be both an expensive investment as well as an expensive luxury. Another debate looms: are teachers being priced out of their own professional development\u2026..one for the future!<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><strong>New to ELTchat?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>If you have never participated in an #ELTchat discussion, these take place twice a day every Wednesday on Twitter at 12pm GMT and 9pm GMT.\u00a0 Over 400 educators participate in this discussion by just adding #eltchat to their tweets. For tips on participating in the discussion, please check out this video, Using Tweetdeck for Hashtag Discussions!<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><em><strong>What do you think? Leave a comment!<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>This summary was contributed by Ty Kendall \u2013 @TyKendall (Twitter) and was originally posted on his blog\u00a0and reproduced here with his permission. Thank you Ty!\u00a0 &nbsp; Chat topic:\u00a0Is an MA in TESOL a good investment or an expensive luxury? &nbsp; After the false start caused by the previous week\u2019s twitter\/tweetdeck technical problems, we were finally&hellip; <br \/> <a class=\"read-more\" href=\"https:\/\/eltchat.org\/index.php\/2011\/08\/25\/is-an-ma-tesol-a-good-investment-or-an-expensive-luxury-eltchat-summary-240811\/\">Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[22,37,82,101,104],"class_list":["post-1974","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-summary","tag-career","tag-delta","tag-m-a","tag-professional-development","tag-qualifications"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/eltchat.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1974","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/eltchat.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/eltchat.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eltchat.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eltchat.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1974"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/eltchat.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1974\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/eltchat.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1974"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eltchat.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1974"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eltchat.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1974"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}