We would like to thank you for applying to our MA in TESOL at King's College London and were very pleased to recommend to our admissions team to make you an offer of a place starting in September 2026.

To whet your appetite and help you prepare for joining our programme, here are some pre-course materials.

You will find a pre-reading list for the MA that include texts that overview the major concepts in English language teaching and learning. If you can read one or two of them will be excellent preparation for the course. It would also be helpful to bring with you to London examples of textbooks and other teaching materials you have used as a learner or as a teacher, as these can form the basis of discussions and presentations as well as data for some of your assignments.

The ethos of the MA is very much grounded in making connections between theory and research and practical classroom orientations and skills. With this in mind, you will find an overview of how the CELTA is integrated in the MA and an overview of the knowledge, attributes, skills and experience you will gain.

You will see from these documents that the programme provides a thorough grounding in TESOL and Applied Linguistics theory and research, as well as developing ample opportunity for reflection on and discussion of practical classroom applications in relation to students’ own teaching contexts. The tutors who teach on the programme are all members of the prestigious Language Discourse and Communication research group and have extensive experience of teaching in a wide range of contexts worldwide. We have particular expertise in the following: English for Academic Purposes; Second Language Acquisition, English as a lingua franca/Global Englishes; ELT and Digital Technologies; Language Assessment; Materials Design; Methodology; Corpus Linguistics and Teacher Education.

Lastly, all Masters degrees are challenging and you will need to work hard throughout the academic year. However, we believe that the MA TESOL is also highly rewarding, and we are confident you will find it very much worth the effort. I very much hope you will be able to take up this offer, and I look forward to welcoming you to our programme in September.

Please do contact us directly if you have any further questions

Very best regards

Joe Fagan, Programme Director

Richard Chinn, International House London teaching fellow and CELTA coordinator

Chris Tang, Programme Deputy

As you prepare to begin the MA TESOL at King’s College London, we are pleased to share a set of pre-course materials designed to support your transition into postgraduate study and help you get the most out of the programme from the very start. These documents are not compulsory, but they will give you a valuable introduction to key ideas, expectations and opportunities within the course.

Contents

1. Understanding core concepts in TESOL
2. Integrating CELTA with the MA TESOL curriculum
3. Thinking ahead to your future career

How to use these materials

You will benefit most from these documents if you approach them actively. For example:

• read selectively and take notes
• reflect on how ideas relate to your own teaching or learning context
• begin identifying areas you would like to develop further
• think about how your experience connects to future goals

Why this preparation matters

Spending some time with these materials before the course begins will help you:

• build confidence in engaging with academic content
• develop good study habits early on
• make clearer connections between theory, practice, and your own experience
• start thinking about your professional development and career pathways

There is no expectation that you complete everything in advance, but engaging with at least some of the materials will help you arrive better prepared and ready to participate fully in the programme.

This section introduces a selection of key texts that provide an overview of major concepts in English language teaching and learning. These readings offer useful background for the core modules and will help you engage more confidently with topics such as language acquisition, teaching methodology, and materials development.

You are encouraged to read selectively and reflectively, focusing on understanding, summarising, and forming your own views, rather than trying to read everything. This will also help you begin developing the academic reading and writing practices expected on the MA. 

We recommend reading one or more of the following general introductory books:

• Brown, D. H. & Lee, H. (2025). Principles of Learning and Teaching. Routledge.
• Chinn, R. & Norrington-Davis, D. (2023). Working with Emergent Language: Ideas and activities for developing your reactive skills in class. Pavillion ELT.
• Hall, G. (2016). The Routledge Handbook of English language teaching. Routledge.
• Hall, G. (2017). Exploring English Language Teaching. 2nd ed. Routledge.
• Harmer, J. (2015). The Practice of English Language Teaching. Longman(earlier editions are also fine)
• Hedge, T. (2000). Teaching and Learning in the Language Classroom. Oxford University Press. Lightbown P. and Spada N. (2021). How Languages are Learned, (5th Edition), Oxford: Oxford University Press
• McDonough J., Shaw, C. & Masuhara, H. (2013). Materials & Methods in ELT. 3rd ed. Blackwell (earlier editions are also fine)
• Mishan, F. & Timmis, I. (2015). Materials Development for TESOL. Edinburgh University Press.
• Norrington-Davis, D. (2016). From Rules to Reasons: practical ideas and advice for working with grammar in the English Language Classroom. Pavilion ELT.
• Pegrum, M., Hockly, N., & Dudeney, G. (2022). Digital Literacies (2nd ed.). Routledge.https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003262541
• Thornbury, S. (2024). Scott Thornbury’s 66 Essentials of Lesson Design. Cambridge University Press. 

We suggest that you do not try to read too much – better to read a little with good understanding than to try to read a lot without understanding very much. We also recommend that you practise the kinds of writing expected on the MA by doing the following:

• Take brief notes while you are reading
• Once you have finished reading a chapter or a section of a book, summarize the main ideas.
• Then write your own opinions about these ideas.
• It is a good idea to write about whether you think these ideas could be used in your own context, why (or why not), and how you might apply these ideas.

The books listed above provide a background to the ‘core’ courses of the MA curriculum. It will help you in your studies if you are able to read one or two of them before the beginning of the course. Some of these titles, but not all, will be referred to within particular modules; others are suggested here as general reading in preparation for attending the programme. There is no compulsory reading that you HAVE to do before you arrive, but the more you do, the better prepared you will be.

After this, if you want further ideas for reading, and if you have access to them, you could also look at recent articles in journals such as ELT Journal, Language Learning Journal and TESOL Quarterly. Read whatever you find accessible and interesting, and leave it if you find it too difficult.

Other ways to prepare for your studies

You will find it helpful to bring with you to London examples of textbooks and other teaching materials you have used as a learner or as a teacher, as these can form the basis of discussions and presentations as well as data for some of your assignments. In addition, if you can bring copies of curriculum documents, syllabuses, tests and other types of materials from your context, you will find these useful for relating general principles and theories to what is actually happening in different teaching and learning contexts.

The following textbook has just been published and provides useful advice on completing assignments in TESOL. 

• Bremner, N. & Mohammadi, S. (2025). Completing Assignments in TESOL and Applied Linguistics. A practical guide. Routledge. 

This section shows how the CELTA qualification is integrated into the MA TESOL programme. It maps the key CELTA criteria onto the two core Semester 1 modules (7SSEE020 Language Teaching Methodology and 7SSEE021 Analysing English for Learning and Teaching). ]

This document is designed to make explicit the connections between the theoretical perspectives explored on the MA and the practical classroom skills developed through CELTA. It also reflects the structure of the programme: you will complete these two core modules before beginning your first round of assessed teaching practice. This means you will have the opportunity to learn about teaching approaches, analyse language, and develop key pedagogical skills in a supported academic environment before applying them in the classroom.

By engaging with this mapping, you can begin to see how concepts from your academic study underpin classroom decision-making and teaching practice, and how your practical experience will, in turn, deepen your understanding of theory.

Syllabus overview

When ‘classroom’ is referred to throughout, it may relate to the physical or online classroom.

Topic 1 – Learners and teachers, and the teaching and learning context

• 1.1 Cultural, linguistic and educational backgrounds
• 1.2 Motivations for learning English as an adult
• 1.3 Learning and teaching preferences
• 1.4 Context for learning and teaching English
• 1.5 Varieties of English
• 1.6 Multilingualism and the role of first languages

Topic 2 – Language analysis and awareness

• 2.1 Basic concepts and terminology used in ELT to discuss language form and use
• 2.2 Grammar: grammatical frameworks: rules and conventions relating to words, sentences, paragraphs and texts
• 2.3 Lexis: word formation, meaning and use in context
• 2.4 Phonology: the formation and description of English phonemes; features of connected speech
• 2.5 The practical significance of similarities and differences between languages
• 2.6 Reference materials for language awareness
• 2.7 Key strategies and approaches for developing learners’ language knowledge

Topic 3 – Language skills: reading, listening, speaking and writing

• 3.1 Reading
  • 3.1.1 Basic concepts and terminology used for describing reading skills
  • 3.1.2 Purposes of reading
  • 3.1.3 Decoding meaning
  • 3.1.4 Potential barriers to reading
• 3.2 Listening
  • 3.2.1 Basic concepts and terminology used for describing listening skills
  • 3.2.2 Purposes of listening
  • 3.2.3 Features of listening texts
  • 3.2.4 Potential barriers to listening
• 3.3 Speaking
  • 3.3.1 Basic concepts and terminology used for describing speaking skills
  • 3.3.2 Features of spoken English
  • 3.3.3 Language functions
  • 3.3.4 Paralinguistic features
  • 3.3.5 Phonemic systems
• 3.4 Writing
  • 3.4.1 Basic concepts and terminology used for describing writing skills
  • 3.4.2 Subskills and features of written texts
  • 3.4.3 Stages of teaching writing
  • 3.4.4 Adult literacy
  • 3.4.5 English spelling and punctuation
• 3.5 Teaching
  • 3.5.1 Key strategies and approaches for developing learners’ receptive and productive skills

Topic 4 – Planning and resources for different teaching context

• 4.1 Principles of planning for effective teaching of adult learners of English
• 4.2 Lesson planning for effective teaching of adult learners of English
• 4.3 Evaluation of lesson planning
• 4.4 The selection, adaptation and evaluation of materials and resources in planning (including computer and other technology-based resources)
• 4.5 Knowledge of commercially produced resources and non-published materials and classroom resources for teaching English to adults

Topic 5 – Developing teaching skills and professionalism

• 5.1 The effective organisation of the classroom
• 5.2 Classroom presence and control
• 5.3 Teacher and learner language
• 5.4 The use of teaching materials and resources
• 5.5 Practical skills for teaching at a range of levels
• 5.6 The monitoring and evaluation of learning
• 5.7 Evaluation of the teaching/learning process
• 5.8 Professional development: responsibilities
• 5.9 Professional development: support systems

The full CELTA syllabus can be found here

View the PDF of the below mapping of CELTA Criteria

The integration of the CELTA within the MA TESOL reflects our strong commitment to supporting your development as a teaching professional. Alongside gaining practical and theoretical expertise, it is equally important that you are able to recognise and clearly articulate what you have learned.

This section outlines the Knowledge, Attributes, Skills and Experience (KASE) you will develop during the degree, helping you to understand your own progress and to communicate your strengths effectively to future employers.

This framework is intended to help you:

• understand what you will gain from the programme
• reflect on your development as a TESOL professional
• articulate your strengths in applications for jobs or further study

It highlights not only subject knowledge (e.g. theories of language learning and pedagogy), but also transferable skills such as critical thinking, communication, research, and collaboration, as well as professional attributes like reflective practice and global awareness. 

This framework can be found here