Teachers College Columbia University inaugurated an M.A. program in TESOL (Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages) on August 3, 1987. By offering the M.A. in Tokyo, Teachers College is now providing teachers in Japan with the same quality of professional and academic graduate work it has provided in New York for more than a century.
As the largest and most comprehensive private graduate school of education in the United States, Teachers College has been developing ways to better meet the needs of teachers from all over the world. In its work with teachers of English as a foreign language, the TESOL Program has increasingly emphasized the social context in which language is taught.
By developing an M.A. program in Tokyo, Teachers College has been able to reflect the values crucial to its view of teacher preparation and language learning and at the same time take into account the critical importance of the context in which language teachers teach.
Through this cooperative program, Teachers College sincerely wishes to contribute to Japanese English language education through a model of teacher preparation that emphasizes systematic analysis of actual practices in relationship to key theories in language teaching and learning.
Through interaction with individuals actually teaching in the Japanese school system, it is hoped that more professionals at all levels will gain valuable insights into the particular needs of Japanese learners of English. We believe that the latest developments in English language teaching introduced in the M.A. program will bring about significant and desirable changes in both the teaching and the learning of the participants.
The M.A. program in Tokyo provides opportunities for Japanese-speaking teachers of English and English-speaking teachers of English to earn an M.A. while teaching part-time or full-time. Thus participants will be able to relate current practices and theories in TESOL to their day-to-day teaching.
The program consists of courses, workshops and practica offered on Saturdays and Sundays throughout the year, and during an intensive summer session. All offerings are in English except some experimental language learning workshops. Consequently Japanese teachers will have many opportunities to read, write, and discuss their ideas in English by participating in the program.