Master in Teaching English as a Foreign Language

Competencies

1. Manage professional situations and needs related to the work environment in an informed and well-founded manner, encouraging autonomy without losing sight of elements of constant but flexible interaction, tailored to the specific needs of teachers in professional development, facilitation training for primary- and secondary-level English teachers in public and private institutions, EFL teachers, and graduates.
2. Provide education in new or unfamiliar environments of education within broad contexts related to teaching EFL so that students can apply the knowledge acquired, formulate judgments, make decisions, solve problems, and reflect on their own teaching and professional development.
3. Provide students with the methodological tools for conducting specific educational research in language and linguistics applied to English teaching.

Outcomes

At the end of the program, students will be able to:

1. Analyze, articulate, and evaluate learning and second language acquisition theories and the methodological trends in the teaching of foreign languages essential for effective teaching and successful learning.
2. Analyze how individual factors (cognitive, affective, social, and cultural) affect foreign language learning, and design instructional strategies to address the learning needs of EFL students.
3. Manage the EFL classroom so that group processes guarantee the learning of all students: creating a safe space in which all students participate and work collaboratively; using language that fosters the construction of knowledge; selecting activities of greater and lesser cognitive effort; selecting the type of grouping most appropriate for each activity; and paying attention to learning opportunities that may arise, among other aspects.
4. Integrate language skill development in the EFL classroom to promote realistic and meaningful language use.
5. Analyze, evaluate, select, adapt, and design adequate materials for the teaching of EFL.
6. Make critical and reflective interpretations of English usage, applying cultural, linguistic, and pragmatic knowledge when planning the teaching and learning process of EFL.
7. Analyze the implications of the role of English as a universal language of communication in EFL teaching.
8. Design teaching proposals for the EFL classroom that integrate knowledge acquired about interlanguage concepts and interaction in the foreign language classroom.
9. Plan and evaluate the short- and long-term English teaching-learning process, taking into account current linguistic pedagogical trends, the educational context, the methodological approach, lesson plans, students’ interests, needs, and learning styles, and technology advances.
10. Integrate ICT in a meaningful, rather than arbitrary, way into the teaching activities for the EFL learning process, and critically analyze the digital materials created in the field.
11. Integrate specific training in learning strategies within the program’s objectives and unit contents, aligning it to students’ needs while implementing the necessary learning-to-learn tools.
12. Evaluate the usefulness of using a translation-based method for teaching English and design translation activities within the framework of communicative language teaching as a complementary tool to improve the EFL learning process.
13. Analyze and evaluate the student’s own teaching and professional development through tools, such as self-observation, journaling, self-assessment, teaching portfolios, etc.; identify areas of learning that can be improved; and plan and implement a personal plan of improvement and lifelong learning.
14. Access and correctly use academic literature related to language pedagogy and linguistics applied to foreign language teaching, especially literature related to the English language.
15. Design and evaluate specific methodological procedures for research in the field of language pedagogy and linguistics applied to foreign language teaching, especially in research related to the English language.