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MA TESOL - Culminating Experience

MA Planning Form

The final step in completing the MA TESOL degree is to do a Culminating Experience. There are three options: a thesis, a project or comprehensive exams. Planning for the Culminating Experience is part of Ling 560: Research Design and 561: Research Methods.

MA TESOL Thesis Option: The MA TESOL Thesis. Writing a thesis represents one of the three choices for the Culminating Experience for the MA TESOL degree in the Department of Applied Linguistics. The thesis is an independent research paper on a topic determined by consultation with one’s thesis advisor. Some recent typical titles are given below. Hard copies of all theses are available in the departmental library, and many are available in electronic form. Your advisor can supply you with access to these theses in either format.

  • "Cultural Learning Using Advertising: A Study of Two French as a Foreign Language Classes in the United States" by Severine Grimaud 2004 
  • "Vocabulary Collocations is Academic ESL Textbooks" by Amber Bliss 2004.
  • "A longitudinal study of the acquisition of American English vowels" by Andrea Vergun 2006
  • "English Language Use of Native Arabic nurses in the National Guard Hospital in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia" by Manal Makoshi. 2006
  • "Impact of 'No Child Left Behind' on Curriculum Changes" by Jenny Souders. 2006.
  • "ESOL Students on Facebook" by Kathleen Mitchell. 2009.
  • "Teaching Intonation Patterns through Reading Aloud" by Micah W. Park. 2011.

MA TESOL Project Option: The MA TESOL Project. The project option allows students to address a particular practical problem in the field of TESOL or applied linguistics. The project focuses on producing a solution to a language-related problem in a specific context. For example, the project could address the need for a new course in an existing ESL program, for a new assessment instrument to help a program’s administrators place students, for training materials for literacy volunteers in a particular program, or for a new technique for teaching pronunciation to specific adult learners. Some representative titles appear below. Many projects exist in electronic form and may be accessed by talking to your project advisor

  • "Assessment in the Communicative Classroom" by Charma Boeschen. 2007.
  • "An Assessment of the Drop-in Conversation Partner Program at PSU’s IELP" by Corinne Momiyama. 2007.
  • "An English language learner needs assessment survey" Oregon Health & Science University School of Nursing undergraduate students by Jesika S. Gavilanes. 2007.
  • "Workplace ESL" by Frederick Hendrickson. 2008.
  • "English Through Music: Development of a Skills Enhancement Course" by Jenny Stenseth. 2009.
  • "Jumpstart Your Academic Success: Supplemental Materials for Teaching Academic Culture and Vocabulary Strategies" by Bryan Rollins. 2010.
  • "Book Proposal: Introduction to Italian Phonetics and Phonology" by Eleonora Frigo. 2011.

MA TESOL Comprehensive Examination Option: The MA TESOL Comprehensive Exams (“Comps”) represent one of the three choices for the Culminating Experience for the MA TESOL degree in the Department of Applied Linguistics. The Comps consist of three two-hour sessions over one and a half days during the spring term of the students final year. In the exam the students are asked to synthesize their knowledge in the major areas of the degree: Language Education, Linguistic Theory and Analysis, and a third area, Language and Society or Language and the Mind, depending on the student’s choice of electives.