Earn an In-Person, Hybrid, or Online Master’s in TESOL or Teaching Foreign Language (TFL)

Advance your career as a leader in language education

  • Study with expert practitioners at one of the world’s leading institutes for language.
  • Develop advanced skills in language teaching pedagogy, theory, research, technology, and assessment that you can immediately apply to your work.
  • Collaborate across languages as TESOL and TFL students share core coursework.
  • Expand your career opportunities through specializations in Language Program Administration, TESOL, TFL, International Education Management, or Intercultural Competence.
  • Continue to work while you study if you pursue asynchronous, online classes.

Fill out this short form to get more information. Your exclusive advisor will be in touch within one business day to guide you through the application process, the program details, how to finance your education, and your career options.

Language Education

Our Master of Arts (MA) in TESOL program and our MA in Teaching Foreign Language (TFL) program prepare you for leadership careers in language education. You’ll be prepared not only to teach but to train other language teachers, conduct research, develop curricula, manage language programs, and lead in the various fields of language education.

The in-person and online TESOL master’s programs are 40-credit degrees and the Teaching Foreign Language master’s program is a 42-credit degree. The degrees can be completed in as quick as one year.

Your professors are genuinely committed to your success and dedicated to modeling effective pedagogy in their own teaching. They will be active mentors and colleagues to you while you are a student and throughout your career.

Teach English, Spanish, and Other Languages

These two MA programs are designed to share faculty and courses, and students take the majority of their classes together so you’ll benefit from collaboration across languages and cultures. You will build valuable professional experience while you earn your degree, working in our numerous language programs.

TESOL refers to teaching English to speakers of other languages. Other schools may call similar master’s degrees TEFL (Teaching English as a Foreign Language) or TESL (Teaching English as a Second Language).

Our most common languages in the Teaching Foreign Language master’s degree are Arabic, Chinese, French, Japanese, Korean, Russian, and Spanish. You will take advanced courses in your language of study.

Why Study at the Middlebury Institute?

Advance Your Career

Your career and academic advising are integrated, so your courses will align with your career goals.

Gain Professional Experience

Be fully immersed in the field through real-world class projects, internships, and a professional practicum.

Build Global Proficiency

Take content courses in intercultural competence to expand your career opportunities.

Learn Real Solutions for Today’s Language Education Challenges

A Multidisciplinary Approach to Language Education

“I wanted to pair linguistics with teaching and MIIS really did a good balance between these two things. It’s not just teaching and it’s not just linguistics, it has this balance of theory and practice.” – Daniel McCarthy (student)

Your Success Is Our Reward

“I’m honored by the promise fulfilled by our graduates. They’re working all around the world, as program administrators, materials developers, authors, editors, teacher educators, test developers, researchers. And of course, they’re excelling as language teachers worldwide.” – Kathi Bailey (professor)