Admission into graduate programmes of English language education: a critical comparative exploration

This paper investigates admission procedures of Master of Arts programs of Teaching English as a Foreign Language (MA TEFL) in Iran in comparison with universities around the world. Along with a view of the centralised national MA TEFL entrance exam held in Iran during the past three decades, we inv...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Perspectives : Policy and Practice in Higher Education 2024-10, Vol.28 (4), p.213-223
Main Authors: Mirhosseini, Seyyed-Abdolhamid, Afifezadeh, Mojgan, Tajik, Leila
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
College admissions
Comparative analysis
English as a second language
Foreign language instruction
Graduate admission
Graduate studies
Iranian higher education
language education
MA TEFL
Master's programmes
qualitative content analysis
Teacher education
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Summary:This paper investigates admission procedures of Master of Arts programs of Teaching English as a Foreign Language (MA TEFL) in Iran in comparison with universities around the world. Along with a view of the centralised national MA TEFL entrance exam held in Iran during the past three decades, we investigated admission requirements for comparable graduate programmes of 110 universities in 32 countries and regions. Our qualitative content analysis of this body of data revealed five major categories of admission requirements: Teaching Background, Statement of Purpose, Letter of Recommendation, Interview and Curriculum Vitae. Based on a comparative account of these categories in various universities, we argue that rather than traditional measurement-oriented exams, graduate programmes in general and language education programmes in particular, need to rely on multiple types of admission requirements that provide evidence as to the personal characteristics of applicants, their background and experiences, and their prospects and visions.
ISSN:1360-3108
1460-7018
DOI:10.1080/13603108.2023.2280859