EEducation in Japan

Master’s in Teaching English

Hey y’all,

I’m considering pursuing a master’s, and I was wondering if there was a thread somewhere that showed a list of schools in Japan that offer a master’s in teaching English, and don’t require a native level of Japanese. I speak Japanese decently, but there’s no way I’ll ever get to a native level understanding of grammar and kanji, so I’m worried that some programs may be impossible. There’s one program I found near me, but I haven’t contacted them yet to see if it’ll work. If there isn’t a list or a thread, just throwing me some names would work, and I’ll do the research myself.

Thanks!

9 comments

  2. I’m not convinced a masters in TEFL is going to be worth the investment. What’s your bachelors in?

  5. I got my TESOL MA online while living in Japan, it was the best option for me for finances as well as actual ability to attend. I went through the University of Sunderland, but there are lots of different programs if you look online. I did have to eventually pay to get my degree “translated” to a US equivalent, but it was only like $200 and it “translated” to a US TESOL MA I think the cost was “only” like £8,000.

    EDIT: I do not think the Japanese, on average, care where your degree is from. I do think they will want you to have published.

  6. What is your goal?

    If you are aiming to teach English at the university level, get your Masters and PhD in English linguistics (alternatively English literature, but it’s less common for English language teaching professors). Don’t get it in TEFL. Remember, in university, your main job is research, not teaching. Most schools I interacted with hire mostly linguistics focused professors to teach language.

    If your goal is to teach at an international school then a Masters in TEFL is probably okay. I don’t have any direct experience with internal schools though.

  7. The graduate school of Akita International Unversity offers a 2-year master’s degree in English Language Teaching. All the classes are in English and they seem to have decent support for international students. [https://admission.aiu.ac.jp/en/graduate/](https://admission.aiu.ac.jp/en/graduate/)

  8. Hi! Maybe you can try looking at this program: [https://www.soka.ac.jp/en/academics/graduate/grad-let/tesol/](https://www.soka.ac.jp/en/academics/graduate/grad-let/tesol/)I know several people who have completed this degree and are working in various locations across Japan. The degree is extremely rigorous though, with a heavy emphasis on both research. They also have a 2-semester-long practicum component.

    Also, most international students get 30k stipend per month.

    P.S. ~~Before anyone starts about the “soka” name~~ In case anyone is concerned about the affiliations with “Soka Gakkai”, just want to clarify that this faculty and this programme in particular are not influenced in any way by SGI. All faculty members are very professional, and some of them aren’t even a member of SGI. A lot of students are also not related to SGI in any way.

    ETA: As a commenter has pointed out, Soka doesn’t have a good reputation in Japan so it quite possible that a graduate of Soka University may face repercussions/negative judgement from other Japanese people who are not affiliated to SGI.

  9. I have seen a few people here talk about reputation. If you are thinking about doing a PhD, then it can have an effect. They will look at where you did the MA. If and when you think about the PhD, you aslo need to think about after that. If you ever want to work overseas, a reputation is huge. Japanese PhDs are not well known, except form the big unis. Having that opportunity to work overseas it one more door, which is always good. I did my MA and PhD at the same institution overseas and whenever I say where I got it from and who my supervisor was, it has opened doors for me.

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