In a rapidly changing global environment, education leaders play a critical role in promoting intercultural competence and respect for all learners, languages, and cultures. This focus area emphasizes research-based instructional practices specifically designed to foster a caring, positive partnership, team, or community that maximizes learner engagement, learning, and achievement.
Teaching English as a Foreign Language Focus Courses - 11 credit hours
855.500 Language Acquisition in TEFL
ED.855.500.Language Acquisition in TEFL.3 Credits.
This course focuses on the language acquisition process when learning English as a foreign language, including research on current theories of language learning, using translanguaging as a pedagogical tool, incorporating multilingual learning strategies, and creating linguistically and culturally responsive programs. Students will review the foundational components of English language learning and the knowledge, skills, and attitudes of those who demonstrate intercultural communicative competency.
855.501 Language and Culture in TEFL
ED.855.501. Language and Culture in TEFL.3 Credits.
This course focuses on the development of intercultural knowledge, awareness, skills, and the impact of culture on language learning and communication. Students will take a critical, sociocultural, and functional view of the role for understanding culture when teaching English as a foreign language or as a lingua franca. Students will investigate the cultural, social, and historical underpinnings of communication across cultures.
855.510 Building Productive Learning Relationships for TEFL
ED.855.510.Building Productive Learning Relationships for TEFL.1 Credit.
This course provides an opportunity for individuals to develop competency in teaching English as a foreign language. Students engage in a series of interactive online modules to learn and apply research-based instructional practices designed to provide processes that 1) build a trusting and inclusive partnership, group, or community that maximizes engagement, learning, and achievement and 2) emphasize how to create a motivating and safe environment to learn and communicate with each other using both their heritage language and English. These practical practices are tailored specifically to motivate learners with different heritage languages to actively speak, understand, and communicate in English.
855.502 Program Evaluation and Learner Assessment in TEFL
ED.855.502.Program Evaluation and Learner Assessment in TEFL.3 Credits.
Through this course, students will demonstrate mastery of program evaluation development and design as a means for data-driven decision-making for program improvements to language learning programs. Students will also focus on the formative assessment measures for assessing learners’ acquisition of English as a foreign language.
855.520 Promoting Active Engagement and Learning for TEFL
ED.855.520.Promoting Active Engagement and Learning for TEFL.1 Credit.
This course provides an opportunity for students to develop competency in applying current theories of language learning and translanguaging pedagogy within a consistent cycle of instructional delivery. The pairing of an instructional delivery system with theory and pedagogy for language learning enables students to develop coherent and effective English lessons for speakers of other languages. Students use instructional protocols to create effective lesson experiences that promote engagement, advance English competency, and motivate learners with different heritage languages to actively speak, understand, and communicate in English.
Core Requirements - 24 credit hours
813.652 Introduction to Global Education Policy and Analysis
ED.813.652.Introduction to Global Education Policy and Analysis.3 Credits.
The course provides an introduction to international comparisons of education systems as it reviews the history, comparisons and the educational systems in Europe, Asia and the OECD countries. International education systems and policies are examined on the local and national levels. Methodologies for comparison are explored. Education leaders will become knowledgeable of the systems in competitor countries in order to make their schools academically competitive in the global economy.
Students will participate in a variety of informal educational experiences, from guest lectures and one-on-one mentor conversations, to exploring how the use of museums, cultural institutions, and other real-world scenarios can be leveraged to promote learning. Students will both learn from these experiences as well as gain exemplars to implement in their own educational systems.
855.610 Seminar in Teacher Leadership
ED.855.610.Seminar in Teacher Leadership.1 - 3 Credits.
Students in the final year present and evaluate their projects and plans for implementing change in their work environments. In addition, participants examine selected topics and current issues in educational leadership.
855.619 Global Leadership
ED.855.619.Global Leadership.3 Credits.
This course explores the nature of leadership in the current global society. Students will analyze the behaviors, practices, characteristics and qualities of effective global leaders across a variety of sectors. Students will understand global competence and learn how to become a globally competent leader.
855.631 Global Trends in Education: Challenges and Opportunities
ED.855.631.Global Trends in Education: Challenges and Opportunities.3 Credits.
This course explores key global trends in education to introduce students to field of global, international, and comparative education as well as the role of international organizations in the identification of and response to shared educational challenges. Using case examples, podcasts, research evidence, and discussion students describe and analyze the impact of climate change, migration, and technological advancement on educational equity, access, quality, and innovation in diverse global contexts. Students develop a critical understanding of the ways in which education is influenced by complex global issues, but also conceptualize education as a strategic vehicle for solving global problems and improving lives on our planet. Course assignments foster creative thinking, technical, communication, analytic, collaboration, and podcasting skills. In a final group assignment, students create a podcast to investigate a global educational issue and the opportunities for innovation and improvement.
881.611 Action Research for School Improvement
ED.881.611.Action Research for School Improvement.3 Credits.
Students explore the role of the educator as an action researcher, with special emphasis on formulating and refining research questions as well as on selecting appropriate methodologies for classroom or school-based research. Students review research as a tool for assessing and improving teaching/learning environments.
Students review recent research on effective instruction and explore advanced classroom strategies and techniques designed to enhance their effectiveness in meeting the needs of diverse populations of learners. Examples include direct instruction, cooperative learning, dimensions of learning, creative problem solving, and applications of technology to thinking and learning. Students develop expert teaching skills and learn to diagnose and deliver instructional strategies that are most appropriate in specific circumstances.
Select two of the following courses:
855.609 Introduction to Entrepreneurship in Education
ED.855.609.Introduction to Entrepreneurship in Education.3 Credits.
This course provides students with the foundational skills necessary to think and behave entrepreneurially within educational systems and organizations in order to solve intractable problems. Students will formulate an understanding of themselves as entrepreneurs and intrapreneurs, evaluate entrepreneurial opportunities around them, and develop a method for solving a problem relevant to them. Further, students will learn the role of capital and socially conscious capitalism in creating sustainable ventures.
887.615 Explorations in Mind, Brain, and Teaching
ED.887.615.Explorations in Mind, Brain, and Teaching.3 Credits.
During the past decade, the learning sciences have produced a vast frontier of knowledge on how the brain processes, stores, and retrieves information. Educators have increasingly recognized a role as consumers of this emerging knowledge. Participants in the course will review this research, examining how it intersects with the correlates of a model of research-based effective teaching including the teaching of the arts across content areas. Topics of study will include the brain’s memory systems, the impact of emotions on learning, the processes involved in higher order thinking and learning, and issues related to child development. Participants will apply course studies to the creation of learning units that emphasize application of knowledge and the integration of the arts.
893.653 AI in Education
ED.893.653.AI in Education.3 Credits.
Artificial intelligence (AI) is transforming education, influencing how we learn, teach, and—perhaps—think about understand knowledge itself. This course critically examines AI as both a tool and a mirror, reflecting human cognition, creativity, ethics, and systemic biases. Through hands-on experimentation, critical analysis, and applied projects, students will explore AI’s potential to enrich and expand educational goals and practices while questioning its limitations and potential dangers. Designed for a broad range of educational professionals, this course balances theoretical inquiry with practical skill development. Students will engage with AI tools, analyze their impact, and apply them in meaningful ways to their professional contexts.
Course Sequence
Fall
855.500Language Acquisition in TEFL
855.631 Global Trends in Education: Challenges and Opportunities
855.610Seminar in Teacher Leadership
855.600Extended Learning I
Two of the following: 887.615Explorations in Mind, Brain, and Teaching
855.609Introduction to Entrepreneurship in Education
893.653AI in Education
Spring
855.501Language and Culture in TEFL
855.510Building Productive Learning Relationships for TEFL
855.619Global Leadership
813.652Introduction to Global Education Policy and Analysis
881.622Advanced Instructional Strategies
855.610Seminar in Teacher Leadership
855.601Extended Learning II
Summer
855.502Program Evaluation and Learner Assessment in TEFL
855.520Promoting Active Engagement and Learning for TEFL
881.611 Action Research for School Improvement
855.610 Seminar in Teacher Leadership
The TEFL focus area is a 35-credit graduate program that provides a Johns Hopkins School of Education Certificate of Completion.