Are Online TEFL Courses Valid?

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With the increase in popularity of Teaching English as a Foreign Language, there has been an increase in TEFL courses. While many courses you may see advertised are face-to-face courses, more and more institutions are offering online TEFL courses. While online TEFL courses may seem like a great option, are online TEFL courses actually valid?

Well, the issue here is not so much the medium of studying as the quality of the course. Whether you are studying in a classroom or through an online portal actually makes no difference. What does make a difference is the quality of the course which will lead to a TEFL qualification. The validity of your qualification depends of the quality of your TEFL course. This is the important point because this is what your future employers are going to judge you on, before they’ve even met you.

Basically, there are a number of things which should be included in your TEFL course. These relate to theories of teaching and learning, methods and approaches to Teaching English as a Foreign Language, issues of classroom management and, of course, an overview of the English language – so you know what you are teaching! How these topics are presented in your TEFL course all depends on the course itself.

What this means is that there are a lot of different TEFL courses available and obviously you can’t know how they are different (and which are better) until you’ve done them, which is impossible. So we need to find a way to find out if an online TEFL course is valid.

One way to do this is to find out if the online TEFL course is accredited. This means that an accreditation body has evaluated the course and decided that it is worthy of accreditation. Accreditation stickers can usually be found on the website of the institution offering the course. There are numerous and various accreditation bodies so it pays to investigate any that have accredited the course you are looking at, just to make sure it’s a legitimate body. It’s very easy to put a sticker on a website advertising accreditation, so make sure you are convinced the accreditation is genuine.

Secondly, you can look at the reputation of the course. If there are reviews of the course or the institution online that are not favourable, then take the advice of people who have already done the course and don’t do it. If, on the other hand, you can only find positive recommendations of the course, then you can be sure that it has a good reputation.

Considering that the point of doing an online TEFL course would be to find a job, this is essentially what should define what validity is. If an employer is willing to accept your TEFL certificate, then that must mean that the certificate is valid. Doing an online TEFL course is an investment, so before you part ways with your time and your money, do some research and make sure your online TEFL course is valid and reputable.

Comments:

Good day

I completed a TEFL course online but would like to find out if it’s validity. How and who can I contact to determine it?
If you could assist me it would be greatly appreciated.

Many thanks.

Ashley

Ashley Berry, 19th July 2018

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