How To Become An ESL Professor: What It Is and Career Path

What is an esl professor and how to become one

Updated January 8, 2025

2 min read

Quoted expert

Senior Lecturer Isabelle Hall Program coordinator

There is more than meets the eye when it comes to being an esl professor. For example, did you know that they make an average of $29.21 an hour? That's $60,764 a year! Between 2018 and 2028, the career is expected to grow 12% and produce 159,400 job opportunities across the U.S.

What general advice would you give to an esl professor?

Senior Lecturer Isabelle Hall Program coordinator

Senior Lecturer, The University of Texas at San Antonio

Every semester I teach 4 classes: 13 credits total. ( 3 language acquisition classes and one culture or literature related class in English (the class is cross-listed with Comparative Studies Humanities and /or Humanities). Day to day: preparing for classes, teaching, grading, talking to students as a group or individually, answering emails, planning extracurricular activities,... Weekly: If the professor is in charge of the Language Club, then we participate in at least one event a week. Tutoring: We have quite a few of those hours toward the end of the semesters. Most professors are part of committees that require bi-monthly meetings or more. Entering the field: Many hours of preparation daily.

ScoreESL ProfessorUS Average

Salary

4.7

Avg. Salary $60,764

Avg. Salary $59,228

Stability level

4.8

Growth rate 12%

Growth rate 0.3%

Diversity

5.2

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 0.28%

Asian 11.24%

Black or African American 7.24%

Hispanic or Latino 10.30%

Unknown 4.95%

White 65.99%

Gender

female 55.56%

male 44.44%

Age - 46

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 3.00%

Asian 7.00%

Black or African American 14.00%

Hispanic or Latino 19.00%

White 57.00%

Gender

female 47.00%

male 53.00%

Age - 46

Stress level

4.8

Stress level is manageable

7.1 - high

Complexity level

9.7

Complexity level is advanced

7 - challenging

Work life balance

8.9

Work life balance is excellent

6.4 - fair

Key steps to become an esl professor

Explore esl professor education requirements

Most common esl professor degrees

Bachelor's

56.1 %

Master's

26.7 %

Associate

5.0 %

Start to develop specific esl professor skills

Skills	Percentages
Language	42.32%
Curriculum Development	21.89%
Vocabulary	8.80%
Syllabus	8.22%
Literature	6.14%

Research esl professor duties and responsibilities

Specialize in assisting low level learners using creative and modern teaching strategies to achieve unprecedent EFL movements.
Create syllabus with details of semester work and expectations.
Design and implement syllabus and lesson plans for require coursework and testing.
Work independently and collaboratively to develop curriculum and tests, help students raise scores and pass internationally recognize ESL exams.

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