Introduction

The importance of education has increased with the growth and expansion of economic, cultural and scientific globalization move. Now that the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia has joined the World Trade Organization (WTO), the need for highly qualified teachers of both genders has increased. This places additional responsibilities on the Kingdom's educational sector.  

The Department of Curriculum and Instruction at KSU in Riyadh is one of the leading departments in postgraduate studies in the country. This department contributes to the development of education through the preparation of graduates, the improvement of teachers’ skills, and the development of educational curricula. In support of the King Saud University vision, and its strategic plan for the next four years, which emphasizes developing collaboration and creating partenerships between KSU and other internationally recognised universities, the Department of Curriculum and Instruction offers a new Masters programme in TESOL (Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages) as a leading programme in the country in cooperation with the School of Education at the University of Leeds in the UK.