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Contrast of ESL & EFL

ESL AND EFL: A CONTRASTIVE ANALYSIS

Acronyms are fashionable and provide a sense of membership in a unique Tlite club. Teachers have not been spared the malady. Teachers of English to non-native speakers of English have devised the following acronymic cornucopia.

EFL (English as a Foreign Language) is sometimes referred to as TEFL (Teaching English as a Foreign Language) or TESOL (Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages), or ELT (English Language Teaching), or FLT (Foreign Language Teaching), or TEIL (Teaching English as an International Language). ELT and TEIL are more British than American. FLES (Foreign Language in the Elementary School) is American. The other acronyms are used on both sides of the pond.

ESL (English as a Second Language), though apparently more specific than EFL, can be found as TESD (Teaching English as a Second Dialect).

Both ESL and EFL may find specific variations in ESP (English for Specific/Special Purposes) or EOP (English for Occupational Purposes).

To complete the picture, one also finds TENL (Teaching English as a Native Language), TEMT (Teaching English as Mother Tongue), TEFL (Teaching English as a First Language), and a few more.

The trouble with this alphabet soup is that, not only can there be different interpretations between British and American practitioners (Not to speak of Canadians and Australians), but there is little consensus and explicative literature about conceptual and methodological differences. Few teachers, methodologists, or researchers make any operational distinction between ESL and EFL. As a matter of fact, the neglect is evidenced by the dearth of professional literature on the subject. Methodologies are developed for ESL/EFL as if the two target populations were the same. Yet, they may not be. ESL learners, by and large, have "acquired" a "feel" for English, have imprinted a record of the "music" of the language--the two pillars of language competency....

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Contrast of ESL & EFL. (1969, December 31). In LotsofEssays.com. Retrieved 02:08, March 29, 2024, from https://www.lotsofessays.com/viewpaper/1691486.html