When looking at various English teaching resources, you may stumble upon terminology that is unfamiliar.
We have tried to tackle this by providing a glossary of some of the most common English terminology.
EFL – English as a foreign language¹
ESL – English as a second language¹
TEFL – Teaching English as a foreign language
TESL – Teaching English as a second language
1 The difference between ESL and EFL is as follows: EFL is taught in non-English speaking countries while ESL is taught in English speaking countries to non-English speakers.
CLT – Communicative language teaching
EAP – English for academic purposes
ELT – English language teaching
EMT – English as a mother tongue
ESOL – English for speakers of other languages
ESP – English for specific purposes
EWL – English as a world language
IELTS – International English Language Testing Service
L1 – first language
L2 – second language
TESOL – Teaching of English to speakers of other languages
TOEFL – Test of English as a foreign language
