An ELT Glossary : EFL

EFL : English as a Foreign Language

Definition : The term EFL is generally used in British contexts to refer to a situation where a learner is learning English, usually in his or her own country, for purposes other than living in an English speaking country or because it will be the medium of instruction in his/her current or future studies in other subjects.

Examples

• Learners at  school or university in their own country for whom English is an obligatory or chosen academic subject
• Learners in their own country attending a course at a private language school.
• Learners attending a short, intensive course (eg a summer course) in Britain or elsewhere, before returning to their own country.

NB : In American contexts, the terms ESL and ESOL are often used in the same way, though in British usage they have a different meaning.

An ELT Glossary : L1 and L2

L1 stands for first language - ie the language that a speaker acquired naturally as a child. This is also often referred to as the speaker's mother tongue. Both these terms are open to criticism as a) in a bilingual situation, someone may acquire more than one language as a child and therefore have more than one L1; the first language may not be acquired from the speaker's "mother" but from the father or other carer, or from the society as a whole.

However, those caveats accepted, the concept of  L1 contrasts with that of L2 -  any second (or further) language which is not acquired by natural exposure during childhood, but which the person  learns/acquires at a later stage. 

The term second language is, however, sometimes used contrastively with the term foreign language. Used in this way :

• second language  = a language which the person acquires/learns for use within the community in which they are living. For example, immigrants to the UK might need to learn English as a Second Language.

• foreign language  = a language learnt for purposes unrelated to the community in which the learner lives. Eg an Italian learner may study English as a Foreign Language as an academic subject at school or, if s/he then goes into business, use it as a means of communication with non-Italian clients.

An ELT Glossary : EIL / ELF

EIL : English as an International Language
ELF : English as a Lingua Franca

These terms are used to describe a situation where English is being used as a means of communication between two or more participants who do not share a common first language. For example, three scientists - one Japanese, one French and one Russian - talking at an international conference; a German tourist asking for directions while on holiday in Spain.

In the last twenty years, various researchers have looked at the lingusitic features which do and don't impede communication in this situation, leading Seidlhofer to suggest :

Acting on these insights can free up valuable teaching time for more general language
awareness and communication strategies; these may have more ‘mileage’ for learners than striving for mastery of fine nuances of native speaker language use that are communicatively redundant or even counter-productive in lingua franca settings... (2005:340)


References and FurtherReading

Seidlhofer, B. English as a Lingua Franca  ELT J (October 2005) 59 (4): 339-341

Burns and Coffin (eds) Analysing English in a Global Context, Routledge



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An ELT Glossary : EAP - English for Academic Purposes

EAP (English for Academic purposes) is a branch of ESP, and describes courses which aim to prepare learners to study or work within (usually) the context of higher education. Typical EAP learners might be students applying for or about to start an undergraduate or postgraduate course at an English medium university. They would need to improve their ability to understand lectures, read academic texts, participate in seminars, write academic essays etc, and probably also to gain certification such as IELTS to show that their competence in academic English is at the required level to enable them to complete the course successfully.

Many institutions run IELTS preparation courses, and universities often offer their own pre-sessional EAP courses to meet the needs of these students, who form a large potential market. 



Recommended Reading 

Jordan J.J, English for Academic Purposes, CUP



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An ELT Glossary : EOP - English for Occupational Purposes

English for Occupational Purposes is a branch of ESP (English for Specific Purposes) and covers situations in which learners are studying English for work related reasons. The courses are based on an analysis of their specific communicative needs in their work.

For example, a waiter dealing with foreign clients might need to :

- describe the content of dishes on the menu and the way they are cooked (It's pasta with seafood cooked in a white wine and cream sauce)
- understand and respond appropriately to requests and orders (Can we have a bottle of the house white?)
- ask about requirements (Would you like coffee?)

etc etc.

EOP courses will therefore often have titles like :

English for Nursing
English for Shopfloor Staff
English for Accountants

Where communicative needs become more complex, the courses may become more specific, not aiming to deal with the full range of needs involved in the job, but just with one area. This is particularly true in Business English, which may focus on eg :

English for Sales Presentations
English for Business Reports
Negotiation Skills in English

Alternatively, the courses may focus on the more general needs of a specific industry :

English for Banking and Finance
Legal English
English for Military Purposes
English for the Oil Industry

Exams

Exams which focus on competence in English for specific EOP fields include:

The Occupational English Test (Cambridge) for Healthcare Professionals (doctors, dentists, nurses, physiotherapists, vets etc etc)

Linguaskill Business (Cambridge)

Cambridge Business English Tests (BEC)

TOLES Legal English at three levels - run by Global Legal English Ltd - part of the International Division of the Law Society of England and Wales

CAO Aviation English Test – for Pilots and Air Traffic Controllers. Mandated by the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO).

Marlins Test - Maritime English for seafarers, coastguards and offshore workers. Run by Ocean Technologies Group

Language Testing International also provides proficiency testing for clients in various fields including hospitality, insurance, manufacturing, retail, transportation and tourism.

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Materials Available 

OneStopEnglish provides a range of materials for various fields within EOP

Course books available for specific fields include:
Logistics
Real Estate
Accounting
Miltary English
Legal English
Medical English
Hotel Staff
Restaurant Staff
Retail Staff
Scientists
Aviation English
Maritime English
Media English
English for Engineering
Nursing - Pre-Intermediate
Nursing - Intermediate Plus
Finance

An ELT Glossary : ESP - English for Specific Purposes

English for Specific Purposes (also sometimes called English for Special Purposes) refers to a situation where a learner has a particular need for the language, and follows a course which aims to meet that need without including any language which is irrelevant to it. The two most common fields within ESP are English for Occupational Purposes (where the learner has work related needs), and English for Academic Purposes (where the learner is studying in order to eg complete a university course in English, to write academic papers for publication etc). However, any learner with a well-defined need could potentially come under the ESP umbrella - for example a learner with a specific hobby (gardening, football etc) which s/he wanted to be able to read about and chat about in internet discussion groups in English.

ESP courses would generally start with a needs analysis which would define what the learner has to do using English - the situations in which they will need to communicate (eg business meetings, international conferences, university lectures, internet forums), their interlocutors and role relationships (eg client-salesman, teacher-student, nurse-patient, peer-peer), the tasks they will have to carry out (eg writing an academic essay, negotiating contracts, answering forum posts), and the language needed for those tasks in terms of topic related lexis, functions and structures etc. The course is then designed to cover these areas.

Further Reading

Gatehouse, K. Key Issues in English for Specific Purposes (ESP) Curriculum Development

Harding, K. English for Specific Purposes, OUP



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An ELT Glossary : ESOL

ESOL : English as a second or other language / English for speakers of other languages.

ESOL is an alternative term for ESL (English as a Second Language). It may be preferred as being a more accurate description than ESL in many contexts, where English may not be the learners second language, but third or fourth.

An ELT Glossary : ESL

ESL : English as a Second Language

Definition : The term ESL is generally used in British contexts to refer to a situation where a learner is learning English in an English speaking country, in order to live there and integrate into the culture. The learners may use their first language at home, but need English in the community, eg in shops and government offices, and at school or at work. The term ESOL 

Examples

• Learners at  school or university in their own country for whom English is an obligatory or chosen academic subject
• Learners in their own country attending a course at a private language school.

NB : In American contexts, the terms ESL and ESOL are often used to refer to learners learning the language in their own country - which in a British context would be called EFL.

An ELT Glossary : ELT /TESOL

ELT : English Language Teaching (used especially in Britain)
TESOL : Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages (used especially in the US)

These two acronyms are used as "umbrella" terms to refer to any situation in which English is taught to learners with a different first language, regardless of whether they are it as a foreign language, as a second language, for specific purposes or whatever.