I was at the ProLiteracy conference in Alexandria, Virginia last November standing at the Reading Horizons booth when a woman approached me and asked, “What does E-S-O-L stand for?” (She was referring to the “ESOL” acronym that was on the booth display.) “Oh!” I said. “It stands for ‘English for Speakers of Other Languages’.” She nodded and said, “OK. I’ve been wondering for awhile what that stood for. Thanks.”
She is not in the English language teaching profession, but I realize that even those of us who are within the profession may not be clear on the difference between the acronyms that have surfaced to describe our jobs. When I first heard about the profession of teaching English to speakers of other languages, I heard it referred to as “ESL.” Since that time (which was about 13 years ago), other acronyms have been brought to my consciousness (e.g., EFL, ESOL, and ELL) that are essentially getting at the same thing, but they’re used with the intention of providing more distinction between the different learning environments.
So, what is the difference between ESL, EFL, ESOL, and ELL? This is what I’ve learned from my experience.
“ESL” (English as a Second Language) is learning English in a country where English is dominantly spoken, or where English is the official language. For example, students from non-native English-speaking countries who come to the U.S. and Canada for an extended period of time learn English as a second language. They acquire English as a means to communicate in the dominant language spoken in the community where they reside. For example, I taught ESL to adults at the Cubberly Community Center through Palo Alto Unified School District in California. It was a heterogeneous classroom with students from all over the world who had moved to California. They were participating in free English classes so they could communicate. I had a husband and wife from China, he formerly a professor and she a doctor in China, who had relocated to Palo Alto where they were living with their daughter and her American husband and helping to care for their granddaughter. I had two students from the Ukraine whose husbands were recruited to work for a local U.S. company. I had a couple young high school graduates, one from Japan and another from France, who were applying to American universities and trying to polish their English skills. These are examples of students who were learning English as a second language (ESL).
Contrast that with when I went to Taiwan to teach English to children in Feng Yuan and Houli, Taiwan. These students were learning English as a foreign language (EFL). English is not the primary or dominant language spoken in Taiwan, so English is considered a “foreign” language rather than a second language. “EFL” (English as a Foreign Language), then, is learning English in a non-English-speaking country. I also taught legal English to Chinese prosecutors and judges in mainland China. These students were also learning English as a foreign language because these students were learning English in China where English is not the official language. If they had been in the U.S. learning English, however, it would have been considered English as a second language. Get it?
A more generic term has surfaced, however, as an attempt to generalize the ESL/EFL distinction: English for Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL). This applies to both ESL and EFL contexts. Another reason why this term was created is because some individuals argue that when students are learning English in a native English-speaking country (ESL), these students are not necessarily learning a second language. It could, in fact, be a student’s third or even fourth language. English as a second language, then, is limiting and not fully comprehensive in its description. English to Speakers of Other Languages, “ESOL,” is a more accurate description. This was true of my Ukranian students in Palo Alto who spoke both Ukranian and Russian fluently prior to learning English. English was actually their third language. In this case, ESOL is a more fit description than English as a second language.
A final acronym that is used often is English Language Learners (ELL's). This is commonly used in K-12 environments. It has been brought to my attention, however, that some school districts prefer to use the term ESOL (English Speakers of Other Languages) to describe their student population. For example, when I was observing a phonics training in the Dade County school district in Miami, Florida, they use the term ESOL in their district rather than ELL. This could simply be a preference issue.
I also wanted to touch on one more acronym that is often used in the field. “ESP” stands for English for Special Purposes. Students who learn English for Special Purposes are learning English in context of a certain field, profession, or topic. For example, when I was teaching legal English in China, I was teaching English in context of law. These students were learning English in preparation for studying law through an American University where the professors were all native English speakers. These students were learning the English necessary to sustain them in their studies of law. They were learning the terms and concepts in English in preparation for their actual enrollment in the law school program. This is an example of English for Special Purposes (ESP).
Hopefully this provided some clarification on the different terms used in the English language teaching profession. I should mention that these views are based on my experience and informal research on the topic, and they are certainly not comprehensive. I’m confident there are other ideas not mentioned here that shed even greater light on the topic. But at least here are a few.
For me, the difference between the terms used is not as important as the difference that teachers make in the classroom, regardless of whether they're teaching ESL, EFL, ESOL, ELL's, or ESP. What's the difference? It's the teachers' vision and dedication. In my opinion, that's the real difference.
Take my poll to share the abbreviation/s you use most often when referring to your non-native English speaking students.
For a comprehensive list of additional English teaching abbreviations, click here.