Common Acronyms
While some readers may already be familiar with the terms below, I have included basic definitions of terms and acronyms that show up relatively often in websites and other documents relating to TEFL. These acronyms represent a portion of those listed in The Internet TESL Journal. For a more complete list, visit http://iteslj.org/acronyms.html.
- TEFL: Teaching English as a Foreign Language (Acronyms Related to TESL)
- TESL: Teaching English as a Second Language (Acronyms Related to TESL)
- EFL: English as a Foreign Language (Acronyms Related to TESL)
- ESL: English as a Second Language (Acronyms Related to TESL)
- ELL: English Language Learner (Acronyms Related to TESL)
- TESOL: Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages (Note: Also name of a professional association) (Acronyms Related to TESL)
- IELTS: International English Language Testing System (Test for students whose native language is not English) (Acronyms Related to TESL)
- TOEFL: Test of English language proficiency for students whose native language is not English (Acronyms Related to TESL)
- L1: First/primary/native language (Acronyms Related to TESL)
- L2: Language being learned (Acronyms Related to TESL)
- BE: Bilingual Education (Acronyms Related to TESL)
- ELA: English Language Acquisition