Teaching English as a Foreign or Second Language, Second Edition: A Teacher Self-Development and Methodology Guide

3. EFL and ESL Teaching Settings

About a quarter of the world’s population is already fluent or competent in English, and this figure is growing—in the early 2000s that means around 1.5 billion people. No other language can match that growth. Even Chinese, found in eight different spoken languages, but unified by a common writing system, is known to “only” some 1.1 billion. —Crystal 2003, 6 3 EFL and ESL Teaching Settings • What is an EFL teaching setting? What is an ESL teaching setting? Why are these two terms, EFL and ESL, not always adequate to describe English teaching settings? • What are examples of EFL and ESL teaching settings? • How are different teaching settings woven into this book? What Is an EFL Teaching Setting? What Is an ESL Teaching Setting? Why Are These Two Terms, EFL and ESL, Not Always Adequate to Describe English Teaching Settings? EFL is an acronym for English as a Foreign Language and is studied by people who live in places where English is not a first language, such as in Italy, Saudi Arabia, and Vietnam. ESL is an acronym for English as a Second Language. People who study ESL speak other languages, such as Spanish, Arabic, Chinese, or Swahili as their first 39 or native language. However, they live in places where English is used as the first or native language, such as Australia, New Zealand, Canada, the United Kingdom, and the United States. Although I am at risk of overgeneralizing, it is possible to point out a few other differences between EFL and ESL settings. To begin, student populations differ. In many EFL contexts, the population is homogeneous in many ways, for example, all sharing a similar history of being Korean, German, or Egyptian. ESL settings, however, for the most part are quite heterogeneous. Students from a great variety of countries can be found in the same ESL classroom. For example , I recently observed an ESL class with students from Italy, Costa Rica, Japan, Korea, Malaysia, Thailand, Bangladesh, the United Arab Emirates, and Turkey. Further, in EFL settings there are fewer chances for students to use English outside the classroom. Quite often the only understandable English some EFL students experience is in the classroom, although this has been progressively changing due to the spread of technology, such as the Internet and satellite television. In contrast, when ESL students leave the classroom, they can enter any number of situations in which they can hear and use English. In addition, the goals of learning EFL and ESL are often quite different. In many countries where English is a foreign language, a dual goal for teenagers studying in the educational system is to pass English entrance exams to enter good high schools and universities and, more recently, to be able to use English as a global language . As such, much of the teaching in the junior and senior high schools is directed at being able to analyze and comprehend English to pass entrance examinations and to communicate in English with people from other parts of the world, at least at a basic level. However, the goal is often quite different for young people studying ESL in the United States and other countries where the medium of communication is English. In the ESL setting, the purpose is often tied to literacy. The aim is to use English like a native speaker, including being able to read, write, and interact in English in culturally defined ways. Of course, there are individuals in EFL settings who want to be literate in English and need to learn English to communicate effectively with others, including those interested in living abroad, doing international business, working as translators, and working in the tourist industry. Subsequently, to meet this need English language programs and teachers provide language-rich experiences for learn40 TEACHING ENGLISH AS A FOREIGN OR SECOND LANGUAGE ers within countries that are traditionally thought of as EFL settings. Such programs often offer students lessons on adapting to other cultural contexts while using English and gaining strategies to develop English throughout their lifetimes. Likewise, there are those who study in ESL settings who need to pass entrance exams, for example, students at language institutes who have to pass TOEFL® (Test of English as a Foreign Language) to gain admittance into an American university and ESL students in K–12 settings who have to pass standardized tests given to all students in the public school...