All those Acronyms!

So I always have this thing in my mind of how, what, when, where to start a blog? I know that it makes most sense to start at the beginning but where exactly is the beginning in this case. When I started my TEFL / TESOL course the first thing that hit me was the sheer number of Acronyms that existed in the course. They are overwhelming to be honest and I thought that I would never get the hang of them. So I figured that a good way to start, seeing as I will most likely be using the acronyms too, would be to highlight what I think are the most commonly used acronyms in the TEFL/TESOL universe.

 

AAIEP: American Association for Intensive English Program

ACE: Access Certificate in Education

CALL: Computer Assisted Learning

CAT: Computer Adaptive Learning

CBT: Computer Based Test

CELTA: Certificate in English Language Teaching to Adults

CELTYL: Certificate in English Language Teaching for Young Learners

CTEB: Certificate in Teaching English for Business

EAP: English for Academic Purposes (This is the preparation learners go through when entering an English high school or university)

ECIS: European Council of International Schools

EFL & ESL: These two acronyms are used interchangeable. English as a Foreign Language is taught in countries where the native tongue is not English (i.e. Thailand, Vietnam) where as English as a Second Language is taught to non-English learners in a country where English is the native language (i.e. USA, UK, South Africa)

ELICOS: English Language Intensive Course for Overseas Students (Australian term for EFL)

ELL: English Language Learner

ELT: English Language Teaching

EMT: English Mother Tongue

EOP: English for Occupational Purposes

ESOL: English for Speakers of Other Languages

ESP: English for Specific Purposes (i.e. Business English)

ETS: Educational Testing Service

IATEFL: International Association of Teachers of English as a Foreign Language

IELTS: International English Language Testing Service

IBT: Internet Based Test

JALT: Japanese Association of Language Teaching

JET: Japanese Exchange and Teaching Programme

L1: This is the learners’ native language or first language

L2: The second language which the learner is trying to master.

PPP: Presentation, Practice, Production (A teaching method which will be widely covered in this blog)

S.L.A: Second Language Acquisition

SST: Student Talking Time

TEFL: Teach English as a Foreign Language

TESL: Teach English as a Second Language

TOEFL: Test of English as a Foreign Language

TOEIC: Test of English for International Communication

TTT: Teacher Talking Time

U.S.S.R: Uninterrupted Sustained Silent Reading

 

These are just a few of the acronyms that pop to mind right now. I will expand on this list and will be discussing each of these acronyms in future posts. Please let me know if there are any others that pop to mind or that you have seen which you would like me to discuss. I look forward to always hearing your questions and comments and I will endeavour to reply to each and every one as soon as I am able to. This is something I am truly passionate and I cannot wait to begin teaching next year and I look forward to all my future blog posts and sharing this journey with you.