EFL stands for English as a Foreign Language. Usually, this refers to English being taught in a Non-English speaking country but may also refer to any situation where English is introduced to a speaker of another language.
An example of EFL is a Chinese student being taught English in China.
EFL is also known as TEFL (Teaching English as a Foreign Language). It is different from ESL.
What is ESL?
ESL stands for English as a Second Language. This refers to teaching someone who has non-native English as their primary language. Where it differs from EFL is an ESL classroom will often have students from different countries and native languages learning English instead of EFL.
Teachers teaching an ESL class will need to be able to interact with different languages and linguistic abilities at the same time. For example, students from China will have different pronunciations when learning English words than a student from Poland. As a result, they will make various linguistic and grammatical mistakes that must be considered in a teaching strategy.
How to teach EFL
Five helpful tips for teaching EFL to students:
- Learning each student’s name will help to gain their respect.
- Encourage your students to try only to use English in your lessons.
- Have a lesson plan and set activities so you know what your students are doing for each task.
- Find out what English grammar and vocabulary your students already know.
- Be flexible with your studies and adapt them to suit your students’ needs and abilities.
