Teching in ESL and EFL contexts: is there a difference - Essay Example

English as a second language (ESL) and English as a foreign language (EFL) studies are conducted worldwide. ESL and EFL share many similarities despite their many differences. A clear understanding of teaching in ESL and EFL requires understanding the origin of Teachers of English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL), the greatest contributor to ESL and EFL teaching. Incorporated in 1966, TESOL is a global association for English language headquartered in Virginia, USA and in many other developed countries.

In addition, TESOL includes professional teachers in the field of English so that learners may get a quality education. TESOL consists of a network of approximately 50,000 educators worldwide. Additionally, ESL and EFL consist of 10,000 individual members. Discipline and professionalism are strictly maintained. Both ESL and EFL produce serial publications to members and provide electronic sources on current issues, opportunities, and ideas in the field of English language teaching (Brown, 2007).

Known for its annual convention, workshops, and symposia, both ESL and EFL are the world leaders in professional development opportunities for English language educators. Both EFL and ESL’s mission is to develop and maintain expertise in the field of English, more so teaching and speaking English to speakers of Other languages worldwide. This essay will focus on two questions: is there a difference in teaching styles between ESL and EFL, and how should one teach more effectively in ESL and EFL contexts.

DiscussionSimilarities in ESL and EFL contexts Both EFL and ESL have mission statements and values to guide them, with the goal of providing a favourable environment for teaching and learning. ESL and EFL endorse professionalism in language education (Johnston, 1997), and thus they are able to know that with teaching professionally, they are able to produce professional people. Additionally, students in this field are able to acquire professional knowledge that will help them in the future. In addition, both ESL and EFL know that by allowing the learners to research and practice then they are improving their English knowledge (Nunan, 1998).

They make English practical and thus easy for the learner to understand. Learners can grasp a lot of information in both EFL and ESL that will help them improve English in both EFL and ESL. The interaction between the learner and the professional teacher also makes it easier and memorable for the learner. This gives the learner a sense of motivation. The professional teachers provide high quality instructions to the learners. Through this, the learner is able to acquire nothing but the best in the English field.

From the diverse nature of ESL and EFL, TESOL deals with people from different races and culture. This can cause problems if there is no respect for all these diverse cultures and races. However, due to their professionalism, they are able to attain total respect for all this different cultures and races. By this, there is peace and harmony within the learners in the study environment. The respect for individual language right is highly considered (Brown, 2007). By this, the individuals feel respected.

This boosts their quest to learn the new language: English. In addition, due to its diversity, it collaborates with global communities. This collaboration helps them acquire new and many students. For ESL and EFL to be successful, it should appreciate all cultures and races and that is why it collaborated with global communities. However, by both ESL and EFL continuous success it is evident that all this measures are considered and put in place. This is evident due to its ever growing population in the study field.

More and more people are joining both ESL and EFL for better knowledge in the field of English. Differences in ESL and EFL contextsA second or foreign language in English is TESOL. The acronym of English as a foreign language is EFL; However, ESL represents English as a second language. When the introduction of English takes place on people who have never had about it, or people who do know about it, it is a foreign language (Murray, 2005). However, when people get to learn, it is the learning of English as a foreign language.

On the contrary, English as a second language is when one is perfecting ones English skills. It mostly occurs when one already has an idea of English as a language. In addition, people who take English as a second language learn faster than people who take English as a foreign language. This is because people who take English as a second language are at least able to read and write a little bit of English (Leon, 2005). On the other hand, people who take English as a foreign language do not know how to write or to read in English.

To them, English is a totally new language. People who want to work in European nations learn English as a foreign language. This makes them break the barrier of communication due to the language difference as compared to the people pursuing English as a second language. However, English is a widely-spoken language, and many people wish to be well-acquainted with it. On the other hand, English as a second language is mostly for people who wish to learn more about English. A compelling example is a teacher who wishes to teach English to several students.

This teacher is required to know almost everything about English. This teacher will consider employing English as a second language. In addition, many students learn English as a secondary language for the sake of learning it. This is not because it is a bed of roses, but because it is compulsory. Many young people learn English as a secondary option; they learn it to facilitate communication. For example, the United States is an English-speaking country. Most of its citizens must be able to converse, comprehend, and write in English (Jones, 2006).

For those wishing to immigrate to the United States, learning English is a necessity. In order for the immigrants living in such a country to prolong their stay, they must learn English as a second language to enable them not to return to their native land. Being unable to speak in English makes many immigrants feel like outcasts and causes them to return to their native lands. After that, they are able to teach it because they are qualified and well-trained. On the contrary, teaching English as a foreign language always occurs in the student’s own country (Shono, 2004).

The teacher might be a local or foreign speaker of English. In EFL, teachers must start teaching from the basics to the classroom survival language such as greetings and saying, "good morning, teacher." However, in ESL, teachers need to change their teaching styles because the students already know the basics and the classroom survival language. This is because they mostly use English as their communication mode. Additionally, students who take EFL classes are prone to get bored and lack intrinsic motivation in continuing to pursue the course (Brown, 2007).

This is because most of them are young and do not appreciate the need for studying a foreign language. In this case, an educator must have the capacity to restore their motivation by encouraging the students and relating the importance of studying English as a foreign language, unlike students pursuing ESL. Students using EFL as their mode of teaching need much practice using English more especially the oral side of it (Witten, 2002) to enable them learn English faster compared to students of ESL.

However, many teachers tend to make English come alive by exposing the learners to field trips and using nontraditional teaching materials such as pen pals. The professional teachers try to explain to their learners that English is not just a set of rules but also something that is alive and enjoyable (Brown, 2007). In addition, they make the learners enjoy what they teach in their classrooms. Students who use EFL methods to learn had various reasons for doing it. Many students interest is built around social networking sites.

They would like to communicate to the other people, but they cannot since; they speak different languages from the students using ESL methods. Therefore, the students seek help from institutions that offer EFL and in return, they are able to speak, comprehend, and write in English. New development in both ESL & EFL processStudents taking ESL classes are able to write, speak and read English and thus they have no language barriers as the students taking EFL classes. EFL is the upcoming institution in terms of teaching English.

This is because of the significant figures learning English. In addition, this interest is by the existing large amount of English speakers (Vellenga, 2004). There are numerous English speakers since; many people do their transactions through English as a language as compared to the other languages. For example, many business transactions and deals are done via English as their mode of communication (Marie, 2006). Many studies are conducted in English as their basic mode of teaching. In addition, people pass information using English as their basic mode of communication.

By this, many people prefer to study EFL in order to conduct their business efficiently or succeed in their studies and get to communicate with their friends. How to teach more efficiently in both ESL and EFL contextsA teacher has to design his/her teaching style according to the students needs and context (Graves, 2000). However, there are many effective methods for language teaching, whether one is teaching in ESL or EFL context. For example, in many countries, tourism is a radical way of making students successful in English.

One option for areas interested in developing tourism is online programs for learning English as a second or foreign language. Web based study allows for individual and group learning, for example. Research (Ruiz-Madrid and Uso-Juan, 2009) suggests that, though it can be physically more difficult to read online, the mental processes that people use when reading hypertext are similar to those reading printed matter. The use of online video and audio features is another boon to remote areas. Consider the possibility that a given area might create a language exchange program with a school in the US, the UK, or other English speaking areas.

A language exchange program can then be folded into tourism or educational exchange opportunities. This might allow some English language learners to travel to an English speaking country. However, more generally it may enable English speakers to travel to remote areas, giving a larger number of people the chance to rehearse their language proficiency, while expanding tourism in the area. Research into this area (Hou, 2011), suggests that it is not just a matter of how an organization builds international programs but that an organization is practically committed over a period.

This asserts that in order to establish an exchange, a country or region needs to prepare itself for a five to ten year effort. In addition, songs are helpful in the EFL process. This is because they help people in pronouncing and spelling out English words in the rightful manner. These songs also help the ESL process in getting more students to pronounce and spell out the words in a correct manner. However, if students listen to English songs during English lessons, they would be of much help to the students or learners.

They will motivate and improve the standards of performing for both EFL and ESL students (Schoepp, 2001). Fortunately, with the expanding prevalence of the internet, many people are able to access the internet. Additionally, many people are able to access most of the songs online and improve their English skills online. When learners get to listen to these English songs, they translate the sounds to words and the words to a meaningful sentence. In addition, the learners can use a background message to understand the song more.

However, practicing this is an essential skill in creating a comprehensive listening skill in the learners. Linguistic reasons, cognitive reasons and affective reasons help demonstrate how using songs can improve EFL and ESL in the learners’ environment (Schoepp, 2001). It is a perfect demonstration on the value of songs in a classroom. However, songs in classrooms cannot be valuable and educative if integration fails to take place in the rightful manner. By this, the teachers of both EFL and ESL are to integrate the songs for easier understanding by the learners.

Research asserts that inapt phrase choice which arises from unawareness of semantic prosody is widespread with ESL and EFL learners. This research suggests that integrating semantic harmony with ESL and EFL would be most effective (Vellenga, 2004). On the other hand, teachers should think critically toward the many ways of getting their students to comprehend what the educator is teaching. In many times, students tend to concentrate for acutely few minutes. In addition, this is because they get fed up continuously listening to the same English rules.

They do not get the opportunity to respond back because the teacher always gives lectures. Teachers have a tremendous challenge to overcome in terms of getting their students learn and be professionals in the English field.Lecture, is not a reliable way of teaching students (Nunan, 1998). Teachers who instil critical thoughts to the heads of learners are able to get successful students. This is because, the students are able to think critically, and therefore, arising many other questions from the topic of discussion that they get (Brown, 2007).

If the teacher is able to help them by answering their questions then, the students will be more willing to learn in both the field of ESL and EFL. In addition, an exemplary teacher communicates regularly to his/her students the role of the questions the students answer. In every language textbook, there are questions to answer before going to the next topic or semester. Many teachers tend to skip the questions. Every teacher has a capability of posing the question to the students as a discussion question to make them think critically.

However, remarkably few teachers are able to pose the questions for discussion to the students. Many teachers claim to be exceptionally busy, busy even to be well acquainted with their next lessons or classes (Nunan, 1998). They do not have time for posing the questions as discussion questions. The teachers claim to earn remarkably little salaries, and by this, they have little or no time to look on what they are going to teach for the next classes. This situation is common for both ESL and EFL teachers.

On the other hand, teachers need convincing salaries in order for them to deliver their services effectively and efficiently. Additionally, underpayment discourages many teachers when performing their duties. If all teachers could earn a worthy salary, then they could be able to modify their lessons to their own circumstances. In that, they modify their lessons according to the kind of students they have or teach (Brown, 2007). By this, both ESL and EFL students will destine for outstanding results of their learning program.

To achieve this goal, teachers need to encourage their students to read texts and materials they are given. This shows the students that these materials and texts are of importance in their learning progress. However, in both ESL and EFL, debates play a vital role in successful results of the learners (Halvorsen). In debates, many students get to look at all sides of a particular issue. Additionally, students get to interact not only with the topic of discussion but also with the other students.

This kind of forum helps students to encourage themselves. For example, when students get to interact and talk to one another, they not only get to discuss topics outside class, but help one another in the school topics. This is possible because not every student has the same mental capacity; some students are sharp while others are not sharp when it comes to education.ConclusionIn conclusion, ESL and EFL share similarities and differences and both fall under TESOL. Moreover, teachers have to modify their teaching styles according to each context.

Also, they must use several schemes and procedures to achieve the best outcome during the teaching process. For example, tourism and songs are extremely effective methods of teaching. Nevertheless, techniques like critical thinking and debate can be supremely successful too. In addition, teachers or instructors should take the time to prepare for their classes and lessons. Teachers should also take a keen interest in the discussion questions posed after every topic. By this, both ESL and EFL help students in becoming professionals in English as a language.

It helps build up many English speakers from different languages. With its best quality and provision of education, it is destined to grow wider each day. This is because of the increase in people who desire to know and study English for their personal interests.ReferencesBrown, H. (2007). Teaching by principles: An interactive approach to language pedagogy (3rd ed.). New York: Person Longman Press.Graves, K. (2000). Designing Language Courses: A Guide for teachers. Boston: Heinle and Heinle.

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