| English Language Teaching Professionals Need to | | | | (refers to the teaching and learning of foreign |
| Understand | | | | languages other than English, i.e. non-TESOL |
| ELT, EAP, EGP, L1, MT, NNL, TESOL, TBE, LEP, and | | | | applications) |
| SLAM- Do you know what these commonly-used | | | | How About These ELT Acronyms? |
| English language teaching and learning acronyms | | | | L1 - first language (or Mother Tongue) |
| happen to stand for? In order to be able to read and | | | | L2 - Second language |
| comprehend many articles, publications and | | | | L3 - third language |
| presentations relating to the teaching of English as a | | | | MT - Mother Tongue (or First language) |
| foreign or second language, you need to be aware of | | | | NNL - Non-Native language |
| these and other frequently-used industry acronyms. | | | | TEFL - Teaching of English as a Foreign Language |
| ELT - English Language Teacher/ing | | | | TEIL - Teaching of English as an International |
| EAP - English for Academic Purposes (such as in a | | | | Language |
| trade school or university) | | | | TESL - Teaching English as a Second Language |
| EFL - English as a Foreign Language (in locations | | | | TESOL - Teaching of English to Speakers of Other |
| where English has no official status) | | | | Languages |
| EGP - English for General Purposes (also known as | | | | TBE - Teaching of Business English (to companies and |
| conversational English in some areas) | | | | executives or employees) |
| EIL - English as an International Language (Includes | | | | There Are Some Others |
| PoliceSpeak, Seaspeak, techno-speak and Airspeak) | | | | On occasion additional ELT industry-related acronyms |
| EOP - English for Occupational / Other Purposes | | | | are used. These presented here are some of the |
| (English for work or non-academic use) | | | | most frequently-encountered ones. Familiarity with |
| ESP - English for Special / Specific Purposes | | | | these will aid your comprehension of a variety of |
| (specialized English and vocabulary) | | | | English-teaching and foreign language teaching related |
| EST - English as a Second Tongue (in locations where | | | | texts. Next time you need to decipher a trade or |
| English has official status and use) | | | | technical journal article on an English language teaching |
| LEP - Limited English Proficiency (low-level English | | | | and learning topic, knowing these acronyms can help |
| speakers who may have extensive English class | | | | to save you from a headache due to |
| study time with little improvement) | | | | incomprehensible input. |
| SLAM - Second Language Acquisition Methodology | | | | |