Page 1 of 1

EFL-ESL?

Posted: Fri Nov 18, 2005 12:05 pm
by birisi
what is the difference between ESL and EFL?

Re: EFL - ESL

Posted: Wed Nov 23, 2005 5:35 pm
by nikita
Hello Birishi,

No much difference.

EFL stands for "English as a foreign language", while ESL stands for "English as a second language".

From my experience, ESL is used by far wider than EFL. Actually, Google confirms it:
Results 1 - 30 of about 20,100,000 for ESL
Results 1 - 30 of about 3,090,000 for EFL

Another point, my Microsoft Word Spell Checker doesn’t know such abbreviation as "EFL", but it doesn't underline "ESL".

If anybody knows a better explanation, please share it with us.

Nikita Kovalyov
www.eclecticenglish.com