Acronyms
Acronyms are abbreviations. They are formed by using the initial letters of words. There are many different types of acronyms.
There are a few synonyms: initialisms, alphabetisms.
Related terms: backronym, apronym, anacronym, laser acronym, pseudo-acronym.
For example, ESL and EFL are the acronyms that are very often used in English schools and colleges worldwide.
ESL means 'English as a Second Language' and EFL means 'English as a Foreign Language'. The acronym ESL is used when students learn English in an English speaking country such as the United States, Canada, Australia, the United Kingdom, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, and South Africa. The acronym EFL is used when students learn English in a non-English speaking country such as Germany, France, Denmark, Sweden, Lithuania, Finland, Estonia, Japan, China, Malaysia, and Thailand. There are some methodological differences in teaching.
ESL and EFL Related Acronyms
A
AAAL American Association for Applied Linguistics
AAIEP American Association of Intensive English Programs
AASB Association of American Schools of Brazil
AASSA Association of American Schools of South America
AAVE African American Vernacular English
ABE Adult Basic Education
ABEEB Association of British ESOL Examining Boards
ABLS Association of British Language Schools
ABS Australian Bureau of Statistics
ACCESS Auxiliary Closed Captioned English with Simplified Spelling
ACCET Accrediting Council of Continuing Education and Training
ACE Adult and Community Education
ACER Australian Council for Educational Research
A.Cert.TESOL Advanced Certificate in TESOL (College of Teachers / Preceptors)
ACoT Associate of the College of Teachers
ACP (TESOL) Associate of the College of Preceptors (now ACoT Tesol)
ACTFL American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages
ACT American College Testing's Examination (an evaluation test for undergraduate admission to colleges and universities in the US; equivalent to the SAT)
ACT ASSET ACT Assessment of Skills for Successful Entry and Transfer
ACTDEC Accreditation Council for TESOL Distance Education Courses
ACTFL American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages
ACT PEP ACT Proficiency Examination Program
ACTFL American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages AE American English
ADLTM Advanced Diploma in English Language Teaching Management
AE American English (or Adult Education)
AEB Associated Examining Board
AEC Australian Education Council
AEI Adult Education Institute
AERT Aboriginal Education Resource Teacher
AEU Australian Education Union
AEW Aboriginal Education Worker
AGPS Australian Government Printing Service
AILA Association Internationale de Linguistique Appliquée (an international federation of national associations for applied linguistics)
AITAS Aboriginal and Islander Tutorial Assistance Scheme
ALEC Association of Language Excellence Centres (England)
ALM Audio-Lingual Method
ALSIC Apprentissage des langues et systèmes d'information et de communication (language learning and information and communication systems journal)
ALTE Association of Language Testers in Europe
ALTO Association of Language Travel Organisations
AmE American English
APA American Philological Association (founded in 1869)
APACALL Asia-Pacific Association for Computer-Assisted Language Learning
ASL American Sign Language (also: Ameslan; sign language of the deaf community in the USA, Canada and Mexico)
AQA Assessment and Qualifications Alliance
ARELS Association of Recognised English Language Services
ASSETS Aboriginal Summer School for Extension in Technology and Science
ASSPA Aboriginal Student Support and Parent Awareness (program)
ATSIC Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Commission
B
BAAL British Association for Applied Linguistics
BACC British Accreditation Council for Further and Higher Education
BALEAP British Association of Lecturers in English for Academic Purposes
BALT British Association for Language Teaching
BAM Brain and Motivation
BAS Bibliographic Access Services
BASELT British Association of State English Language Teaching
BATQI British Association of TESOL Qualifying Institutions
BC British Council
BE Bilingual Education
BE Black English
BEC Business English Certificate
B.Ed Bachelor of Education
BEST Basic English Skills Test (or: Basic Education Support Team, Bringing Everybody's Strengths Together, Building Essential Skills for Tomorrow, Building Excellence in Supervisory Training)
BICS Basic Interpersonal Communication Skills
BIELT British Institute of English Language Teaching
BrE British English
BSS Basic Study Skills
BTEC Business and Technology Education Council
BULATS Business Language Testing Service
BVT Bilingual Vocational Training
C
CAE Certificate in Advanced English
CAELA Center for Adult English Language Acquisition
CAL Center for Applied Linguistics
CALL Computer Assisted Language Learning
CALLA Cognitive Academic Language Learning Approach
CALP Cognitive Academic Language Proficiency
CAN Communicative Acquisitionist Naturalistic
CanE Canadian English
CAPLS Canadian Association of Private Language Schools
CARLA Center for Advanced Research on Language Acquisition
CASM Centre for Aboriginal Studies in Music (Adelaide University)
CAT Computer Aided (or Assisted) Translation (software)
CAT Computer Adaptive Testing; also - Computer Aided / Assisted Teaching
CBEVE Central Bureau for Educational Visits and Exchanges
CBL Computer Based Learning
CBI Content Based Instruction
CBT Computer Based Test (or Computer Based TOEFL)
CCLB Centre for Canadian Language Benchmarks
CCSE Certificates in Communicative Skills in English
CDEP Community Development Employment Program
CEELT Cambridge Examination in English for Language Teachers (tests the English competency of non-native teachers of English)
CEIBT Certificate in English for International Business and Trade (tests for high level English competency for the workplace)
CELT Comprehensive English Language Test
CELTA Certificate in English Language Teaching for Adults (replaced CTEFLA)
CELTYL Certificate in English Language Teaching to Young Learners in Language Schools
CertTEfIC Specialist Certificate in Teaching English for Industry and Commerce (Trinity College)
Cert (ES) TESOL Certificate of Educational Studies in TESOL (ACTDEC)
CertTEB Certificate in Teaching English for Business (LCCIEB)
CertTESOL Certificate in Teaching of English for Speakers of Other Languages
Cert (TM) TESOL Certificate in the Theory and Methodology of TESOL (ACTDEC)
CfBT Centre for British Teachers
CFP Call For Papers
CILT Centre for Information on Language Teaching and Research
CLAD Cross-cultural Language & Academic Development
CLBA Canadian Language Benchmarks Assessment
CLEAR Center for Language Education And Research
CLEP College Level Examination Program
CLESOL Community Languages and English for Speakers of Other Languages
CLIL Content and Language Integrated Learning
CLL Community Language Learning
CLT Communicative Language Teaching
CILTS Cambridge Integrated Language Teaching Schemes
CLANZ Community Languages Association of New Zealand
CLD Cultural and Linguistic Diversity
CMC Computer Mediated Communication (or Course Management Systems)
CoBaLTT Content-Based Language Teaching with Technology
COCI Classroom Oral Competency Interview
COTE Certificate for Overseas Teachers of English
CPE Cambridge Proficiency Examination
CRELS Combined Registered English Language Schools (New Zealand)
CTEFLA Certificate in the Teaching of English as a Foreign Language to Adults (replaced by CELTA)
CV Curriculum Vitae (or resume, biodata)
CWCA Classroom Writing Competency Assessment
D
DBE Developmental Bilingual Education
DECS Department for Education and Childrens Services (South Australia)
DEET Department of Employment, Education and Training
DEETYA Department of Employment, Education, Training and Youth Affairs
DELTA Diploma in English Language Teaching for Adults (replaced DTEFLA)
DELTYL Diploma in English Language Teaching to Young Learners (UCLES)
DES Diploma in English Studies (UCLES)
DFEE Department for Education and Employment
Dip Diploma
Dip.BPE Diploma in Business and Professional English Language Teaching (UCLES)
Dip.CoT Diploma of the College of Teachers
Dip.CP (TESOL) Diploma of the College of Preceptors (now Dip.CoT Tesol)
Dip.TESAL Diploma in the Teaching of English to Speakers of Asian Languages (Trinity College)
Dip.TIB Diploma in Teaching English for Business (LCCIEB)
Dip (TM) TESOL Diploma in the Theory and Methodology of TESOL (ACTDEC)
Dip (TM) TESP Diploma in the Theory and Methodology of TESP (ACTDEC)
DOS Director of Studies
DOTE Diploma for Overseas Teachers of English (UCLES - replaced by DELTA)
DRIVE Define, Review, Identify, Verify, Execute
DTEFLA Diploma in the Teaching of English as a Foreign Language to Adults (replaced by DELTA)
E
EAD English as an Academic Discourse
EAP English for Academic Purposes
EAL English as an Acquired Language
EAQUALS European Association for Quality Language Services
EAT European Association of Teachers
EBE English for Business and Economics
ECCE Exam for the Certificate of Competency in English (Michigan University; for lower level)
ECIS European Council of International Schools
ECML Electronic Commerce Modeling Language
ECPE Exam for the Certificate of Proficiency in English (Michigan University; for higher level)
EDEXCEL Educational Excellence
EDNAS Educated Native Speakers
EEP English for Employment Purposes
EFB English for Business (LCCIEB)
EFC English for Commerce (LCCIEB)
EFL English as a Foreign Language
EFTI English for the Tourism Industry (LCCIEB)
EGP English for General Purposes
EIL English as an International Language
ELF English as a Lingua Franca
ELICOS English Language Intensive Courses for Overseas Students (Australia)
ELIU English Language Information Unit (British Council)
ELL English Language Learner
ELSA English Language Skills Assessment (LCCIEB)
ELT English Language Teaching
EMT English Mother Tongue
ENL English as a Native Language
EOP English for Occupational Purposes
EPIK English Program in Korea
EPP English for Professional Purposes
ERP English for Research Purposes
ERS Extensive Reading Skills
ESB English Speaking Board
ESID Every Situation is Different
ESL English as a Second language
ESOL English for Speakers of Other Languages
ESP English for Specific Purposes
ESS English for Social Sciences
EST English for Science and Technology
ETJ English Teachers in Japan (an organization for English language teachers in Japan)
ETS Educational Testing Service
ESU English Speaking Union
EUROCALL European Association for Computer Assisted Language Learning
EVP English for Vocational Purposes
E4W English for Work
E4WP English for Workplace
EWOW English World of Work
F
FCE First Certificate in English (the third of Cambridge's series of exams comparable to a score of 500 on the TOEFL and 5.7 on the IELTS)
FCE First Certificate in English (UCLES)
FCoT Fellow of the College of Teachers (UK)
FE Further Education
FES Fluent English Speaker
FEP Fluent English Proficient (or Proficiency)
FEW Foreign Women in Japan (a networking organisation whose aim is to help foreign women in Japan achieve their full professional and/or personal potential)
FIELS Federation of Independent English Language Schools (New Zealand)
FLA Foreign Language Annals (journal)
FLATS Foreign Language Achievement Tests
FLES Foreign Language in Elementary School
FLEX Foreign Language Experience (related to programs of immersion)
FLIC Foreign Languages for Industry and Commerce (LCCIEB)
FLOSEM Foreign Language Oral Skills Evaluation Matrix
FLT Foreign Language Teaching (or Training)
FTBE Foundation Certificate for Teachers of Business English (LCCIEB)
G
GED General Educational Development Test
GES General English Skills
GFP General Foundation Program
GLOBE Global Learning and Observations to Benefit the Environment
GMAT Graduate Management Admission Test
GNVQ General National Vocational Qualification (UK)
GPA Grade Point Average
GTELP General Tests of English Language Proficiency
GTM Grammar Translation Method
H
HE Higher Education
HEI Higher Education Institution
HILT High Intensity Language Training
HLS Home Language Survey
HNC Higher National Certificate (BTEC)
HND Higher National Diploma (BTEC)
HPA Home Providers Association
I
IATEFL International Association of Teachers of English as a Foreign Language
IB International Baccalaureate
IDLTM International Diploma in Language Teaching Management (one of the most advanced of the University of Cambridge ESOL teaching awards)
IDP International Development Programme (for Australian Universities and Colleges; IDP Education Australia, a non-profit company owned by universities; key recruiter of international students to Australia)
IDPA International Development Program of Australia
IELTDHE Institute for English Language Teacher Development in Higher Education (UK)
IELTS International English Language Testing System
IEP Intensive English program
IHE Institution of higher education
IIE Institute of International Education (USA agency that promotes higher education and the exchange of students and professors worldwide)
ILSA Independent Language Schools Association
IoL Institute of Linguists
IPA International Phonetic Alphabet (or Association)
IRS Intensive Reading Skills
IST Instructional Support Team
J
JACET Japan Association of College English Teachers (an organization for language teachers in JapanJALT Japan Association for Language Teaching)
JALT Japan Association for Language Teaching (an organization for language teachers in JapanJCLA Joint Council of Language Associations)
JET Japanese Exchange and Teaching Programme (or Junior English Tests (AQA exam)
K
K12 Kindergarten to 12th grade (it refers to primary and secondary school, i.e. students from kindergarten to Grade 12)
KET Key English Test (the most elementary of Cambridge's series of exams)
KOTESOL Korea Teachers of English to Speakers of Other Languages (an organization for language teachers in Korea; also: KoTESOL as 'Korea TESOL')
KWIC Keywords in Context (in text analysis - a way of displaying the words in a text so that the keywords are listed in the middle column with a certain amount of context on either side; KWIC displays (also: concordances) are generated by concordancing keyword software)
L
LAC Learning Assistance Center (or: Liberal Arts College, Library Advisory Committee, Local Advisory Committee, Local Access Communications, Local Area Connection, Local Analysis Center, Loud and Clear)
LAD Language Acquisition Device
LAGB Linguistics Association of Great Britain
LAURELS Latin American Union of Registered English Language Schools
L1 First Language (mother tongue)
L2 Second Language (or any additional language)
LCCIEB London Chamber of Commerce and Industry Examinations Board
LCD Linguistically and Culturally Diverse (or LCD Projector)
LCTL Less Commonly Taught Languages
LDL Lernen durch Lehren (Learning by teaching)
LEP Limited English Proficiency (or Proficient)
LES Limited English Speaker
LINC Language Instruction for Newcomers to Canada
LISA Language Immersion Student Assessment
LL Language Lab (or Language Learning)
LLBA Linguistics and Language Behavior Abstracts
LM Language Minority
LMS Language Minority Student (or Learning Management System)
LTE London Tests of English (by Pearson Language Assessments)
LTM Language Training Mission (or Lateral Translation Mode, Learning Team Meeting, Local Test Manager, Long Term Memory)
M
MALL Mobile Assisted Language Learning (by using cell phones)
MATESL Master of Arts in Teaching English as a Second Language
MCE Manually Coded English (visual communication methods expressed through the hands which attempt to represent the English language)
ME Middle English
MELAB Michigan English Language Assessment Battery
MEP Migrant Education Program
MEXT Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (a Japanese government organization)
MLA Modern Language Association
MLAT Modern Language Aptitude Test
MLAT-E Modern Language Aptitude Test - Elementary
MLJ Modern Language Journal
MT Machine Translation (or Mother Tongue)
MTELP Michigan Test of English Language Proficiency
MultiCAT Multimedia Computer Adaptive Language Placement Test
N
NAAE National Association of Advisors in English
NAFSA Association of International Educators (promotes the exchange of students and scholars to and from the United States)
NAIDOC National Aboriginal and Islander Day of Celebration
NALA National Association of Language Advisors
NATE National Association for the Teaching of English
NATECLA National Association for Teaching English and other Community Languages to Adults (UK)
NATEFLI National Association of TEFL in Ireland
NATESOL National Association of Teachers of English for Speakers of Other Languages
NATFHE National Association of Teachers in Further and Higher Education (UK)
NCILT National Centre for Industrial Language Training
NCLE National Congress on Languages in Education
NCML National Council for Modern Languages in Higher and Further Education
NCTE National Council of Teachers of English (USA)
NCVQ National Council for Vocational Qualifications
ND National Diploma (BTEC)
NEAB Northern Examinations and Assessment Board
NELLE Networking English Language Learning in Europe
NEP Non English Proficiency (or Proficient)
NES Non-English Speaking
NESB Non-English Speaking Background
NEST Native English Speaking Teacher
NFLRC National Foreign Language Resource Center
NFMLTA National Federation of Modern Language Teachers Associations
NIACE National Institute of Adult Continuing Education
NL Native Language
NLP Neurolinguistic Programming
NLLIA National Languages and Literacy Institute of Australia
NNEST Non-Native English Speaking Teacher
NNL Non-Native Language
NNS Non-Native Speaker
NS Native Speaker
NVQ National Vocational Qualification
O
OCR Office of Civil Rights
ODA Overseas Development Agency
ODL Open and Distant Learning
OE Old English
OED Oxford English Dictionary
OET Occupational English Test (an Australian ESL test for overseas qualified medical professionals seeking admittance to training programs or in order to practice their profession in Australia)
OFSTED Office for Standards in Education (UK)
OHP Overhead Projector
OIBEC Oxford International Business English Certificate (UODLE)
OL Open Learning
OLAT Online Learning And Training (the web-based open-source learning management system based on Java)
OPI Oral Proficiency Interview (conducted by the American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages)
OU Open University
P
PBE Practical Business English (LCCIEB)
PDA Personal Digital Assistant
PEAT Professional English Assessment for Teachers (conducted in Australia by the University of NSW Institute of Languages to assess reading, writing, listening and speaking skills in a teaching context)
PEI Pitman Examinations Institute
PES Publicly Examined Subjects
PET Preliminary English Test (the second of Cambridge series of exams)
PGCE Post Graduate Certificate in Education (UK teaching qualification)
PHLOTE Primary Home Language Other Than English
PIE Pacific Intercultural Exchange
PPP Present, Practice, Produce (traditional three-step teaching approach)
Pre-Cert (ES) TESOL Preliminary Certificate of Educational Studies in TESOL (ACTDEC)
PSS Public Speaking Skills (or Public Speaking Society)
Q
QTS Qualified Teacher Status
R
RA Recorded Achievement (low pass in SACE subjects)
ReCaCo Reserve Capacity Communication
RELSA Recognised English Language Schools Association (an association of 18 EFL schools in England)
RP Received Pronunciation (refers to a variety of British English dialects representing the accent of educated BrE, and popularly known as the King's English, the Queen's English, BBC English, Oxford English, and Public School English)
RPG Role Playing Games
RSA Royal Society of Arts (The Royal Society for the encouragement of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce (UK)
S
SA Satisfactory Achievement (high pass in SACE subjects)
SACE South Australian Certificate of Education
SAE Standard American English
SALT Scottish Association for Language Teaching
SAS School Assessed Subjects
SAT Scholastic Assessment (or Aptitude) Test (an evaluation test for undergraduate admission to colleges and universities in the United States; it measures verbal and mathematical abilities)
SATEFL Scottish Association of Teachers of English as a Foreign Language
SATESL Scottish Association for the Teaching of English as a Second Language
SCORM Sharable Content Object Reference Model (a technical specification that governs how e-learning is created and delivered to learners)
SCOTTESOL Scottish TESOL Association
SCT Sociocultural Theory (a theory of human development based on Vygotsky's work)
SEA State Education Agency
SEFIC Spoken English for Industry and Commerce (LCCIEB)
SESOL Spoken English for Speakers of Other Languages (Trinity College)
SET Senior English Tests (AQA Exam)
SEVIS Student and Exchange Visitor Information System (the new system developed by the United States Government to keep track of all exchange visitors (J visas) and international foreign students (F and M visas) during their stay in the United States; it replaced an old-fashioned, paper-driven procedure; information is updated and maintained through the use of a web-based application. SEVIS has enabled schools and exchange program sponsors to transmit electronic information via the internet to the Department of Homeland Security and the U.S. Department of State)
SFL Systemic Functional Linguistics (centred on language functionality)
SIETAR Society of International English Cultural Training and Research
SIG Special Interest Group
Sim-Com Simultaneous Communication
SLA Second Language Acquisition
SLACC/I Second Language Acquisition through Classroom Communication/Interaction
SNVQ Scottish National Vocational Qualification
SOLOM Student Oral Language Observation Matrix (a matrix of descriptions used to assess an English learner's oral proficiency; developed by the California Department of Education)
SOPA Student Oral Proficiency Assessment
SOPR Student Oral Proficiency Rating
SRC Student Representative Council
SSABSA Senior Secondary Assessment Board of South Australia
SSS Simplified Spelling Society (or Sign Supported Speech)
STAMP Standards-based Measurement of Proficiency
STT Student Talking Time
SVQ Scottish Vocational Qualifications
T
TAFE Technical and Further Education
TBE Transitional Bilingual Education
TBI Task Based Instruction
TBL Task Based Learning
TBLL Task Based Language Learning
TBLT Task Based Language Teaching
TEAL Teaching English as an Additonal Language
TEAP Teaching English for Academic Purposes
TEC Translational English Corpus (or Training and Enterprise Council)
TEEP Test of English for Educational Purposes
TEFL Teaching of English as a Foreign Language
TEFLA Teaching English as a Foreign Language to Adults
TOEFL Teaching of English as a Foreign Language
TEIL Teaching English as an International Language
TELL Technology Enhanced Language Learning
TENAR Teaching English for No Apparent Reason (a derisive term; describes a required (compulsory) ESL course attended by students who are not motivated to study)
TEP Transitional English Proficiency (or Tourism English Proficiency (UODLE)
TESL Teaching of English as a Second language
TESOL Teaching of English to Speakers of Other Languages (or Teachers of English to Speakers of Other Languages)
TESOLANZ Teachers of English for Speakers of Other Languages, Aotearoa New Zealand
TESP Teaching English for Specific/Special Purposes
TEYL Teaching English to Young Learners
TKT Teaching Knowledge Test (a new test about teaching English to speakers of other languages by the University of Cambridge)
TL Target Language
TOEFL Test of English as a Foreign Language
TOEFL CBT TOEFL Computer Based Test
TOEFL® iBT TOEFL Internet-Based Test
TOEIC Test of English for International Communication
TEVAC Teaching English for Vacation and Activity Courses
TOT Tip of the Tongue (tip-of-the-tongue refers to the difficulty of not having the right word come readily to mind)
TP Teaching Practice
TPR Total Physical Response
TPRS Total Physical Response Storytelling
TSE Test of Spoken English
TTS Text To Speech
TTT Teacher Talking Time
TUJ Temple University Japan (offers popular postgraduate courses related to teaching)
TWE Test of Written English
TYLE Teaching Young Learners English (Young Learners can mean under 18 or much younger)
U
UCLES University of Cambridge Local Examinations Syndicate
UETESOL University Entrance Test for Speakers of Other Languages (NEAB)
UKCOSA United Kingdom Council for Overseas Student Affairs
ULCA University Language Centres Australia (a network of 28 universities in Australia which offer English language courses to international students)
ULEAC University of London Examinations and Assessment Council
UODLE University of Oxford Delegacy of Examinations
USIA United States Information Agency
USIS United States Information Service
V
VESL Vocational English as a Second Language
VLE Virtual Learning Environment (or Virtual Living Environment)
VOCI Video Oral Communication Instrument
VSO Voluntary Services Overseas
W
WEFT Written English for the Tourism Industry (LCCIEB)
WYSTC The World Youth and Student Travel Conference
5W's Who, What, Where, When and Why
Y
YLE Young Learners English Tests (Cambridge tests to assess the English of primary learners between the ages of 7 and 12)
Z
ZPD Zone of Proximal Development (acronym used by Vygotsky when referring to the potential cognitive development in a social setting providing collaborative and non-intrusive assistance).
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