| Every industry has its acronyms and Teaching | | | | Immigrants/Survival English, Academic English, |
| English is no exception. If you are new to the | | | | Business English, English for Accounting and |
| world of language teaching, you may very well | | | | Finance, Legal English, Medical English, Technical |
| find these a tad confusing. Let me run through | | | | English, English for Tourism and Hospitality). |
| most of the acronyms you are likely to come | | | | GED: General Education Diploma (High School |
| across in ads for teachers and education articles: | | | | diploma for mature students primarily in the USA). |
| ABE: Adults Basic Education (Canadian version of | | | | ICELT: In-service Certificate in English Language |
| GED). | | | | Teaching. This is a new course offered by |
| ACT: The ACT is America's most widely | | | | Cambridge ESOL to replace COTE. See above. It |
| accepted college entrance exam. It assesses high | | | | is for experienced teachers who perhaps do not |
| school students' general educational development | | | | have as much basic training as they should, want |
| and their ability to complete college-level work. | | | | to deepen their understanding of the teaching |
| The multiple-choice tests cover four skill areas: | | | | process or who have been away from language |
| English, mathematics, reading, and science. The | | | | teaching for some time. |
| Writing Test, which is optional, measures skill in | | | | IELTS: International English Language Testing |
| planning and writing a short essay. | | | | System. This is a British-based English test used |
| CAI: Computer-Aided Instruction (like CALL but | | | | primarily for college and university entrance. It is |
| not necessarily for teaching the English language). | | | | popular in the UK, Ireland, South Africa, Australia |
| CALL: Computer-Assisted Language Learning | | | | and New Zealand. They are making inroads into |
| (using computers to teach English). | | | | North America. The test is receiving criticism in |
| CELTA: Certificate in English Language Teaching to | | | | Canada because the British accents used in the |
| Adults (Cambridge). Very popular in Europe and | | | | Listening test are so different from Canadian |
| accepted elsewhere as an alternative to TESOL, | | | | accents. IELTS recently launched a USA site so |
| particularly if the school follows a British curriculum | | | | hopefully the accent issue is being addressed and |
| or uses British teaching materials. | | | | that will spill north across the border. |
| Certificate IV in TESOL: This is the Australian | | | | K-12: Kindergarten through Grade 12. |
| version of the TESOL certificate. See below for | | | | KET: This Key English Test from Cambridge is a |
| the definition of TESOL. | | | | basic English test poplar in overseas schools at |
| CELTYL: Certificate in English Language Teaching | | | | junior high school level. Students will usually be at |
| to Young Learners is Cambridge's version of | | | | the Elementary ESL level. PET follows it. See PET |
| TEYL. See TEYL below. | | | | below. |
| COTE: Certificate for Overseas Teachers of | | | | PET: The Preliminary English Test is a Cambridge |
| English (British course for non-native English | | | | test for ESL students at the intermediate level. |
| teachers). This has been replaced by ICELT. See | | | | Often given in schools the year following the KET. |
| below. | | | | P/SAT: PSAT/NMSQT stands for Preliminary SAT |
| DELTA: A diploma program from Cambridge that | | | | National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test. It's a |
| takes CELTA to a deeper level. | | | | standardized test that provides firsthand practice |
| EAL: English as an Additional Language (where | | | | for the SAT Reasoning Test(TM). |
| people already know two or more - such as in | | | | RSA: Royal Society of Arts. Cambridge University |
| Europe). | | | | took over administration of their RSA course and |
| ECE: Early Childhood Education (You need this to | | | | renamed it CELTA. See CELTA above. |
| work in a day-care facility). | | | | SAT: Scholastic Aptitude Test. US Colleges use |
| EFL: English as a Foreign Language (People have | | | | this as an entrance test. It tests English language |
| usually had little or no exposure to English. More a | | | | skills, reasoning and math problem solving. |
| European term. | | | | TEFL: Teaching English as a Foreign Language |
| ERIC: Educational Resource Information Center in | | | | TEFLA: Teaching English as a Foreign Language to |
| the USA (great online resource for teachers). | | | | Adults |
| ESL: English as a Second Language (People have | | | | TESL: Teaching English as a Second Language |
| usually had some exposure to English). | | | | TESOL: Teaching English to Speakers of Other |
| ELT: English Language Teaching (or Training). | | | | Languages (usually interchangeable with ESL/EFL) |
| ESOL: English for Speakers of Other Languages | | | | TESP: Teaching English for Special Purposes |
| (usually interchangeable with ESL/EFL). | | | | TEYL: Teaching English to Young Learners |
| ESP: English for Special Purposes (English for New | | | | (combines ECE and ESL). |