english foreign language vs english second language

[Anonymous]

hi, i am and english's student an i want to know what is the difference between english as foreign language and english as a second landuage

 

[RonBee]

I think it depends on the country. For example, in this country (USA) English is not considered a foreign language, so we teach ESL but not EFL.

What do you think?

(Say: I am an English student)

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[Casiopea]

hi, i am and english's student an i want to know what is the difference between english as foreign language and english as a second landuage

ESL = English as a Second Language OR English for Survival.

EFL = English as a Foreign Language OR English for Fun.

 

[Joyce_Alma]

I also think that it depends on the country and its conceptions. Because for example here in Spain you can find english as a foreign language, which is basically a non-matternal language that you're learning on porpouse rather than naturally, and english as a second language means, as far as I'm concerned, that you have alredy chosen another language to learn after your matternal language. For example, here in Spain we mainly study English as a foreign language and later we (may) start French as a second language

(though we're horribly bad at both of them :roll

 

[awatef]

english is considered as a foreign language when for example suppose you are french and you live in france but you learn english in this case english is a foreign language for you but if you are french living in the uk or usa then english is a second language for you
i'm pretty sure of my explanation you can trust it .

 

[Raymott]

english is considered as a foreign language when for example suppose you are french and you live in france but you learn english in this case english is a foreign language for you but if you are french living in the uk or usa then english is a second language for you
i'm pretty sure of my explanation you can trust it .

That's true, but you don't have to move countries.
In linguistics, the formal difference is that a "second language" already exists in the community as a well-used language. So if you live in India and your mother tongue is Hindi, you would learn English as a Second Language, but Spanish as a Foreign Language. Obviously there are marginal cases.

 

[Red land]

Hi everyone,

Some time ago I read about this topic. Here in Mexico many people believe they or their children are learning English as a second language, but in reality they are not. I guess one learning English in an English-speaking country, will be in touch with English even beyond the language classroom. I think that's the core of a second language, the interaction with Native speakers of English, the context and everything within an English life style. On the other hand, when Spanish speakers in Mexico, which is my case, learn another language at school, like English or French, then they will be learning a foreign language. They go out of the classroom and have no need to speak the target language but their mother tongue, besides there is little or not sufficient English clues around to be in touch with to continue practicing. Of course, it might depend on the context and the situation the learner has.
Cheers,
Red land. ​

 

[Raymott]

Hi everyone,

Some time ago I read about this topic. Here in Mexico many people believe they or their children are learning English as a second language, but in reality they are not. I guess one learning English in an English-speaking country, will be in touch with English even beyond the language classroom. I think that's the core of a second language, the interaction with Native speakers of English, the context and everything within an English life style. On the other hand, when Spanish speakers in Mexico, which is my case, learn another language at school, like English or French, then they will be learning a foreign language. They go out of the classroom and have no need to speak the target language but their mother tongue, besides there is little or not sufficient English clues around to be in touch with to continue practicing. Of course, it might depend on the context and the situation the learner has.
Cheers,
Red land. ​

Yes, I agree that is the distinction between a second and a foreign language. If you moved north into USA, you'd immediately go from being an EFL student to an ESL one.

 

[HITHELIP69]

Hi there,
I hope this helps

The recent literature have revealed some discrepancies about the use of the terms L2 learners and Fl learners. For instance, Cook (1992) suggests that, FL learners are people who are in the process of learning a language in the classroom or by themselves and L2 are people who use a language learned later in life for real purposes. Pavlenko (2005: 7-8) however, describes FL learners as those who learn a foreign language in their home countries. In other words an English learning Spanish in England is a foreign language or FL learner. In contrast those who go to study a foreign language abroad. For example, a Spanish coming to the UK to study English is a L2 learner.

 

[Tdol]

Hi there,
I hope this helps

It does, but would quoting could you give the source or URL please?

Many thanks