Pragmatics

This article situates the two most widely used acronyms, ESL (English as a Second Language) and EFL (English as a Foreign Language), in their historical-structural contexts, examines their denotative consistency, evaluates the credibility and validity of their individual and contrastive statuses, and suggests a taxonomic reorientation. It is argued that these labels, which are more the products of history and demography than of linguistic reality and which the professional and commercial interests of the English language teaching enterprise have nurtured and promoted, are becoming reified in professional discourse, unconcerned with the realities of the changing role of English in today's world. The referential vagueness and denotative variations of the label ESL are demonstrated by tracing its genealogy and by detailing the great ecological and implicative differences between two of its major current interpretations.The author also presents contexts of situational overlaps that obscure the current basis for an ESL/EFL distinction. Finally, a taxonomic nomenclature with a more realistic sociolinguistic base and a more appropriate applied linguistic motivation is recommended.