ABSTRACT

This chapter highlights the key themes that emerged from the data in two contexts English as a foreign language (EFL) context in Israel and English as a second language (ESL) context in Canada. To understand these data it is important to understand more about the contexts. In the Israeli EFL context, Hebrew and Arabic are both official state languages and English is everybody's second language. In the ESL context in Canada, there are increasing numbers of immigrants from non-English-speaking countries; consequently, there have been high numbers of non-native English-speaking teacher candidates (NNEST) applicants to pre-service kindergarten through Grade 12 (K12) certification programs. The importance of making a distinction between teaching ESL and EFL has dominated the rhetoric in the English language teaching (ELT) profession for a number of decades. Language proficiency development needs to be a component of professional development, and English teachers should be encouraged to think of developing English proficiency as part of their lifelong learning journey.