Accreditation Which TEFL

Online tefl courses vs onsite TEFL courses1. Abstract This article is written for the partial fulfilment of 120 hours tesol Certificate online course. While commencing with the introduction of the TEFL, this article takes a form of a report which presents arguments to analyse features and advantages/disadvantages of online and onsite courses finally followed by a conclusion. 2. Introduction TEFL stands for Teaching English as a Foreign Language. It is also referred to as ELT (English Language Teaching). This course is specially meant for someone who wants to learn or top up knowledge at English language for different reasons. The reasons might include, for instance, enhance job prospects, travel, because their job requires the use English or who just have an interest in learning the language. Besides it is the only international language and one may only be considered educated if he/she speaks a bit of English! This course can be taken onsite at colleges of further education and at approved private independent institutions or online globally. 3. Defining online and onsite courses At online courses, there does not exist a physical presence of a teacher not a student can personally approach him. Usually following a payment and online agreement of terms and conditions, such courses commence. Necessary materials and instructions will be supplied online or posted as applied. As for the onsite courses, the students are provided with a venue and classes take place in a group or individually at presence of a teacher/s and physical facility. 4. Advantages and disadvantages of online and onsite courses This can be elaborated with an extensive study of the characteristics of these two different courses in terms of the following elements: I. Price : online courses may cost less than onsite due to a lower involvement of human resource and physical facility II. Freedom of working: online courses are suitable for someone who needs freedom on working with it than the onsite. III. Flexibility of time: Flexibility of time might not be applicable for onsite courses whereas online are suitable for someone who wants such flexibility. IV. Deadline: Deadlines for online courses are usually longer, so someone in a rush might find it difficult to do onsite courses. V. Credibility/authenticity: Some people, be it students taking the course or the employers, might have a room to scrutinize the authenticity of the online courses in the lack of physical presence unlike the onsite courses. VI. Personal/non personal experience etc. Course components such as pronunciation and drills are missed out at online courses. However this can be substituted by pre-recorded videos which can be repeatedly observed by rewind/replay. VII. Plagiarism: Due to an absence of physical presence of teachers, any other verifier in person or online checks, there is a chance that the student takes help of someone else to get the work done. This may be challenging for the awarding body to set the credibility/originality of the works the students produce online. Based on the arguments above, the advantages and disadvantages of online and onsite courses can be summed up as follows: Advantages of online courses: Better price, time flexibility, longer working deadlines, lower pressure and no hesitation to perform tasks etc. However some disadvantages occur such as ? question on credibility/authenticity upon students? works due to a chance of plagiarism, lack of personal (face to face) interactions regarding the occurring concerns and, setback in respect of drills and pronunciation aspects. Likewise if we look at the advantages and disadvantages of onsite courses, the benefits include the interaction in person and any concerns answered instantly for an efficient and effective learning. A lively classroom environment and, in addition, the live pronunciation and drills act probably as the most precious advantages. However, such courses often are more expensive, they demand punctuality and tight time schedule hence generating pressure on students. 5. Conclusion To conclude the report, it appears a huge dilemma on to what way a course can be done. However the above analysis suggests that this all absolutely depends on someone?s personal circumstances and both the ways are right. Availability of time, degree of need to do this course, budget for fees, and nature of job one does all impact this decision.