Field.Type method returns different values than the input values for AddField, type parameter

Description

In a Python geoprocessing script, using the ListFields.Type method to return field type returns different values than are required in the AddField command. For example, when listing the fields of a feature class, fc using the following method:

Code:
f = gp.ListFields(fc)
ff = f.Next()
while ff:
   field_type = ff.Type
   field_len = ff.Length
   ff = f.Next()
del f,ff

Cause

This is a known issue.

Workaround

Code:
if (field_type == 'String'):
     newField_type = 'TEXT'
elseif (field_type == 'Integer'):
     newField_type = 'LONG'
end if