2.23: English as a Second Language

English as a Second Language (ESL), courses at U.S. institutions are designed to help non-native English speakers learn English. At many colleges they are split into credit bearing and non-credit bearing units students take. Beginning to advanced noncredit ESL classes take an integrated skills approach, practicing the fundamentals of grammar and vocabulary for everyday and employment situations through listening, speaking, reading and writing activities. These classes help students improve their English so that they can communicate in their everyday life. These classes are often offered for free. The intermediate and advanced level classes which are credit and cost bearing are more skills-focused and relating to employment and academic scenarios. Offerings include separate classes for grammar and writing, reading and vocabulary, listening and speaking, and pronunciation (ABOUT ESL PROGRAM, 2021).

Without a mastery of some level of English, survival in the U.S. is more difficult. While there are many aspects of social structure that have information available in multiple languages, there are situations in which without a basic understanding of English, navigation becomes difficult. The decision to learn English for many non-native speakers often involves subtle ways in which these students are forced to give up some of their native culture in order to assimilate into American society. Managing two cultures can be difficult and this is why for students whose home culture matches what we might call dominant U.S. culture (tracing its roots from White Anglo-Saxon Protestantism) college curriculum has always been more reflective of what they already know.

Having to pivot from your home culture to the one most prominent in higher education is extra work that middle and upper class white students do not have to do. Additionally,perceptions surrounding a failure to integrate and navigate society "properly" (per expectations) can lead to ostracization and discrimination. Along with that, extra learning also sometimes comes with a value judgment that non-native speakers often feel as new students.ESL teachers who are not culturally competent can, whether intentionally or not, impose their cultural bias on their students, making them feel like their culture is not as important as the dominant white culture. Experts in the field stress the importance of having ESL students express values,beliefs, and norms from their home culture as well as trying to adapt into American society. Oftentimes, there is an assumption that immigrants need to assimilate into their new society to be accepted. However, forced assimilation is not the best practice for English language learners. Assimilation should not be the end game if it means losing one’s roots.

ESL classes and the work that come along with them is a process that many non-native English speakers must go through in order to have the possibility of being accepted by society. ESL classes play a vital role in the assimilation process that many immigrants undergo in order to live their lives and even when doing so they still may not be accepted and sometimes face discrimination. Rather than demanding that ESL students change to fit into the culture, it is important to help new students learn English, while also honoring valuable knowledge that they carry with them from their home countries. Some recommendations for ESL teachers are to engage in open dialogue, invite student’s families into their educational life, as well as embrace and validate their cultures. It is critical for students to feel that every part of them is being accepted. Students shouldn’t feel that they must assimilate and lose part of themselves just to be able to obtain acceptance into U.S. society. The role of ESL classes cannot be just to assimilate people into society. Instead, it must also incorporate the many beautiful things that students in ESL classes bring from their home cultures. Society at large is richer with the embracement of the diversity of a nation of immigrants and the varied cultural bricolage that have developed.