english-as-second-language.md

title	slug	flag	defined	excerpt	speech	alt_words	reading
English as Second Language (ESL)	english-as-second-language	level avoid	true	the teaching of English to people who speak a different language and who live in a country where English is the main language spoken	noun	English as learning-language (ELL) English as an additional language (EAL) or non-native or omit (because do you really know, for sure?)	href text https://benchmarkeducation.com/best-practices-library/supporting-english-language-learners-in-reading-writing.html#section_2 ELL Glossary by Benchmark Education (US) href text http://www.naldic.org.uk/eal-teaching-and-learning/eal-glossary/#MainControl_Glossary_ZoneMain_GlossaryPlaceholderControl1_ctl00_PresentationModeControlsContainer_SECTION_E EAL glossary by NALDIC (UK)

the teaching of English to people who speak a different language and who live in a country where English is the main language spoken

Issues

Monolinguist, English-only speakers often refer to people who don't speak English natively as "ESL" or say they are learning a "second language". More often than not, this is not true, as many people are multi-lingual with 3 or more languages

Impact

It makes false assumptions about English learners, centres English as the "default" or "expected" first language, ignoring that many people learn multiple (>3), non-English languages first.