English as a Second Language

ESL Learners: A Guide for the Classroom - The ESL Learner

Definition of an ESL Student:English as a Second Language i students are those whose primary language(s) or language(s) of the home, is other than English and who may therefore require additional services in order to develop their individual potential within British Columbia's school system. Some students speak variations of English that differ significantly from the English used in the broader Canadian society and in school; they may require ESL support ii.

from ESL Policy Framework,Ministry of Education, 1999

i In some literature, this is referred to as English as an Additional language (EAL)
ii In some literature, this is referred to as English as a Second Dialect (ESD)

There are no typical ESL students. They come from many linguistic and cultural backgrounds and have had a wide variety of life experiences--attributes that can significantly enrich the life of the school and help enhance learning for all students. Not all require the same types of support:

  • Some are Canadian-born, but enter school having had varying degrees of exposure to the language and cultural norms of the majority of English-speaking Canadians. They may need to complement their early childhood experiences and home languages with extensive ESL support, including a variety of cultural-bridging experiences, if they are to be successful in the English-speaking school system.
  • Some have immigrated to British Columbia with their families after having received some formal education in their home countries. In some cases, they have learned English as a foreign language in school. Given appropriate ESL support, including cultural-bridging experiences, these students usually progress well in their new schools, particularly if their parents support their academic efforts and their evolving bilingualism.
  • Some arrive in Canada as refugees. These students may have received little or no schooling in their home country. They may also have experienced the traumatic conditions caused by political, social, and economic upheaval. They have often left their country involuntarily, perhaps leaving key members behind. In addition to ESL support, these students may need specialized counselling and literacy training in their home language(s).
  • Some who require ESL support also have special needs associated with mental challenges, physical challenges, behavioural difficulties, and/or giftedness (having English as a second language or dialect does not in itself make a student "special needs").

Adjustment Challenges Facing ESL Students

Students who have a limited command of standard English and who are new to British Columbia's culture and school system require a period of adjustment. A sense of dislocation, or the trauma that new arrivals sometimes experience upon leaving their homeland, can cause some ESL students to appear withdrawn, fatigued, or uninterested. Teachers need to be alert to this possibility, if they are to make accurate assessments of students.

Research indicates that the more highly developed a student's first language, the more success that student will have acquiring a second.

While individual circumstances and personal responses will vary enormously, students who have newly arrived in Canada typically experience some form of culture shock. It is in fact common for new arrivals to go through four stages of adjustment:1

Wai Lung

Wai Lung is a ten-year-old student who has arrived from Hong Kong with his parents and older sister. He has gone to school regularly and has received English instruction since preschool. Even with this extensive introduction to English, his reading comprehension is low and he still requires considerable assistance with the language. This is frustrating for both him and his parents. His father intends to spend the next two years flying between Vancouver and Hong Kong on business; his mother may join her husband in Hong Kong on occasion.

  1. The Honeymoon Stage: This stage takes place when people first arrive. It is characterized by extreme happiness, even euphoria. This is especially prevalent with refugees who have finally arrived safely in North America. For them, this is truly the "land of milk and honey."
  2. Hostility: After about four to six months, reality sets in. Newcomers know a bit about getting around and have begun learning the ropes, but this new place is not like their home: they can't get the food they are accustomed to; things don't look the same; they miss the life of their home country, the familiar places and faces and ways of doing things. Gradually they begin to feel that they hate North America and want to go back to their home country, no matter how bad things were there. This stage is often characterized by:
    • complaining
    • wanting to be only with others who speak their language
    • rejecting anything associated with the new culture (the food, the people, even the new language)
    • feeling depressed and irritable or even angry
    • having headaches or feeling tired all the time.

Alexa

Alexa is a fourteen-year-old student who recently arrived in Canada from Bosnia-Herzegovenia. Although her schooling was interrupted by the strife in her home country, she has been able to acquire a solid elementary education. Her parents have also helped her to continue with informal studies outside of school. Although she has not yet studied English formally, she has acquired some conversational skills that will help her in her schooling here. The loss of family members and friends, however, is an ongoing source of distress for her, causing her to feel despondent and unhappy.

  1. Humour: Gradually, the newcomers work toward resolution of their feelings, and their sense of being torn between the new and the old. They begin to accept their new home. They begin to find friends, discover that there are good things about where they are living, and adjust to their lives by coming to terms with both the old and the new ways of living. This is a long process, fraught with feelings of great anxiety in some, because to many, accepting the new means rejecting the old.
  2. Home: Finally, the newcomers become "native" in the sense that where they live is their home and they accept that they are here to stay. This last stage may be years in coming, and for some will never take place.

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1adapted from Law, Barbara and Mary Eckes, The More Than Just Surviving Handbook: ESL for Every Classroom Teacher (Winnipeg: Peguis, 1990), p. 58.

Teachers working with newly arrived ESL students should also be aware that they may sometimes respond in unexpected ways to particular classroom situations or events, due to cultural conditioning or to the fact that their cultural values and beliefs differ from those of students with whom the teacher has previously worked. The following chart identifies possible cultural explanations for behaviours that ESL students sometimes exhibit.

Two ESL students discussin an object

Cultural Differences in Student Behaviour

Perceived Behaviour
Possible Cultural Explanation
The student avoids eye contact. Keeping eyes downcast may be a way of showing respect. In some cultures, direct eye contact with a teacher is considered disrespectful and a challenge to the teacher's authority.
The student tends to smile when disagreeing with what is being said or when being reprimanded. A smile may be a gesture of respect that children are taught to employ to avoid giving offense in difficult situations.
The student shrinks from or responds poorly to apparently inoffensive forms of physical contact or proximity. There may be taboos on certain types of physical contact. Buddhists, for instance, regard the head and shoulders as sacred and would consider it impolite to ruffle a child's hair or give a reassuring pat on the shoulder. There are also significant differences among cultures with respect to people's sense of what is considered an appropriate amount of personal space.
The student refuses to eat with peers. Some students may be unaccustomed to eating with anyone but members of their own family.
The student does not participate actively in group work or collaborate readily with peers on cooperative assignments. Cooperative group work is never used by teachers in some cultures. Students may thus view sharing as "giving away knowledge" and may see no distinction between legitimate collaboration and cheating.
The student displays uneasiness, expresses disapproval, or even misbehaves in informal learning situations or situations involving open-ended learning processes (e.g., exploration). Schooling in some cultures involves a strict formality. For students who are used to this, an informal classroom atmosphere may seem chaotic and undemanding, while teachers with an informal approach may seem unprofessional. Such students may also be uncomfortable with process-oriented learning activities and prefer activities that yield more tangible and evident results.
The student refuses to participate in extra-curricular or in various physical education activities (e.g., swimming, skating, track & field). Extra-curricular activities may not be considered a part of learning or may even, along with some physical education activities, be contrary to a student's religious or cultural outlook. Some students may also be required to use after-school hours to generate income.
The student seems inattentive and does not display active listening behaviours. In some cultures, the learning process involves observing and doing or imitating rather than listening and absorbing (e.g., through note-taking).
Performance following instruction reveals that the student is not understanding the instruction, even though she or he exhibited active listening behaviours that suggested understanding and refrained from asking for help or further explanation. In some cultures, expressing a lack of understanding or asking for help from the teacher is interpreted as a suggestion that the teacher has not been doing a good enough job of teaching and is considered impolite.
The student is unresponsive, uncooperative, or even disrespectful in dealing with teachers of the other gender. Separate schooling for boys and girls is the norm in some cultures. Likewise, in some cultures the expectations for males and females are quite different. The idea that females and males should have the same opportunities for schooling and play comparable roles as educators will therefore run contrary to some students' cultural conditioning.
The student appears reluctant to engage in debate, speculation, argument, or other processes that involve directly challenging the views and ideas of others. In some cultures, it is considered inappropriate to openly challenge another's point of view, especially the teacher's. In other cases, there may be a high value attached to being prepared, knowledgeable, and correct when one opens one's mouth.
The student exhibits discomfort or embarrassment at being singled out for special attention or praise. To put oneself in the limelight for individual praise is not considered appropriate in some cultures, where the group is considered more important than the individual.
The student fails to observe the conventions of silent reading. Some students may be culturally predisposed to see reading as essentially an oral activity and will therefore read aloud automatically. For others reading aloud is associated with memorization.

The situations described in the chart indicate the need for teachers to revisit their assumptions about the meaning of students' behaviour and adjust their responses accordingly. Often the most effective response is to be clear and explicit about their own expectations or those prevalent in Canadian society.

ESL services should be provided in a manner that respects students' language and culture of origin and builds on students' existing abilities.

The chart situations also indicate that as ESL students become part of a mainstream class, everyone in the class must be prepared to adapt and broaden their understanding. There are times when the adjustments made to address the needs of ESL students will affect and make demands of their English-speaking peers.

Two ESL Students

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