Avoid
English as Second Language (ESL)
Speech
noun
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.
Alt Words
- English as learning-language (ELL)
- English as an additional language (EAL)
- or non-native
- or omit (because do you really know, for sure?)
Further Reading
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