ENG 571 Lecture 36: Ch. 36- Adult Learners in Eng as a Second_Foreign Lang Setting)
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Student Backgrounds
ESL
● Wide variation of students from age range, ethnicity, educational background,
literacy skills, occupation, and educational attainment.
● Immigrants are sometimes labeled by the length of time they’ve been in the
country. Education of long-term immigrants has assumed more prominence in
ESL settings.
● Categories:
○ Immigrants who have left their native countries because of various push-
pull factors
○ Those who have left their native countries for low-skilled work, especially
in agriculture, food services etc. (called migrant workers)
○ Refugees - immigrants who have left their homes, often unwillingly,
because of religious or ethic persecution, political upheaval, or war.
Refugees have to deal with tremendous psychological effects from their
traumatic experiences.
EFL
● Important for teachers to understand the sociopolitical context of the country in
which they teach
○ Inner circle countries - countries where english is spoken as a native
language.
○ Outer circle countries - individuals may not be native speakers of a
standard variety of english but speak an institutionalized second
language variety because of past colonial relationships with inner-circle
countries
○ Expanding circle countries - countries where english is considered a
foreign language and is used in restricted domains.
● Students are learning English to enhance skills for work or future educational
opportunities
● Students are more homogenous in background than ESL learners.