Modern English has only become a dominant world language in the last 300 years. The spread of teaching English as a second language began with the rise and spread of the British Empire in the late 15th century.
According to YourDictionary.com, in the U.K., Ireland and New Zealand, the term English as a Second Language (ESL) has been largely replaced by English for Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL) but instructors and students use the terms interchangeably. In these aforementioned countries, Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL) refers to teaching English to this group (those who speak more than one other language) only. In the U.K., the term English as an Additional Language (EAL), rather than ESOL, refers to primary and secondary schools where instructors teach English as a student's second or third language.
As opportunities in the United States increased and transportation technology improved with the Industrial Revolution, millions of immigrants flocked to the U.S. in the pursuit of work and individual pursuits. Immigrants found work opportunities, albeit in a country on the verge of civil war.
Finding homes in large cities, concentrated in ethnic neighborhoods and enclaves with other immigrants of the same nationality, a working knowledge of English was not necessary for survival. Immigrant communities wanted to keep their cultural traditions while also participating in American life. Americans accommodated as well as they could but not understanding one another in shops, workplaces, schools and neighborhoods grew confusing and agitating to some.
Bilingual or non-English instruction appeared in public and private schools across the nation--French was used in Louisiana, for example, and Spanish in New Mexico. Until the late 1800s there was still no unified English language instruction for foreign-born arrivals. Searching for unified national identity through language and culture, American congressmen and educators formed schools for English language instruction. In 1906, Congress passed the Naturalization Act requiring that all immigrants be able to speak English in order to become naturalized U.S. citizens.
According to the University of Michigan AutoLife website, which highlights the history of the Ford Motor Company, in 1914 Ford established the Ford English School. The school taught the company's immigrant workers how to speak English and included lessons on American culture and history as well as American virtues like thriftiness and good manners.
To earn their full $5 per day wage, Ford required workers to meet specific living standards. One standard was that families live in single-family homes, and not small tenementlike communal apartments. To relocate outside of their ethnic neighborhoods, immigrants needed at least a working knowledge of English. Ford offered English classes to employees who wished to fully participate in the program and thereby receive full pay.
By the mid-1920s, most states had instituted English-only instructional policies in both private and public schools mostly for immigrant children. Only during World War II and the at end of the war did the United States recognize again the importance of foreign languages and foreign language education, instead of just admonishing against it. Educators and individuals began to accept other languages, and blended both an appreciation of foreign languages and encouragement to learn English into ESL education.
From the1950s through the1980s, linguists and educators researched languages, language learning and how to teach English to speakers of other languages. These educators produced various ESL teaching models and methods, many of which are still in use, at least in part, today. For the past five decades, state and federal budgets have helped fund public schools and basic adult ESL/ESOL education programs nationwide.
According to a presentation by Sarah Young, an Adult ESL specialist at the Center for Applied Linguistics (CAL), adult basic education has been federally funded since the Adult Education Act of 1966 and the 1970 amendments to that legislation that expanded educational services to include ESL and citizenship. Extensive progress has been made in the adult immigration education field since its inception in the late 1800s.
Adult ESL instruction and immigrant education programs continue to grow and evolve as new populations arrive, new initiatives begin, states launch revised citizenship tests (like the latest exam initiated in October of 2008) and immigration laws continue to change.