Throughout all of my teaching career thus far, I have had the opportunity to teach many second language students. Some of these students were native ESL students and some non-native ESL students.
Through this, I've noticed a variety of differences and similarities between these two types of students that I want to discuss in this article.
My hope is that this article will help other educators understand and educate these students in a way that is more accommodated to their specific needs.
Native & Non-Native ESL
Let's first start by defining what I mean by native and non-native ESL students.
Non-native ESL students are what you think of when you think of ESL students. They, and likely their family, are not native to, in this case Canada. They don't speak English, or speak very little. They don't know many people in the country, if any. They haven't had much, or any, experience with the culture, and so on. Essentially, they are brand new to everything.
Native ESL students on the other hand however, are not brand new to everything. They have some semblance of an English foundation due to the fact that they were born in Canada.
Because these children have grown up in Canada, they have grown up seeing and hearing English in public spaces, they have first hand experience with the culture even if only subconsciously, they've interacted with native English speakers on some level, and so on.
Essentially, their understanding of the world isn't an English free one. However, they may not speak English at home or only speak English when necessary. Thus, they have reduce English language abilities due to lack of practice.
Both students are considered ESL based on their English language proficiency, however, both sets of students are not the same.
It is my belief that native ESL students will naturally have a stronger grasp of cultural dynamics and language acquisition when it comes to English.
As an example from the classes I teach, when my ESL students are learning to read, they read small words with repeating patterns such as fan, pan, ran, etc. Both my non-native and native ESL students may have never seen these words written down before.
However, my native ESL students have likely heard these words before. They likely have an understand of the concept the English word, let's say fan, it trying to conveying. My non-native ESL students though, lack the vocabulary to have the same understanding.
They may know what a fan is in their native language, but may not know the concept in English. Therefore, they do not connect to and pick up the material as quickly as native ESL student may. They have an extra step of developing a concept within in English, before they can begin to understand what they are reading.
An expectation I've come across, is that student may only start to learn to read once they know 80% of the alphabet names, sounds, and can give 1 word that begins with the letter. While I agree with the 80% aspect, I disagree with the word part. Due to lack of vocabulary, non-native ESL students struggle to come up with words.
Even if these students memorize words along with these letters, that does not guarantee they understand them or know how to use them. As a result, they may be stunted in their ESL development since they are expected to live up to expectations set for native ESL and/or native English students. This is just not fair in my eyes.
How else will they learn more words if they are not exposed to them? Seeing the words, and the letters that they contain, while reading will help them learning more vocabulary, as well as connect the letters and sounds to concepts, both verbally and written. At least, that is my opinion.
Cultural dynamics also play a huge part in second language learning seeing as every concept communicated through language is not necessarily the same. Take school for example, the idea of school is different in every country. What is expected of students, what is expected of teachers, which behaviours are appropriate and which are not, etc. can differ a lot.
This can be quite the obstacle for non-native ESL students to navigate. Not only are they tasked with learning a new language and culture, they also need to do so in a completely new environment; not just because it's a new country, but also because this new country has new ways of doing many things, if not everything.
I remember doing some teaching observations and mirco-teaches in Germany back in 2022, and I was surprised to see that teachers were not considered legal guardians once students were dropped off at the school like they are in Canada.
In Germany, if the main teacher called out sick and they could not find a supply teacher for that class, that class was expected to learn on their own for the day. A teacher may come in for 20 minutes to introduce the topic and work they are doing that day, but they wouldn't stay.
Perhaps these students will see these days as free days where they don't have to learn, or may grow more fond of independent work and be less willing to accept help from teachers. If they change educational environments to a setting where teachers are always there, they are always expected to be learning, and/or accept help and instructions from teachers, this change can be challenging.
As a result, how a non-native ESL student sees a teacher, school, and peers, as well as how they believe you're meant to interact with a teacher, at school, and with peers can have a huge impact on their learning. It takes time to adjust to a new environment like this, and so their learning may be slower as a result.
Native ESL students may not have these same obstacles as they have grow up in this culture and have likely begun their academics in Canadian schools. Thus, their understanding of teachers, schools, and peers is a Canadian one.
This is not to say though that native ESL student will never struggle with classroom dynamics or English, but rather that their struggles will likely be different from non-native ESL students. Thus, you cannot treat these students in the same ways.
I wanted to write about this topic because I don't believe it's fair to hold non-native ESL students to the same expectations as native ESL or native English students.
As I said above, I've had the chance to work alongside educators who were once native ESL students and, I find, with these educators, I often disagree with they ways these see fit to teach non-native ESL students.
Expecting a non-native ESL student to preform like native ESL or native English students is simply not fair. It is not taking into account all the other obstacles these students are experiencing that the native ESL or native English students are not.
Learning a whole new language is hard. Facing the reality that you can no longer properly communicate to anyone outside of your family is hard and isolating. Add on cultural difference in every setting, new environments all around, new social rules, etc., and you have a recipe for an overwhelmed learner.
When these things are neglected, you may end up with students who refuse to learn English at all because it's shrouded in negative associations. I know, because this was my experience with DaF when I was young. Not only was I struggling with everything I listed above, but I also had personal struggles within my family at the time.
I remembering hating school so much then, refusing to learn German, and just wanting nothing more than to move back to Canada.
I never want my ESL students to feel the way I did. I don't want them to hate English, I don't want them to hate Canada, I don't want them to hate school, or their teachers, or their peers. I want nothing but good associations with these big changes for them.
Thus, I think it incredibly important for educators to try to see things from their perspective. To try to be compassionate, sympathetic, and understanding towards what an incredibly big change these students are going through.
I can't be there for every ESL student, so I hope through this article, I've helped shine a light on the perspective of a non-native ESL student.
What I want readers to take way from this article is, while both types of students are lumped into the umbrella term that is ESL student, they are not the same and will not need the same things.
It is not fair to hold non-native ESL students to the same expectations as native ESL and/or native English students. I believe, there needs to be more consideration towards the unique position these students are in.
I'd love to hear your thoughts on the topic in the comments below.
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