Return-Path: <nifl-esl@literacy.nifl.gov> Received: from literacy (localhost.nifl.gov [127.0.0.1]) by literacy.nifl.gov (8.8.5/8.8.5) with SMTP id PAA24933; Mon, 21 Jul 1997 15:48:02 -0400 (EDT) Date: Mon, 21 Jul 1997 15:48:02 -0400 (EDT) Message-Id: <s3d384b7.001@cal.org> Errors-To: lmann@literacy.nifl.gov Reply-To: nifl-esl@literacy.nifl.gov Originator: nifl-esl@literacy.nifl.gov Sender: nifl-esl@literacy.nifl.gov Precedence: bulk From: Char Ullman <char@cal.org> To: Multiple recipients of list <nifl-esl@literacy.nifl.gov> Subject: ESL or ESOL? -Reply X-Listprocessor-Version: 6.0c -- ListProcessor by Anastasios Kotsikonas X-Mailer: Novell GroupWise 4.1 Status: RO Content-Length: 703 Lines: 15 In Chicago I always used ESL, as did my colleagues, but in Tucson, I have found that people are consciously using the term ESOL, and that the reasons are political. People are using ESOL to confront the monolingual bias in the U.S. mindset. Just because most people from the U.S. only speak one language doesn't mean that the rest of the world does. I think this reality really became clear to a lot of people when they began to see African immigrants in their ESOL classes. Many African learners were learning English as their fifth or sixth language. In conclusion, I think it does matter, and that adding an extra syllable may help us keep our natural ethnocentrism in check. Char Ullman
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