Revising Approaches to ELL: The Urgent Need to Update University ELL Education

Introduction

Just as increased globalization has brought new awareness of different cultures, histories, languages, customs, and literatures into the classrooms of US universities, so too has globalization extensively changed student demographics. While the enduring American history of immigration has undoubtedly meant that students from myriad cultural and linguistic backgrounds have always been present within institutions of post-secondary education, US universities could, until recently, confidently assume that their students spoke English either as their first language or with near-native-like proficiency (Matsuda, 2006). This assumption has allowed for the perspective of English as a Second Language (ESL) as a luxury discipline which, while a nice support service with which to attract international students, is not a necessary component to a university education. However, as increased globalization has drawn previously distant parts of the world into increasing proximity, this assumption is no longer true. Growing attention has focused on the increased number of US university students for whom English is not their first language, an increase of such magnitude that Preto-Bay and Hansen claim student demographics are either upon or past the tipping point, where it is now imperative for universities to address the linguistic challenges and issues faced by English Language Learner (ELL) students in order to remain relevant and effective (2006).

International student enrollment in US universities continues to increase rapidly. In the 2000/01 academic year, there were 547,867 international students enrolled in US post-secondary institutions, and by the 2017/18 academic year, there were now 1,094,792 international students, comprising 5.5% of total US enrollment (Institute of International Education [IIE], 2018a). 762,311 of those current students were enrolled in doctorate-granting universities (Institute of International Education [IIE], 2018b). This growth is not accidental; while many students from international backgrounds seek acceptance in US universities for their personal education, US universities also actively seek to attract international students as well for their own gain. Many universities see international student enrollment as a means to offset declining domestic student numbers with students who, typically, pay full tuition (Hegarty, 2014). International students also provide valuable alternative perspectives to academic content and “enrich the cultural diversity of campuses with their home culture and ethnic experiences” (Wu, Garza, & Guzman, 2015, p.2). An increase in international student enrollment “both enhances a program and provides much needed funding” (Hegarty, 2014, p.227). Therefore, it is reasonable to expect international student enrollment to continue to rise.

Within this student population, the majority of students are ELL students who have enrolled in American universities to study a variety of topics and fields. ELL students thus represent an important portion of overall university populations, and as such “influence all domains of the university – not only academics, but also finance, administration, athletics, human resources, housing, and community involvement” (Knoblock & Gorman, 2018, p.277). International student numbers also do not take into account students who applied and matriculated domestically, as US citizens or residents, for whom English is not their first language, meaning that the impact of ELL students on US universities is even greater than international student enrollment numbers represent. Furthermore, “Challenges related to English language proficiency remain central to the difficulties experienced by international students...[and many] struggle to achieve their academic goals” (Knoblock & Gorman, 2018, p.277). Thus, it is clear that ELL education is not an optional luxury, but a critically important piece of an effective 21^st century university education, with the potential to benefit virtually every part of the university.