Who are ESL Students?
"Polish was my first language, but English is my first language" --first-year undergraduate student
As this line from a student's autobiographical narrative points out, the answer is more difficult than many might think. Scholars in the field of second-language writing use many terms to describe ESL students, including English Language Learners, Second-Language Users, L2 Students, and even Speakers of English as a "New" Language.
While labeling students is often important for institutional reasons (such as counting a particular population), it is never accurate to equate "ESL" with "international." The Institute of International Education estimates that over 580,000 visa-holding international students were studying in the US during the 2007-08 academic year. It is true that many of these students come from countries, like the People's Republic of China, in which English is not a historically prominent language. But the largest number of international students comes from India, in which many residents are, in fact, native English speakers.
Another reason "ESL" doesn't equal "international" is that many US citizens and residents are, themselves, nonnative English speakers. The Census Bureau reports that as many as 55 million people (roughly 18% of the total population) already in the US--and 14% of Utah's population--speak languages other than English at home. While at least some of these people may be native English speakers who use other languages sparingly, this number clearly shows the high level of linguistic diversity in many US communities.
These differences in origin can make a difference in how ESL students respond to writing assignments. For example, truly international students--those on student visas--often learn English through formal classroom instruction. They may never have had native-English-speaking peers or instructors, but they may have taken English courses for as many years as native-English-speaking students in the US. So, they may feel hesitant about speaking up spontaneously in class, but their "book knowledge" of English can rival that of students who grew up here.
On the other hand, ESL students who are US citizens or permanent residents, as well as students who are children of immigrants, often have little trouble spontaneously communicating in English, and they frequently have extensive knowledge of US popular culture. Many of these students spent at least part of their childhood and adolescence in the US, so they were exposed to the same influences (like television and other popular media) as native-speaking peers. In class discussions, instructors may detect no differences in language use. However, large differences may appear in students' writing: as one scholar argues, many resident/immigrant students are "ear learners" of English, which means they may not have learned the language in the same formal ways as internationals.
What all this means is that instructors should take time, where possible, to examine preconceptions about ESL students, and they should enlist students in that effort, as well.