What is ESL?
A traditional term for the use or study of the English Language by non-native speakers in an English-speaking environment. That environment may be a country in which English is the mother tongue (e.g., Australia, the U.S.) or one in which English has an established role (e.g., India, Nigeria).
English as a Second Language (ESL or TESL) also refers to specialized approaches to language teaching designed for those whose primary language is not English.
English as a Second Language corresponds roughly to the Outer Circle described by linguist Braj Kachru in "Standards, Codification and Sociolinguistic Realism: The English Language in the Outer Circle" (1985).
