A Brief History of Adult ESL Instruction
Sarah Young, Adult ESL Specialist
May 2008
syoung@cal.org
www.cal.org
Contents
1. Introductory comments
2. Statistics about immigrants and immigration from
1880-1930
3. English language service providers
4. Americanization efforts
5. Anti-Americanization efforts
6. English language instructional materials and methods
7. Successes and failures in immigrant education
1. Introductory Comments
 The materials and information found in this presentation
come from a variety of sources; many of the images
came from photos available on the Internet (with credit
given) and from primary resources (reports, teacher
manuals, and student textbooks) found at the Library of
Congress and scanned in to this PowerPoint. A full
bibliography is available in a separate Word document.
 This presentation was originally given at the California
Teachers of English to Speakers of Other Languages
(CATESOL) conference in Sacramento on April 12,
2008 and at the COABE conference in St. Louis, MO on
April 30, 2008. This PowerPoint has been modified for
viewing on the CAELA Website and requires permission
from the author for further distribution.
1. Introductory Comments
Why examine the history of adult immigrant education
and English as a second language (ESL) instruction?
 The story of immigration in the United States is an
important one that spans centuries and continues on today.
Many of the questions and challenges surrounding adult
immigrants that have surfaced recently in the media, in our
communities, and in our schools are not new or unique to
this century.
 Many Americans have grandparents or great grandparents
who immigrated to the United States in the last 100 years;
these descendants of immigrants may not know many of
the details of how previous generations became a part of
American life.
1. Introductory Comments
Why examine the history of adult immigrant education
and English as a second language (ESL) instruction?
 Adult basic education has been federally funded since the
Adult Education Act of 1966 and the 1970 amendments to
that Act that expanded educational services to include ESL
and citizenship; however, much progress has been made
in the field of adult immigration education since its more
formal origins in the late 1800s.
 Adult ESL instruction and immigrant education continue to
evolve as new populations arrive, new initiatives begin,
and new developments arise (such as the revised
citizenship test to be launched in October 2008); the future
directions of this field may be informed by its past.
This photo depicts workers outside of an Italian and German
storefront in Stamford, Connecticut in 1892. It is likely that the
people in this picture were of European background, and were
possibly first-generation immigrants with limited English proficiency.
In 1892, 579,663 people immigrated to the United States, most
coming from Germany (119,168), the UK (93,598) and Russia
(81,511) (Jenks & Lauck, 1922). However, very few ESL programs
were in documented operation in the United States around this time.
Photo available from the Immigrant History Research Center,
http://ihrc.umn.edu/
This photo depicts a workplace-sponsored English class at the Ford Motor
Company around 1915. Note the instructional resources used and the
classroom set-up.
In 1914, many of the Ford Motor Company’s employees did not speak English.
English classes were part of the requirements associated with the “Five
Dollar Day Plan” that Ford instituted, which paid employees this wage
provided that they met certain standards of living: “The Sociological
Department of the Ford Motor Company was organized in March, 1913,
and oversaw a broad array of social benefits for Ford employees, including
assistance in living in well-maintained single-family homes as opposed to
small apartments… the Sociological Department was responsible for
determining if employees’ personal lives and personal habits made them
eligible for the full wage. This phase of the Department's activities
terminated with the reorganization of the company in 1920.” [ from
http://www.autolife.umd.umich.edu/Race/R_Overview/Sociological_Depart.
htm]
Photo retrieved from
www.autolife.umd.umich.edu/Labor/L_Overview/FordEnglishSchool.htm
 How do you think that adult ESL instruction now
may be the same as and/or different than 100
years ago? Think in terms of…
− Instructional methods, materials, and resources
− Teacher training and qualifications
− Service providers
− Recruitment, enrollment, and retention
− Public support for immigrants and immigrant
education
− Linguistic, cultural, and educational
backgrounds of the students
− Politics, society, labor, and culture of the United
States
2. Immigrants 100 Years Ago
 Majority were 20 years and older in 1910; at least 2.6 million aged
21 years and older couldn’t speak English
 Majority were joining family or friends; relatively high rate of
mobility between native countries and the U.S.
 Many sent money back home: Between 1900 and 1906,
12,204,485 money orders worth $239,367,047.56 were sent
overseas through the New York postal service – about 50% to
Austria-Hungary, Russia, and Italy alone.
 Low literacy rates in 1913-1914: Of 921,160 Southern and Eastern
Europeans, 26.8% were not literate, compared to 2% of 253,855
Northern and Western Europeans; among 43,065 others, 19.9%
were not literate
 “New immigrants” (labor seekers mainly from Southern and Eastern
Europe) were deemed by many as inferior to the “old immigrants”
(land seekers mainly from Northern and Western Europe)
(Alexander, 2007; Jenks & Lauck, 1922)
2. Immigration Numbers
Number of immigrants admitted
from 1899-1921
Italy: 3,555,215
Austria-Hungary: 3,231,595
Russia: 2,676,674
England, Scotland, Ireland,
and Wales: 1,525,541
British North America: 995,446
Immigration
Japan: 236,991
peaks
China: 48,799
Africa: 17,193
Immigration
Pacific Islands: 2,786
decrease due
South/Central America: 87,000
to World War I
Numbers of immigrants in a
given year
 1820: 8,385
 1864: 191,114
 1879: 177,826
 1881: 669,431
 1900: 448,572
 1905: 1,026,499
 1907: 1,285,349
 1914: 1,218,480
 1918: 110,618
 1921: 805,228
(Jenks & Lauck, 1922)
Total Europe: 13,886,993
Total Asia: 488,078
Immigration to the U.S. by Decade
Source: Migration Policy Institute,
http://www.migrationinformation.org/DataHub/charts/final.immig.shtml
Source: Migration Policy Institute,
http://www.migrationinformation.org/DataHub/charts/fin
al.fb.shtml
Size of the U.S. Foreign-Born Population as a
Percentage of the Total Population: 1850 to 2006
 For more statistics on current immigrant populations, see:
− U.S. Census Bureau section on the foreign born at
http://www.census.gov/population/www/socdemo/foreign.html and the American
Community Survey at http://www.census.gov/acs/www/
− Migration Policy Institute’s Migration Information Source at
http://www.migrationinformation.org/, and its section on interpreting the
American Community Survey data at
http://www.migrationinformation.org/DataHub/acscensus.cfm
− Office of Refugee Resettlement’s (ORR) annual reports to Congress (latest
report available online: 2005) at
http://www.acf.hhs.gov/programs/orr/data/arc_05.htm
2. Major Legislation & Events Affecting Immigrants
1875: First federal law restricting immigration enacted
1882: Chinese Exclusion Act and restrictive immigration law enacted
1885: Alien Contract Labor Act barred employers from importing alien laborers
1889: Jane Addams’ Hull-House settlement opened in Chicago
1892: Ellis Island opened in New York to process increasing numbers of new immigrants
1893-1897: Severe economic depression; Bureau of Immigration established (1894);
President Cleveland vetoed literacy test legislation (1897)
1903: Additional laws restricting immigration enacted
1906: First ever English language ability requirement for citizenship; Bureau of
Immigration and Naturalization established
1907: Immigration numbers peaked; additional laws restricting immigration enacted
1910: Angel Island immigrant depot opened in San Francisco Bay
1915: July 4 - Americanization Day celebrated across the U.S.
1917: U.S. entered World War I, three years after it began in Europe; literacy test
legislation for new immigrants passed over presidential veto
1921: Immigration Quota Act limiting numbers of immigrants based on nationality enacted
3. English Language Instruction Providers
 Community-based and private organizations
 Federal agencies
 Ethnic organizations
 Factories and industry
 Public schools and local education agencies
 Hull House and other settlements
3. Providers: Community and Private Organizations
This announcement for new adult ESL classes for men was created by a
community-based adult ESL program in Wilmington, Delaware in 1918
(Hart & Burnett, 1919).
3. Providers: Community-based and Private
Organizations
 North American Civic League for Immigrants; Immigrants
Protective League; California Commission of Immigration and
Housing
 YMCA – Began the push for workplace ESL in 1906
 YWCA – Began creating International Institutes in 1910
 Daughters and Sons of the American Revolution – Distributed
pamphlets about good citizenship and learning English
 Buffalo, NY – Residents wore buttons saying, “I am making
Buffalo a Christmas present. Ask me.” indicating that they had
donated $1 to help pay for an immigrant’s English instruction.
(Alexander, 2007; Leiserson, 1924; McClymer, 1986; Mohl, 1986;
Seller, 1978)
3. Providers: Federal Agencies
Cover of the1921
government-issued citizenship
textbook
(source: Library of Congress)
3. Providers: Federal Agencies
 National Americanization Committee
 Federal Bureau of Education
 Department of Immigration and Naturalization
 Council of National Defense
 Committee on Public Information
3. Providers: Ethnic Organizations
By many accounts, immigrants’ own organizations and institutions
did more to assimilate them into American life than community or
state-run instructional programs.
Here, a Finnish folk dance group from Negaunee, Michigan, ca.
1915. Available at
http://digital.lib.umn.edu/IMAGES/reference/im/im169368.jpg
3. Providers: Ethnic Organizations
Immigrants often lived in boarding houses, where they shared both
close quarters and advice/information about living and
working in the United States.
Here, a group of Finnish boarders in Chisholm, Minnesota, 1906.
Available at
http://digital.lib.umn.edu/IMAGES/reference/im/im169467.jpg
3. Providers: Ethnic Organizations
“Polish
Neighborhood
life
University” of
Chicago (Founded 1910): “Some
that and
we immigrants
Americans
Literary think…
societies
institutescan comprehend only
such thoughts as ‘I see a cat; the cat is black; -- as the teachers
inFraternal
the eveninglodges
schools make grown men repeat. But the minds
of most immigrants are not so feeble as that. For the poor man,
America
Music isand
cultural circlesWe believe in work, all right, but
all work-work-work.
want thought
and education to go along with it. So we took
weWomen’s
organizations
up questions about the beginning of things – the creation of the
world,
Churches
(e.g.,
Catholicprimitive
church’s
“Civics
the theory
of evolution,
man,
the development of
catechism
rights
andin duties
American
language
… Allon
thethe
lectures
were
Polish…ofGradually
we came
tocitizens”)
subjects connected with America and with civic problems. But
we do more than have lectures. We go and see for
here
Theaters
ourselves how civic agencies work… We Socialists have not
particularly
to spread our propaganda… We haven’t
tried
Citizens
Clubs
preached ‘Americanization,’ either … [but] if what America wants
is Unions
andthink
socialist
people who
and actgroups
for themselves, then we’re doing
Americanization.”
Foreign press(Cited in Seller, 1978)
3. Providers: Ethnic Organizations
St. Joseph Society members at the St. Casimir Church, St. Paul,
Minnesota, 1918.
Available at
http://digital.lib.umn.edu/IMAGES/reference/im/im000151.jpg
3. Providers: Factories and Industry
3. Providers: Factories and Industry
 YMCA workplace
classes
(1906)in 1915, and by 1918, the
“The Americanization
movement had
been in launched
factory-class idea had been “sold,” as an idea. Factory classes sprang up on
Ford
English
School
(1913)
all
sides,
flourished
for a brief
period,
and in a discouragingly large number of
cases, died. It was the time when everyone relied on enthusiasm, and
 “The
non-English
speaking
is recognized
practically
nothing
else, to get this
job done. worker
Anybody could
teach. Make
as 100
a potential
sourceand
of disturbance
or waste,
everybody
per cent American,
do it overnight! Speaking
English will
win the largely
War! Andbecause
so on.” (Leiserson,
1924, p.122)
it is difficult
to convey to him the
intentions of the management when there are
just instructions regarding safety, health, and
other conditions of employment.” (Leiserson,
1924, p.120)

“Primary and fundamental duty resting upon all
American employers”
3. Providers: Public Schools and Local
Education Agencies
 1901 and on: NYC, Chicago, Detroit, Cleveland, Philadelphia,
Buffalo
 1914: 253 places in 10 states with large foreign-born populations
had classes; 1919: 504 places
 1916: First statewide education program began in NY
 Early 1920s: less than 2% of population attending night school;
male-female ration of 3:1
 Different content areas for men and women
 Very low participation, attendance, and persistence rates in night
schools
(Alexander, 2007; McClymer, 1986; Sellers, 1978)
3. Providers: Hull House and Other Settlements
Family living close to Hull House, 1892.
Source:
www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/US
Ahullhouse.htm
Hull House parlor and reception area
(Glowacki & Hendry, 2004)
3. Providers: Hull House
 “The teacher in a Settlement is constantly put upon his
mettle to discover methods of instruction which shall
make knowledge quickly available to his pupils, and I
should like here to pay my tribute of admiration to the
dean of our educational department, Miss Landsberg,
and to the many men and women who every winter
come regularly to Hull-House, putting untiring energy
into the endless task of teaching the newly arrived
immigrant the first use of language of which he has
such desperate need. Even a meager knowledge of
English may mean an opportunity to work in a factory
versus nonemployment, or it may mean a question of
life or death when a sharp command must be
understood in order to avoid the danger of a
descending crane.” (Addams, 1910, p. 286)
3. Providers: Hull House Residents
 Experience abroad
 Diversity of religious creeds
 Up to 40 residents at a time; most stayed for 12+
years. Doctors, attorneys, newspapermen,
businessmen, teachers, scientists, researchers,
artists, musicians, trades people, lecturers,
juvenile advocates, immigrant advocates,
labor/union advocates, sanitary inspector.
(Knight, 2005)
3. Providers: Americanization Efforts
Ford Motor Company’s employees:
“Before” and “After” the institution of the
Five Dollar Day Plan and living
assistance from the Sociological
Department. Available
http://www.autolife.umd.umich.edu/Race/
R_Overview/Sociological_Depart.htm
4. Americanization Efforts
 Assimilation (cultural, linguistic, physical)
people feared that new immigrants would not assimilate into
Some
“Birds
of passage” exploiting America
American society: “The coming in of people who will not be
assimilated
creates of
discord
and
makes
separate
classes
societal attitudes
the day
did
not look
favorably
on or
Many
Anti-hyphenism
castes
in aemployees:
community…
may, therefore,
besaid
assumed
that the
immigrant
“InItgeneral,
it may be
that the
immigrant
whoeastern
cannotof
beaid…
adjusted
a reasonable
degree
of
southern
and
European
often
not intend
to remain
 “Each
contributor
iswith
a does
center
of radiating
readiness
to the
customs
and
institutions
of
his adopted
country
permanently
in
the
country
or
at
the
work
in
which
he
is
engaged.
influence
and publicity.
Everyone
likes to
tell
what
brings
an undesirable
theas
community
and
would
His primary
object is toelement
earn asinto
much
possible within
a limited
hebetter
is doing
to
further
Americanization”
be
excluded.
Those
immigrants
who can readily
be at
period
of time
under
the conditions
of employment
obtaining
assimilated
will be desirable,
if their
energy
is needed
to develop
(Schermerhorn,
1923,
15)
the time he begins
his
work. p.
He
is not
looking
to advancement
in
the
of the country
to gaining
good advantage,
thoa(sic)
it may
the resources
scale of occupations,
or to
permanently
position
in
be
if they
come
inmanufacturing…
so large
thatgreat
regardless
 “Everything
that
touches
the numbers
immigrant’s
life
is an
anyinjurious
branch of
mining
or of
The
mass
ofof
their
personalworkmen
qualifications
they
canranks
not beofassimilated.”
foreign-born
remain
in the
unskilled,
or (Jenks
semiinstrumentality
for his
Americanization
or the
&
Lauck,
1922, pp.(Jenks
331-332)
skilled,
laborers.”
& Lauck, 1922,
p. 335)
reverse”
(cited in McClymer,
1982,
p. 114)
 Americanization through the pay envelope
4. Americanization Efforts
 Federal Bureau of Immigration and Naturalization
– citizenship requirements
 Congress and the “Literacy Act” and the “Quota
Act”
− “Immigrant inspectors shall be furnished with slips of
uniform size, prepared under the direction of the
Secretary of Labor, each containing not less than thirty
nor more than forty words in ordinary use, printed in
plainly legible type in some one of the various languages
or dialects of immigrants. Each alien may designate the
particular language or dialect in which he desires the
examination to be made, and shall be required to read the
words printed on the slip in such language or dialect…
[some exceptions]” (Jenks & Lauck, 1922, p. 425)
 Industry (see Leiserson, 1924)
5. Anti-Americanization Efforts and Support
War brides at the International Institute of
St. Louis, 1947. Available from
http://digital.lib.umn.edu/IMAGES/refe
rence/im/im000234.jpg
5. Anti-Americanization Efforts and Support

International Institutes (see Mohl, 1982)

Immigrant groups and foreign press (see Seller, 1978)

“Immigrants
treated as economic
because
of trends
the
Chicago’sare
Yiddish-language
Daily commodities
Courier was against
the
work
they can
do. As long as of
they
remain docile
doat
not
toward
“Americanization”
immigrants:
“… itand
is not
allreact
against
untoward
conditions,
they areand
tolerated
in large
numbers.
necessary
for the
liberty, security,
prosperity
of America
to For
instance,
large numbers
of a
Mexicans
in the
Southwest
fuse alldespite
the nationalities
here to
point where
they
will lose today,
their
no Americans
are particularly
disturbed
thethey
presence
these
identity completely…It
is much
betterby
that
shouldoftreasure
noticeably
different
peoples.
In fact,
largerwith
numbers
are being
dearly the
inheritance
which
theystill
brought
them from
the old
sought.
As (McClymer,
long as unskilled
laborers, of any race, remain
world.”
1982,immigrant
pp. 110-111)
“in their place,” amenable to control, all goes well…It is announced,
perhaps, that he must not use his own language or that he is to be
‘Americanized,’ and he promptly discovers that his homeland culture
possesses an unsuspected preciousness.” (Bogardus, 1928, pp. 8-9)

Americanization by example (see Schermerhorn, 1923)
6. Instructional Methods and Materials

YMCA and Roberts method (1907)
 Direct method

Home classes for mothers
6. Instructional Methods and Materials
This letter was used by a community-based Delaware program in
1919 to recruit students. It was sent out in the immigrants’
languages through their children’s schools.
From Hart & Burnett (1919)
6. Instructional Methods and Materials
This letter was used by a community-based Delaware program in
1919 to recruit students. It was sent out in the immigrants’
languages through local factories and employers.
From Hart & Burnett (1919)
6. Instructional Methods and Materials
Source: Brown (1918)
6. Instructional Methods and Materials
Source: The Division of Americanization, State of Ohio (1922)
6. Instructional Methods and Materials
Examples of “direct method” strategies of instruction.
Photo: Hart & Burnett (1919)
Text: Brown (1918)
6. Instructional Methods and Materials
Example of text for a reading lesson.
Source: Brown (1918)
6. Instructional Methods and Materials
Sample textbook page from the Federal Citizenship Textbook (Part
III), Crist (1921)
6. Instructional Methods: Factory Classes
“The Ford English school’s elaborate graduate ceremony …
reflected both the symbolic and increasingly coercive nature of the
Americanization movement not only in the Ford plant but also in the
country as a whole. For commencement, graduates, dressed in
gaudy ‘old world’ costumes and carrying signs identifying their
native lands, went down into a huge receptacle labeled ‘melting pot.’
The school’s instructors stirred the pot with huge ladles. Then, the
men, wearing identical ‘American’ suits and waving a small
American flag, filed out from each side of the huge pot” (Alexander,
2007, p. 222).
Photo credit:
http://www.autolife.umd.umich.edu/Labor/L_Overview/FordEnglishS
chool.htm
Factory Classes

“Lessons in citizenship are taken up as soon as the men
have a fair understanding of English. Citizenship is taught
by what the instructor calls the dramatic method. Five
lessons each represent a year of the naturalization period.
The students go through naturalization proceedings, with
witnesses, giving evidence of their residence in this
country and attending to other details. One of their number
acts as a judge. After they have been ‘naturalized’ they
become ‘citizens] – for classroom purposes. The class is
next organized into wards – a ward in each aisle in the
schoolroom. Aldermen and a mayor are elected, and
debates and conversations conducted which bring out the
various duties and privileges of American citizenship. ‘The
plan gives everyone in the class something to do,’ explains
their teacher. ‘We get them to working, to talking, making
speeches. The rest is easy. They learn from one another’.”
(Leiserson, 1924, p. 124)
Home classes for immigrant mothers were often the only way that
women received English language instruction. “The foreign-born
mother has been the last member of the family to be considered
worthy of education” (University of the State of New York, 1920, p.
1).
Home Classes for Mothers (Source: University of the
State of New York, 1920)
 “The learning of the English language should be used merely
as a vehicle for the clear understanding of American ways,
American ideals, and American institutions.” – Secretary of
the Interior, 1920
 The home: Hunting a good location; A window in every room;
Sunshine and health; Protection against fire; A good kitchen
and living room; Keeping out mosquitoes and flies; Tenement
house laws; Opening windows for ventilation
 Food: Setting the table; Box lunches; Simple refreshments for
a party; A family breakfast, luncheon, supper, or dinner
 Clothing: Suitable play clothes; Dressing a doll
 Esthetic environment: The garden; The walls of the house;
Harmonious colors for a room; Making box furniture attractive
Home Classes for Mothers (Source: University of the
State of New York, 1920)
 The baby: Feeding and weighing; Going to the clinic;
Playing with the baby; Simple lullabies; Learning to
walk; The baby a citizen
 Children: Keeping children well; Providing children with
handkerchiefs; Food for an invalid child; Children’s
sleep; Physical effects of tea and coffee; Physical
effects of moving pictures; The mother and the school
 The mother and the larger community: How the library
helps the family; Going to the moving picture show;
Telling time; Buying a ticket; Keeping a family budget;
Holidays
“Italian mothers learn to make a bed”
Source: Hart & Burnett, 1919
Sample assessment for beginning level students.
Source: Hart & Burnett (1919)
Sample assessment for intermediate level students.
Source: Hart & Burnett (1919)
Sample assessment for intermediate level students (continued).
Source: Hart & Burnett (1919)
Suggestions for teachers to close the class
Source: Division of Americanization, State of Ohio (1922)
“Suggestions to Teachers” (Brown, 1918)
1. Have your methods and material meet the peculiar needs of your own
locality.
2. Be sure you have a plan book and a time schedule.
3. Prepare all lessons systematically. Do not use a “hit or miss” scheme.
4. Teach patriotic songs and memory gems to inspire a proper American
spirit.
5. Hide your chair when you enter the room. Walk about among your
pupils.
6. Make your classroom a busy workshop. Have it buzzing all evening.
7. Be a “dramatic” teacher.
8. Be sympathetic, humorous, cheerful, courteous, encouraging, patient.
9. Don’t let a student miss a session without knowing the reason. Don’t
give him a start in “cutting.”
10. Don’t be a slave to the textbook.
11. Have real, every-day conversation lessons, something that the pupils
may use when they leave the class at night.
What Seemed to Work
 Relevant topics
 Personal talks and opportunities for advancement
and increased pay on the job
 Native language teachers
 Slower pace of lessons
What Didn’t Seem to Work
 Compulsory attendance in factory classes
 Untrained teachers
 Use of children’s materials
 Inadequate facilities
 Lack of research: “No systematic effort has ever
been made to work out the best methods… We
have little definite usable knowledge of the varying
characteristics of the several races. We are
ignorant even of the surest and quickest way to
teach them to speak and understand English”
(cited in McClymer, 1982)
 Americanization classes, not education
Some Thoughts
 Let’s learn from history: How did immigrants and ethnic groups
initiate and implement their own successful programs?
 Methods and contexts for instruction need to change according
to the needs of immigrants.
 We still struggle with some misconceptions, e.g., “Anyone can
teach English.”
 Low enrollment and persistence is still a problem.
 What do we base our beliefs about language teaching and
learning on now?
 We have made a lot of progress!
What Will History Say About Us And…
 … our enrollment statistics and
attendance/persistence rates?
 … accountability requirements like the NRS?
 … the training of teachers?
 … research on language learning and teaching?
 … funding for adult education?
 … immigration policies and controversies in 20062008 and on?
 … data to better understand the needs of
immigrant populations?
Thank You!
Sarah Young
syoung@cal.org
www.cal.org and www.cal.org/caela