English language learning for adult migrants in superdiverse Britain

Abstract

This chapter concerns policy response to linguistic diversity, as it relates to the provision of opportunities for learning English. It also discusses policies, the ideologies, discourses and social realities that have contributed to their development. Britain's superdiverse urban centres now host multilingual and multicultural populations from potentially anywhere in the world. The following section examines the Skills for Life policy, a major government initiative within which English for Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL) in England and Wales was located for a decade at the beginning of the twenty-first century, and its legacy for both learners and teachers. English language education and testing have become progressively intertwined with immigration policy: English language professionals have usually unwillingly found themselves involved in questionable and problematic testing practices, ones in which test scores are employed for immigration control. Finally, the chapter suggests the diversity associated with globalisation presents challenges to the identity of 'ESOL' as a field.