Influences in the classroom of English as a second language (ESL) are briefly reviewed as a preface to a discussion of the past, present, and future of ESL instruction in Canada. Ten influences on ESL's past are examined in terms of their effects on ESL teachers: international, national, social, political, economic, commercial, media, institutional, pedagogical, and professional forces. Knowledge about the present state of ESL is then categorized into (1) content and (2) trends and fads, and outlined as areas of interest to ESL teachers. In a discussion of the future of the profession, 12 questions are posed for teachers to use in forming their own predictions. They address such issues as world events that may affect the profession, the world's need and use for English instruction, federal and provincial government policies, the ESL teacher's role and business, implications of national statistics for English instruction, trend-setting regions and cities in Canada and what they are doing and saying, topics of discussion in professional journals, implications of new knowledge and technology, the results of changes in the last five years of ESL, current institutional changes and their effect on ESL, shifts in the power base affecting the future of the profession, and the acceleration or deceleration of change. (MSE)