IntroductionOver the last 30 years, research into English-as-a-second-language (ESL) acquisition and instruction has expanded exponentially. As comprehensive and varied as much of the research in ESL is, little of what has been written addresses the ethical considerations inherent in and raised by ESL research. In contrast, ethical considerations for research are being discussed in various other disciplines such as medicine and nursing (Edwards, Lilford, Thornton, & Hewison, 1998;Turale, 2006), psychology and psychological counseling (Fisher, 2004;Stuart, 1998;West, 2002), Aboriginal studies (Ellis & Earley, 2006;Piquemal, 2001), and anthropology (Gottlieb, 1997). By extension, therefore, it seems appropriate that ethical issues in ESL research should also be identified and examined, especially because much of the research in ESL is conducted by teacher-researchers and/or researchers in countries where ethical concerns may not be addressed formally or by encompassing human 2 JOANNA KOULOURIOTIS rights legislation. However, even in countries such as Canada where all universities have research ethics boards (REBs), it is important to investigate whether the ethics protocols laid out by university REBs adequately address the needs of researchers working with participants who are non-native speakers of English.The purpose of this study was to investigate the ethical concerns of researchers in the education faculty at a Canadian Prairie university whose participants are frequently non-native speakers of English and to consider these concerns in the light of the REB protocols in this university. Specifically, this study aimed to determine what ESL researchers considered the most salient ethical issues when conducting research with participants for whom English is not a first language-such as international students, newcomers or immigrants to Canada, and Aboriginal people-and to explore how researchers address these issues. This study also sought to investigate whether researchers felt that the ethical requirements laid out by the REB at this university sufficiently addressed the needs and concerns of education researchers working with non-native English-speaking participants. My specific research question is: What are the main ethical concerns of researchers who conduct research with non-native speakers of English? Additional research questions include: How do researchers address these ethical concerns or issues in their own research? How sufficiently do REBs such as the education REB at this university address these concerns?