Adult ESOL Learners with Emerging Literacy

Robin Lovrien Schwarz,

M. Sp.Ed: LD; Ph.D.

Consultant in Adult ESOL

and Learning Difficulties

Introduction Learners with little or no literacy and who are attempting

to gain literacy in a new language present a special challenge to teachers.

In this webinar, you will learn what research tells uso About adults who have

never been to school o How acquiring literacy

changes the braino What this all means in thinking

about how to teach these learners to read.

Who are These Learners?Persons with NO prior formal education

in ANY language

They are NOT persons Who are literate in a non-Roman

alphabet (e.g. Thai, Chinese, Arabic)

With limited or interrupted education in another language

Who went to school but did not succeed in becoming literate

They are Similar to Literate Learners in Many

Ways:oFrom many different culture and

language backgroundsoAll ages --young adult to elderly oMay already be bi/multilingual

o Survivors/strong/lots of life experienceso Often successful workers/community

members/parentso Have similar goals-- learn English to integrate

better, keep or get better jobs, education

QuickTime™ and aTIFF (Uncompressed) decompressorare needed to see this picture.

Differences are Significant

“Learning to read and write is a revolution in the brain.”

Castro-Caldas & Reis, 2003

When We Learn a Writing System….

We learn… o Visual images of letters o Visual sequences of letters and words o To recognize individual sounds in wordso To associate letters with sounds, words with pictures o About grouping, finding similarities (e.g. all things

that begin with the letter….)o To think of words as “things” that can be manipulated

for more meaning o To use both sides of the brain to understando And generally to organize incoming information

Literacy Organizes the Brain:

o “…Schooling and in particular the knowledge of orthography introduces in the brain new strategies for information processing…” (Castro-Caldas & Reis, 2003)

o “…Learning to read and write during childhood influences the functional organization of the adult human brain.” (Castro-Caldas, Petersson, Reis, Stone-Elander & Ingvar,1998)

o “…Brains of illiterate subjects show patterns of activation that are different from those of literate subjects, thus reflecting that environmental conditions can influence brain organization.” (Ostroski-Solis, Garcia & Perez, 2004)

In Other Words…

According to researchers, the brain learns not only the elements of the written system…

but it also learns to organize incoming information according to the writing system being learned: For example, readers of English learn to scan visual fields from upper left corner; readers of Arabic scan visual fields from upper right.

Information is no longer random in the brain

Adult Non-literates Have Not Developed Most School Skills

£ Awareness of individual sounds in words; a sense of language associated with print

£ Visual processing and discrimination skills (e.g. seeing what is important in pictures, seeing differences in letters and words)

£ Fine motor skills (for holding writing utensils, writing on lines, in boxes,)

£ Thinking and processing skills which are learned in school

School is Difficult Some observed behaviors in non/low literate learners:

Not knowing how to hold a book Difficulty finding where to look on a page Confusion about seeing patterns in workbooks,

spelling; not understanding that pages are in sequence

Slowness or difficulty in writing, copying Extreme difficulty in retaining information

Alphabet/sounds of letters Names of things--colors, body parts,

Slowness or difficulty in generalizing/applying learning

And Then There is Adult Learning/ Language

Learning….Neuroscience tells us clearly: Adult brain processes more slowly Adult brain has much harder time

perceiving and processing new speech sounds: Language acquisition is often very slow and difficult for adults.

Adults attempting literacy in a new language must also contend with new sounds, unfamiliar vocabulary, etc.

Another Language Complication

Adult NL/LLs:No concept of grammar, organization of language No language of language (how to talk about parts,

elements of language) No knowledge of terms for anything ABOUT

language (grammar terms, writing conventions) If L1 is unwritten, these terms do not even

exist in those languages

Think About How LL Learners are Usually

Taught…..Alphabet--often both cases at once (about 44

different symbols if using print) Pictures, drawingsCopying letters, writing personal information

Using lines Using specific spaces on paper

Oral skills ( new words, speech sounds)Concept of correctness of language, spellingLiteracy, language terms: Capitals, punctuation,

grammar terms etc.

Yet We Know That….

A non-literate person’s brain is not ready for all of that…..

So where to start??

AT THE BEGINNING!

We Are NOT Refreshing or Extending Skills!

Must start at very beginning in terms of pre-literacy skills

Do it in a way that honors adultsNo rushing or skipping over thingsOlder brain can learn BUT difficult to create

new neural pathways No benchmarks for rate of learning--individual

progress is measured

Think about How Children Learn to Read and Write:

Spend a long time learning, using, playing with language Songs, rhymes, games, talking to family & peers

Learn to interpret pictures from young ageLearn early to identify and associate

individual sounds with letters (alphabet books)

Many activities to build fine motor skills so can hold, manipulate pencils, pens, markers

Children Learning to Read English…

Do not begin focusing on middle and final sounds until pre-school or kindergarten

Read and write ONLY words they know well

Use many media to learn letters, sequences, visual discrimination: clay, wooden alphabets, paint, sand for tactile input to learn letters

Multiple Ways of Learning= Better LearningTry this: Have someone “write” an

alphabet letter on your back without telling you what it is.

Can you identify it?? This is because you have more than

visual memory of letters--tactile, big muscle, kinesthetic memory,too

Your learners need this input, too!!

Four Important Areas to Address:

ORAL ENGLISH SKILLS

VISUAL DISCRIMINATION AND PERCEPTION

FINE MOTOR SKILLS

AUDITORY DISCRIMINATION SKILLS (BASIC PHONOLOGICAL AWARENESS)

ORAL SKILLS

Keep it REAL: REAL Items in THEIR environment Experiences (visit a grocery store, a health center, a

clothing store, a pharmacy) Situations: THEIR jobs, transportation, People: family (REAL family!!) classmates, teachers,

members of their community Build receptive skills: Total Physical Response (TPR)

Visual Skills:Use colored photographs (use the internet for

these!! (like previous slide!))Take pictures of people, places learners knowAvoid using pictures that are NOT about them

or people, places they can identify Play visual bingo: students place markers on

items named in a pictureMatch pictures to real items, then to drawings of

same item to help understand drawings,picturesIntroduce letters by just finding one that is

different in size, then different letter --LOTS

Fine Motor Skills

Need to strengthen muscles in hand to hold and manipulate writing utensils Start with “fat” chalk, markers, pencils, pencil grips Use newsprint and encourage large motor

movements--big circles, parallel lines, etc. Use kindergarten lined paper--BIG lines to begin

copying one or two letters at a time. Have learners copy MANY times until more

automatic; back up to review every day before adding new (They won’t be bored…..)

Use children’s activity books: mazes, follow-the-dot etc. to build strength and skill

Auditory Discrimination Skills

Start with hearing “same” or “different” when listening to words --very easy, gradually harder (first letter different)

Have learners count words in EVERYTHING you say to them, every response they must say to you ---count on fingers

Speak SLOWLY!! Enunciate!!Stress phonological skills: first sounds,

syllables (of words they are learning); final sounds, rhyme (be CAREFUL of term)

Auditory Discrimination in Grammar

Do not teach grammar directly (remember, they have NO idea what grammar IS as a language concept--We do not study it until we can speak, read and write the language….)

Instead, focus on the minimal-pair aspect of grammar: hearing the small difference that changes meaning: read/reads; his/he’s; man/men; eat/ate; talk/talked Do same/different until they can do it WELL--will

increase their comprehension enormously, and production will be more accurate.

Always Move from Concrete to Abstract:

Use objects to teach first sound concept;Then use objects to teach concept of “middle”

and “final” sounds:Use three objects students knowLine them up. Indicate the “beginning” (left end)Then show beginning, middle final, using objectsAsk students to change them around :Put cup in

the middle; put pencil at the end. Keep directions simple, consistent. Switch to alphabet letters when the concept

seems clear.

Some More Tips:Very gradually have students build up

sight word knowledge: Survival words, family names, words they

see in their environment (Street names, name of the school, names of stores)

These are learned like pictures. Students learn to pronounce by listening to you, NOT by sounding out.

As motor skills develop, they can add to learning by copying these words.

More on Sight Words

Sight words are IN ADDITION TO all the other skills they are learning.

As they gain mastery of beginning sounds, sight words can be sorted that way;

Sight words can be part of the auditory discrimination practice--same/different

Help student make visual record of sight words learned: stickers, bar graph (concept, not whole graph), words on a ring, etc.

Here’s an Idea:Non-literate persons are mostly unaware of

print in their environment. As your learners master some sight words in the classroom, create a scavenger hunt for them outside of the classroom:Make sure you have words that are easily found: Exit,

Men, Women, Stop, Street, One Way, Hours, etc. Students have words on a list and cross them off or

put a sticker next to each one they find outside the classroom.

Be sure to teach them how to do this. Do it in the classroom with them, and then outside the classroom with them until they catch on.

Acquiring Skills is NOT Boring!

Don’t be afraid to have learners practice skills in many ways! For example: sort pictures by beginning sound

(and learn the items in the pictures); play bingo with beginning sounds/pictures; make collages of pictures beginning with one sound

They will be motivated by their improvement and by increasing understanding of what they are doing.

All these activities involve school skills,too

Moving into “Real” Reading

Without automaticity in these basic skills, reading and writing will remain difficult!!

Use sight words to make simple sentences. Keep reading highly personal, relevant, concrete

until you sense that the concept that reading conveys a message is being understood.

Calling words is NOT reading!! Sounding out words is NOT reading!!Using text to get information IS reading.

Thank you!

This has been a quick overview of a VERY complex issue.

I hope you have gotten enough information to know that you need to Start at the VERY beginning Move slowly Address all learning channels Enjoy watching adults begin to move into literacy!!

Bibliography/Resources

Building Phonological Awareness(These are not specifically for non/preliterate adult ESOL, but have excellent ideas--even

pictures, to show how phonological skill building is done.--Just avoid using ideas needing TEXT.)

Tolman, C. (2005). "Working Smarter, Not Harder: What Teachers of Reading Need to Know and Be Able to Teach." Perspectives 31(4): 15-23.

Edelen-Smith, P. (1997). "How Now Brown Cow: Phoneme Awareness Activities for Collaborative Classrooms." Intervention in School and Clinic 33(2): 103-111.

www.bdainternationalconference.org/2001/presentations/thu_p1_b_2.htm

Resources, Cont. Adult English Language Learners with Limited Literacy. Martha

Bigelow and Robin Lovrien Schwarz.

Reading and Adult English Language Learners: The Role of the First Language:

http://www.cal.org/caela/esl_resources/digests/reading.html

Teaching Low Level Adult ESL Learners:

www.cal.org/cae la/esl_resources/digests/HOLT.html

What Non Readers or Beginning Readers Need to Know:

www.springinstitute.org/Files/whatnonreaders2.pdf

Resources, cont.

American Handwriting Slow and Easy, Janette Haynes (out of print--locate at Amazon.com/textbooks)

Making It Real: Teaching Pre-Literate Adult Refugee Students, Croyden, Treat & Bell--Tacoma Community House Training Project