Marjorie--I think the studies Elaine Tarone refers to, plus others that have been done on adult illiterates shed some light on this issue.  Elaine referred to these a few posts ago in response to Steve Kaufman.   Castro-Caldes, one of the researchers who has done several studies on adult non-literates, says that education/literacy is literally a "revolution in the brain"--that is, the effects of learning to learn and organizing learning into systems are almost limitless.  

Other studies give more indication of what that means.  Several studies indicate that illiterates, for example, do not scan visual fields in the same way that literate persons do-- a HUGE implication for the way we teach, since we assume that anyone looking at a page is looking at it in the same way we are-- nor do they visually notice the things that literate persons are likely to notice.   A report from a literacy program in Nepal noted that the illiterates in that program did not understand stories in pictures.  They had to be taught frame by frame about the story before they could put it together as a visual sequence.   

The studies indicating that non-literates have normally less-developed phonological skills (e.g. they do not identify internal phonemes in words presumably because they do not yet have the information to think about words as visual things with chunks that can be isolated and manipulated) tell us that to teach these learners, we need to start at the very beginning in terms of20phonological awareness, just as pre-kindergarten students are taught.   In English, a child at the end of first grade can fully identify words in oral sentences, phonemes in words, move phonemes around and both recognize and produce rhyme, all skills well documented to be critical to competent reading in English.   If non-literate learners do not have these skills, they will struggle in many ways as they attempt to learn literacy. Furthermore, these skills need to be taught in the context of establishing a broad verbal base in English before the learners are faced with visual materials and text. (See the wise comments on this and suggestions for building skills from the very beginning in the Tacoma, WA handbook, " Keeping it Real). One nice study out of West Africa, designed to address the lack of phonological awareness an uneducated adult necessarily has, showed that adults becoming literate did far better when their phonological awareness was strengthened systematically. 
  
Not only is the "revolution in the brain" about how the brain learns, but also about how the learner learns.   Persons with no exposure to formal education are likely to be unaware of the purpose of activities they are asked to do in the classroom, so time should be taken to help them thoroughly understand what they need to do to learn something.  For example, in our school, where we have large numbers of persons with no prior education,  learners often continue to copy very very slowly, thinking that accuracy
 in forming letters and copying words is what is wanted.   These learners often need a lot of demonstration and convincing, along with an awful lot of chances to strengthen their fine motor muscles, in order to get them to try to write a little faster.  


>From my experience, and through close observation of non-literate persons, study of reports of what works with them and ransacking of the literature,  I contend that rarely do educators start back far enough in the critical pre-literacy skills of visual discrimination and visual motor integration, phonological awareness and fine motor skills, along with basic school skills for these learners.   To put it bluntly, starting with the alphabet is like starting in graduate school for these non-literate brains.  Much work needs to be done before the alphabet makes sense to these learners.   (And it doesn't help that the alphabet is invariably taught with both cases at once, which means that learners are trying to learn about 42 dfferent symbols, not 26, and have no basis for understanding why letters need to be different sizes or different letters need to be used).


I have written here before of evidence that the effects of non-literacy linger for a while and even students who appear to be surviving and progressing in literacy are still very confused by the variety of ways to complete activities on worksheets, in books and in class-- which goes back to the visual scanning issues mentioned at the beginning of these comments. 
 

So yes, there IS different neurological wiring in the non-literate brain because it has not yet attained the neurological pathways and circuits that literacy builds.  Add to that the reduced plasticity of the older brain and that literacy is being learned in a new language which neuroscience tells us is much harder for the adult brain to hear and process, and the picture indicates clearly that learning literacy is going to be effortful and slower than we might hope for these learners. 

While no one study is broad enough to cover all of these factors, the cumulative evidence is persuasive as to this need to start slowly and at the real beginning.  

Robin Lovrien Schwarz, Independent Consultant in Adult ESOL/Education and Learning Difficulties


 


 

-----Original Message-----
From: Marjorie Richards <marjorie03 at earthlink.net>
To: 'The Adult English Language Learners Discussion List' <englishlanguage at nifl.gov>
Sent: Sat, 21 Mar 2009 12:42 am
Subject: [EnglishLanguage 4073] Re: Post critical period oral L2 learning ofadults w/low L1 litearcy

























I want to know if there have been any
studies on “induced constraint” with literacy as with stroke
victims.  Is it possible that the neurons are recruited away from literacy
tasks and must be “induced” to remap?  My experience with
preliterate students suggest that it is not just a lack of information or that
the students need repition, there is something different about the=2
0way they
process the information.  It seems like the work being done in congnitive
science could really inform literacy studies.  Does anyone know about any
research like this going on?  



 



Marjorie Richards



Southwest Youth & Family Services



Seattle, WA



 



-----Original Message-----

From:
englishlanguage-bounces at nifl.gov [mailto:englishlanguage-bounces at nifl.gov] On Behalf Of Rebeca Fernandez

Sent: Friday, March 20, 2009 10:22
AM

To: The Adult English Language
Learners Discussion List

Subject: [EnglishLanguage 4064]
Re: Post critical period oral L2 learning ofadults w/low L1 litearcy



 



I
would like a copy of these studies also. I had a meeting today in which someone
asserted that teaching adults to read was no different than teaching children
to read. I disagreed but I had no supporting evidence except my Adult ESL
experience and preK-9 teaching background. Also, the American Institutes for
Research is looking at adult ESL literacy (but not comparing it childhood
literacy—yet).



 



Thank
you,



 



Rebeca
Fernandez



Central
Piedmont Community College



Charlotte,
NC



 









From: Dawson,
Lucy [mailto:lucy.dawson at abileneisd.org] 

Sent: Friday, March 20, 2009 12:34
PM

To: 'The Adult English Language
Learners Discussion List'

Subject: [EnglishLanguage 4059]
Re: Post critical period oral L2 learning of adults w/low L1 litearcy









 



I would like a copy of
some of20these studies.  We will soon be submitting grants to fund a
program for non-literate students in our city, and this information would be
helpful.  Thank you!



  Lucy Dawson



  Adult Education



  Abilene, TX



 
















From:
englishlanguage-bounces at nifl.gov [mailto:englishlanguage-bounces at nifl.gov] On Behalf Of Elaine Tarone

Sent: Wednesday, January 28, 2009
7:28 AM

To: The Adult English Language
Learners Discussion List

Subject: [EnglishLanguage 3665]
Re: Post critical period oral L2 learning of adults w/low L1 litearcy






 









There is research demonstrating significant
differences in cognitive processing between matched groups of literate and
illiterate adults.  I can send copies of these studies to anyone who is
interested. 









 









These studies suggest that we need to be very cautious
in making generalizations about the way illiterate adults' brains process and
acquire second languages.  









 









In the meantime, it is very important to do what we
are doing in this discussion -- share information on what works in classrooms,
and what doesn't.  









 









 









On Jan 27, 2009, at 8:46 PM, Steve Kaufmann wrote:






 



I 
believe that our brain will, with enough exposure to content that is relevant
and interesting, start to sort out some rules20relating to word order, and other
aspects of the structure of the new language, with or without explicit grammar
explanations and drills. Some degree of grammar review, corrections etc, are
helpful but not necessary, and not as important as the massive input. Most
learners attending ESL language class do not get enough input of English.



Some aspects of a new language may never stick. In English, articles are
difficult for people form languages without articles. The spoken difference
between "he" and "she"  is difficult for well educated
Chinese people, even after ten or more years of grammar study, and even though
the concept is not difficult and universally understood. It  just does not
exist in Chinese, so it is hard to develop the natural ability to say
"she" and "he" when required.




>From my reading and observation, the brain sorts these things out on its

own schedule, and slowly. Explanations and drills are relatively ineffective,
but can help a little. Only lots of input will enable the brain to gradually
get better, as long as there is a will, and the input continues. That has been
my experience in learning Russian over the last 2 years, and that has been the
experience of many others who are prepared to put in the time, listening and
reading, according to what they have told me.



Obviously the non-reader is at a disadvantage. However, intensive listening on
an iPod to content of interest could go a long way. However, I admit I have no
experience with non-literate learne
rs.



Steve Kaufmann

www.lingq.com






On Tue, Jan 27, 2009 at 3:58 PM, Elaine Tarone <etarone at umn.edu> wrote:






It is possible that formal teaching imposes accuracy
standards that are very difficult to attain unless the learner is
alphabetically literate.  I think this is particularly true of grammatical
features that do not dramatically change the semantics, like word order in
questions and final morphemes that are really redundant in context.  
Maybe teachers can find other ways to communicate those standards (like use of
cuisinaire rods to show word order shifts) to make the learner aware of the
difference between their production and the accurate target.






 









 









On Jan 27, 2009, at 5:10 PM, Steve Kaufmann wrote:






 



Is it
possible that formal teaching imposes accuracy standards on learners that are
either not relevant to their own language goals, or applied too soon in their
language development? We all know fluent speakers of English and other
languages who make many mistakes.



Steve Kaufmann

www.lingq.com






On Tue, Jan 27, 2009 at 2:15 PM, Martha Bigelow <mbigelow at umn.edu> wrote:



Anne,



This is fascinating.  Would you happen to have a publication or citation
you could share with the list yet?  I'm sure many would be very interested
to read more, even if it is a handout.  I'm often overwhelmed by the
English language fluency and pragmatic skills of the tee
ns I've worked with.
 But sometimes the transcriptions show surprises!  They are not as
accurate as they seem.



Martha









 











----------------------------------------------------

National Institute for Literacy

Adult English Language Learners mailing list

EnglishLanguage at nifl.gov

To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/englishlanguage

Email delivered to steve at thelinguist.com






 






----------------------------------------------------









National Institute for Literacy









Adult English Language Learners mailing list









EnglishLanguage at nifl.gov









To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings,
please go to http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/englishlanguage









Email delivered to etarone at umn.edu









 






 





----------------------------------------------------
National Institute for Literacy
Adult English Language Learners mailing list
EnglishLanguage at nifl.gov
To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to 
http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/englishlanguage
Email delivered to robinschwarz1 at aol.com



 

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: http://www.nifl.gov/pipermail/englishlanguage/attachments/20090322/928d98e3/attachment.html