Helaine, thanks for your post.  You're right - what I should have said the
other day is that preliterate and nonliterate students are not accustomed
to learning in a formal classroom setting, and not accustomed to being
students the way we think of this in the US and other post-industrial
societies.  It was fascinating to read about MALP and think about how I
can incorporate this and similar methods into my classroom.  MALP sounds
like it would really complement Gail Weinstein's "Learners' Lives as
Curriculum method"... I'm taking a training in that right now and I think
it would be great to put them together.  Helaine (or others), have you had
any experience combining these?

Katie Wood
Greater Pittsburgh Literacy Council


> I am also very interested in learning more about MALP!

>

> Thanks,

>

> Teresa Durkin

> Adult Education Coordinator

> Special Programs Coordinator

> Lake County ESD

> tdurkin at lakeesd.k12.or.us

>

>

> On 1/29/09, Sally Bishop <s.bishop at aggiemail.usu.edu> wrote:

>>

>> Helaine,

>> That is very interesting and addresses a question that I have been

>> thinking

>> about all week but have not proposed. The question is how do teachers

>> develop their curricula and do any teachers use a collaborative approach

>> with their students in creating that program?  I would definitely like

>> to

>> know more about your MALP  as we are currently receiving Hmong students.

>>

>> Sally Bishop

>>

>> On Thu, Jan 29, 2009 at 1:22 PM, Helaine Marshall <

>> Helaine.Marshall at liu.edu> wrote:

>>

>>>  I agree Katie and others posting this week that those with formal

>>> education succeed in our classrooms while the students we are

>>> discussing

>>> stumble along.  However, I disagree about the notion that they don't

>>> know

>>> HOW to learn.  In observing and teaching Hmong in Wisconsin, I noted

>>> that

>>> what they have is a very different learning paradigm.  I first noticed

>>> this

>>> when my ESL classes the Hmong were not progressing as the others and

>>> slowly,

>>> reading the literature on this culture, reading Steven Reder, Walter

>>> Ong,

>>> and many others, I could see a paradigm develop that was the antithesis

>>> of

>>> the way we teach and expect students to learn.  I developed a Mutually

>>> Adaptive Learning Paradigm (MALP) that combines elements of their

>>> paradigm

>>> with our own and used it with the Hmong adult literacy project (NIFL)

>>> in

>>> Wisconsin.  The gains in confidence were evident from self-report and

>>> also

>>> from willingness to speak on the phone rather than hand it to someone

>>> else

>>> when the caller was speaking English, for example. After several

>>> presentations of MALP at conferences, I noticed that people were

>>> telling me

>>> it was not only the Hmong that fit this paradigm.  Now I have worked

>>> with

>>> rural Vietnamese, Haitian, Guatemalans, and Dominicans and subsequently

>>> I

>>> noted that, despite the many different cultures represented, what they

>>> all

>>> share is that they come from collectivist, not individualist cultures

>>> (a

>>> broader description but similar to Hall's continuum of high-context to

>>> low-context).  They learn in the context of a social relationship,

>>> immediately relevant material, orally transmitted, with group

>>> responsibility, and performing a pragmatic task.  We expect students to

>>> learn by becoming independent, preparing for their future, gaining new

>>> information from the written work, being individually accountable, and

>>> performing academic tasks (define, categorize, etc.)  Two very

>>> different

>>> approaches to learning.

>>>

>>>

>>>

>>> With MALP, learning is seen as a cluster of conditions, processes and

>>> activities.  Accept the conditions of the learner, combine the

>>> processes

>>> from both paradigms, and transition to the new formal educational

>>> activities.  This is why it is called mutually adaptive.  Here is an

>>> example:

>>>

>>> The Hmong nearly all crossed the Mekong River to Thailand, so we

>>> collected

>>> data on that experience – each student finding out at home when and how

>>> they

>>> crossed and the class made a collective chart with pictures and some

>>> text.

>>> For these students, this project was interpersonal – they worked with

>>> their

>>> families to get the information, immediately relevant because it is

>>> their

>>> personal history (conditions for learning), involved both oral

>>> transmission

>>> and the written word, were accountable individually for their own story

>>> but

>>> worked as a group to show all the information on the class chart

>>> (combining

>>> processes) and began to introduce academic tasks (which year did most

>>> students come; how many different ways did the students cross the

>>> Mekong;

>>> etc.) but with familiar language and content as scaffolding.

>>>

>>>

>>>

>>> It is great to identify best practices as we have done and many

>>> excellent

>>> ideas are cited in the messages this week. What has been missing is a

>>> framework that enables us to see how and why these ideas work.  That is

>>> the

>>> job of the paradigm.  I have attached the original paper from Cultural

>>> Circles (a short-lived, rather obscure journal that temporarily took

>>> the

>>> place of JIELMS from Boise). Updated versions, written with a

>>> colleague,

>>> Andrea DeCapua, are currently under review. I am excited about this

>>> work and

>>> interested to hear feedback from this active and insightful group.

>>>

>>>

>>>

>>> Helaine Marshall

>>>

>>> Long Island University

>>>

>>>

>>>

>>> -----Original Message-----

>>> From: englishlanguage-bounces at nifl.gov [mailto:

>>> englishlanguage-bounces at nifl.gov] On Behalf Of Katherine Wood

>>> Sent: Tuesday, January 27, 2009 12:26 PM

>>> To: sarah.houston at yahoo.com; The Adult English Language Learners

>>> Discussion List

>>> Subject: [EnglishLanguage 3620] Re: Working withlearners with limited

>>> literacy - posted for Martha Bigelow

>>>

>>>

>>>

>>> Hello,

>>>

>>>

>>>

>>> Like Sarah and Meghan, I have found that formal education makes a big

>>>

>>> difference in terms of learning English as an adult or as an

>>> adolescent.

>>>

>>> Over about eight years of teaching ESL to people of all ages, mainly

>>>

>>> adults, I have also noticed that those who have a school background

>>>

>>> usually have a distinct advantage.  Part of it is because a solid

>>>

>>> educational background in your first language assists education in your

>>>

>>> second language, which is why bilingual education and native language

>>>

>>> literacy programs can make such a big difference, when it's possible to

>>>

>>> develop them.  I believe part of it is also, as Sarah put it, because

>>>

>>> students with more formal education know HOW to learn.  They have

>>>

>>> experience with being a student and they use that.  I believe that

>>> having

>>>

>>> a school background also increases their confidence and self-esteem

>>> when

>>>

>>> they start learning English.

>>>

>>>

>>>

>>> Self-esteem and confidence, I have found, also play a role in language

>>>

>>> learning, although how much this matters probably varies according to

>>> the

>>>

>>> student.  People with little school experience are not just unfamiliar

>>>

>>> with how to be students; they are also frequently intimidated by the

>>> very

>>>

>>> concept of school.  It's a completely foreign space and culture to them

>>>

>>> and it operates by rules and standards they don't understand.  Where I

>>>

>>> teach, I am able to be much less formal than those who work with

>>>

>>> preliterate and nonliterate students in public schools, but even in a

>>> much

>>>

>>> more relaxed setting, these students struggle with learning how things

>>>

>>> work in a classroom setting, and it can be scary and frustrating.

>>>

>>>

>>>

>>> I teach refugee adults, many of them preliterate or nonliterate, and

>>> for

>>>

>>> them to even step into my classroom requires a lot of courage.  It can

>>>

>>> take months of invitations and encouragement to even get them to come.

>>> At

>>>

>>> least initially, they tend to believe they are not capable.  They need

>>> to

>>>

>>> be able to achieve a lot small successes, with assistance, just to

>>> learn

>>>

>>> that if they work hard at something in the classroom, they are capable

>>> of

>>>

>>> getting it right... just as they are in other areas of their lives

>>> where

>>>

>>> they have all kinds of real-world skills and experience.  Success comes

>>> in

>>>

>>> little steps... learning to write their own names, or learning the

>>> English

>>>

>>> words for colors.  You start with that and build as you can.

>>>

>>>

>>>

>>> Preliterate and nonliterate adult and adolescent students need a lot of

>>>

>>> encouragement, reassurance, and, as Steve has said, interesting and

>>>

>>> engaging content to keep them coming back.  They need a lot of

>>> assistance

>>>

>>> and support to help them build appropriate student habits that will

>>> help

>>>

>>> them learn, and they seem to need just as much assistance and support

>>> to

>>>

>>> learn to believe that coming to school can actually help them.  They do

>>>

>>> not lack motivation; they do, however, often need a lot more support

>>> than

>>>

>>> other students to sustain that motivation.  This is where good

>>>

>>> relationships with the teacher, volunteers, and other students often

>>> makes

>>>

>>> a world of difference.  Amazing things can happen when preliterate and

>>>

>>> nonliterate older students find a supportive community, and they

>>> realize

>>>

>>> that they have a place in it and are valued.

>>>

>>>

>>>

>>> However, there are constraints in the process that are extremely

>>>

>>> frustrating.  Preliterate and nonliterate adults do not have the

>>> advantage

>>>

>>> of time or of silence - as Karen said, they really need to know all of

>>>

>>> this stuff right now.  Getting around in the English-speaking world,

>>> being

>>>

>>> able to say survival phrases and fill out forms and read signs and ask

>>> for

>>>

>>> things, etc., is not a temporary band-aid solution.  It's vital,

>>> important

>>>

>>> knowledge that can make a huge difference in their lives - food stamps,

>>>

>>> school services, and other things that I see my students struggle with

>>> all

>>>

>>> the time as they attempt to work, take care of a household, and raise

>>>

>>> children.  Creativity is crucial; so is repetition and visual

>>> assistance.

>>>

>>> And I think most teachers would agree that the same approach and

>>> methods

>>>

>>> aren't going to work equally well with all students.  Getting to know

>>> your

>>>

>>> students and figuring out how they think and respond, and what works

>>> for

>>>

>>> them, is very very hard to do with students who aren't literate and

>>> can't

>>>

>>> say much of anything to you.  But it isn't impossible, and it's the

>>> best

>>>

>>> way I've found of teaching preliterate and nonliterate beginners.

>>>

>>>

>>>

>>> Katie Wood, MATESOL

>>>

>>> Greater Pittsburgh Literacy Council

>>>

>>>

>>>

>>>

>>>

>>>

>>>

>>>

>>>

>>> ----------------------------------------------------

>>> 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 s.bishop at aggiemail.usu.edu

>>>

>>

>>

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>> Email delivered to tdurkin at lakeesd.k12.or.us

>>

>

>

>

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Katie Wood, MA TESOL
Teacher and Project Manager
Greater Pittsburgh Literacy Council
Greentree Families for Learning Center
1836 Brett Street, Apartment 1
Pittsburgh, PA 15205
412-921-8114

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