Right, Joan!  
Refugees are REQUIRED to work within 30-120 days (if we ever get jobs again!).  Simply listening to English isn't an option.
At least 1/3 of my refugee adult clients (I see 100+ per year) have little or no literacy in 1st language.  In their 1st 1-3 mos. in the US, I must help them acquire -- at least -- low level speaking & reading skills as well as writing their personal info, even if they are non-literate.

Silence is a luxury they do NOT have.

Dottie Shattuck
HIAS NC
Charlotte, NC
  ----- Original Message ----- 
  From: Joan 
  To: The Adult English Language Learners Discussion List 
  Sent: Monday, January 26, 2009 3:24 PM
  Subject: [EnglishLanguage 3569] Re: Working withlearners withlimitedliteracy - posted for Martha Bigelow


  I do not believe that all people acquire language in the same way - perhaps we all acquire our first language in a similar manner, but not additional languages.  I'm sure there are many people - one a good friend of mine - who do learn a language best by listening to it.  A friend of mine spent an entire year in Mexico just listening to the language before she ever opened her mouth to speak but, when she did, she was speaking fluently.

  That, however, would never be my preferred method of acquiring a language.  I think it's a mistake to assume that spending all of your time listening to a new language is going to satisfy EVERYBODY.  Research also shows that we all have a preferred learning style, and that must also be respected during the language learning process.

  But more importantly, for adult immigrants and refugees living in the United States - they simply do not have the luxury of learning by listening.  They have to speak to meet their survival needs.  They have to know how to ask for things and get around in the world.  

    ----- Original Message ----- 
    From: Steve Kaufmann 
    To: The Adult English Language Learners Discussion List 
    Sent: Monday, January 26, 2009 1:59 PM
    Subject: [EnglishLanguage 3567] Re: Working withlearners with limitedliteracy - posted for Martha Bigelow


    I attach a recent letter from Stephen Krashen to a newspaper in Korea. My question is why try to teach beginner learners to speak English, when research suggests they are better off to remain silent until they have listened to, and possible read, a lot of the language. 

    Steve Kaufmann
    www.lingq.com



    Sent to the Korea Times, Jan 23, 2009

    A better path to English

    Korea is making a very serious mistake in emphasizing speaking in
    English class ("Speaking to get more weight in English class," Jan
    21). Research done over the last three decades has shown that we
    acquire language by understanding what we hear and read. The ability
    to produce language is the result of language acquisition, not the
    cause.

    Forcing students to speak English will not improve their ability to
    speak English. The best way to improve speaking is therefore to
    increase the amount of comprehensible listening and reading that
    students do, and the easiest and most cost-effective way to make this
    happen is to develop libraries of interesting and comprehensible
    English books and recordings to supplement English class. Setting up
    libraries would be far more efficient than bringing in expensive
    foreign teachers and setting up English camps.

    I hope policy-makers will consult the extensive research on second
    language acquisition, some done by Korean scholars, and consider
    easier, better and less costly ways of improving English in Korea.

    Stephen Krashen





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