Hello,

I don't know if this is the right forum for my
question but I'll try. 

First of all my name is Joe Ramos, I am a graduate
student working on a MA in Education (Adult Education)
and a Post Secondary Certificate in Reading at San
Francisco State University. 

I am currently working on a project or paper that
deals with motivation or "motivating the unmotivated."


The focus is on teaching either high school students,
post secondary students or adult learning students who
are involved in a reading or basic English class who
are unmotivated to learn to read or write on their
own.

Is any one out there who might have a suggestion of an
article or two to read?

Or someone who might have experince working with this
type of student.I would appreciate some feed back as
my paer is due soon.

Thank you

Joe Ramos


--- Glenda Lynn Rose <glyndalin at yahoo.com> wrote:


> I've found the same thing.  If I don't emphasize

> reading for pleasure by setting time apart for it

> during the student's study time, it is interpreted

> as being unimportant, no matter how many times I

> assert to the contrary.  So, I set some time aside

> to just let the read for themselves.

> 

> Barbara Caballero <barbaracaballero at sbcglobal.net>

> wrote:          Good afternoon, everyone,

>   I’m Barbara Rotolo-Caballero, a part-time ESL

> instructor at Austin Community College in Texas. My

> comments are related to my intermediate/advanced

> level class and this assertion:

>   "4. Reading is an interactive process between the

> reader, the text, and the writer. The situation in

> which you read and write and your purposes for doing

> so play a role as well (think about opening a letter

> from the INS – now USCIS - or a note from your

> ex-spouse)." 

>    

>   I like to have fun in my class, but reading has

> often been the least fun. Too often I have inserted

> myself between my students and text and writer by

> diligently focusing on comprehension and

> vocabulary-building. What a drag.

>    

>   My students weren’t doing reading homework that I

> assigned. My students didn’t have books in English

> at home. Attempts to get them to bring in reading

> material that was interesting to them (something out

> there in the real world) bombed. The only reading we

> were doing in class was ESL textbook reading and

> usually reading aloud. I knew that they needed to

> read more and to get the feel of reading English as

> part of everyday life. I didn’t know how to make

> this happen.

>    

>   Inspired by Nancy Meredith, a colleague at ACC,

> I’ve introduced a new process. For one-half hour in

> the middle of our 3-hour class, my students sit down

> with a book and read, silently. So do I.. I have a

> file box full of leveled readers for adults (mostly

> Penguin, mostly books based on movies). Each student

> may select any book. Each student keeps a log of the

> books completed. That’s it. We don’t all read the

> same book. I don’t plan a lesson around any of these

> books. We just sit and read for pleasure. Not one

> student has balked at this, nor have I lost a

> student because of it. I encourage them to read

> through, without dictionaries. I encourage them to

> keep a list of words that they’d like to learn. It’s

> often difficult to pull them away from their reading

> when it’s time to move on to another task.

>    

>   I'm very happy with this new process and I wonder

> who else is doing this.

>   Barbara Rotolo-Caballero

>   brotoloc at austincc.edu

>   

> 

> 

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

> From: "Wrigley, Heide" <heide at literacywork.com>

> To: "Wrigley, Heide" <heide at literacywork.com>; The

> Adult English Language Learners Discussion List

> <englishlanguage at nifl.gov>

> Cc: Lynda Terrill <lterrill at cal.org>

> Sent: Monday, May 12, 2008 3:26:57 PM

> Subject: [EnglishLanguage 2390] ESL Reading - 2 or 3

> things we know for sure

> 

>             Hi, all 

>    

>   Apparently, there’s been a bit of a problem with

> the CAL server but we are moving along. 

>    

>   Hello again to those of you participating in the

> Reading for Adult ELLs discussion. As promised, I

> wanted to start us off with the two or three things

> we know for sure from research in reading (though

> not necessarily from research with adult English

> language learners – we don’t yet have research that

> speaks directly to this population). 

>    

>   So here is my questions. Which one of these

> assertions really resonates for you?  If you are an

> ESL teacher do you have examples from you students

> that either supports or disproves one of these

> points 

>    

>    

>     

>    You learn to read just once (this is also known

> as “breaking the code”; once you have developed

> phonemic awareness in one language and you know to

> decode one language), you don’t need to start all

> over with developing phonemic awareness in another

> language – you just need to absorb the rules of the

> new system – that is, you must learn how English

> works, not how literacy works. 

>    

>     

>    Knowledge from the first language transfers to

> knowledge about the second language but transfer is

> not automatic. You may need to draw your students

> attention to certain common features of the

> language.

>    

>     

>    We make sense of the world by connecting prior

> knowledge with new knowledge.  We gain meaning from

> print the same way. So if your knowledge of the

> world does not match the knowledge of the world that

> the writer assumes, the text is likely to be

> confusing to you even if your reading skills are ok.

>    

>     

>    Reading is an interactive process between the

> reader, the text, and the writer.  The situation in

> which you read and write and your purposes for doing

> so play a role as well (think about opening a letter

> from the INS – now USCIS or a note from your

> ex-spouse).

>    

>     

>    When we read, we activate two types of knowledge

> – what we know about meaning making (top down

> processes) and what we know about language

> (bottom-up processes).  It’s important to keep in

> mind that the purpose of reading is comprehension. 

>    

>     

>    Although control over bottom-up processes is

> important for learning to read, it does not follow

> that new readers must have mastered all sub skills

> before they can focus on comprehension. Using sub

> skills effectively enhances comprehension, but

> control over sub skills does not automatically lead

> to comprehension.

>    

>     

>    Language proficiency and reading comprehension

> are closely related. One way of increasing the

> reading skills of literate learners is to build

> language skills.  One way of building students

> comprehension of (pre) academic texts, is to present

> such information orally (mini-presentations) and

> visually (through PowerPoints or video clips) so you

> can build understanding of concepts without your

> students getting mired in print.

>    

>     

>    Vocabulary knowledge is one of the key

> determinants of reading comprehension. Increases in

> vocabulary means increases in background knowledge

> and in reading comprehension, the same as in

> everything else, the more you know – the more you

> know 

>    

>   Looking forward to hearing your thoughts 

>    

>   Heide

>    

>    

>    

>       From: Wrigley, Heide 

> Sent: Monday, May 12, 2008 12:18 PM

> To: englishlanguage at nifl.gov

> Cc: Lynda Terrill

> Subject: Reading and Adult English Language Learners

> 

> 

> 

>    

>   Good morning all 

>    

>   It’s 7 am here in Southern New Mexico, it’s still

> nice and cool and the roses are blooming big time

> and I should be going out to water soon (coffee

> first, though)

>    

>    

>   I wanted to welcome you to the discussion on ESL

> Reading and am hoping that we’ll have a lively back

> and forth as you pose questions, challenge

> assumptions, and share your own experience teaching

> reading to ESL students – either teaching these

> skills explicitly and systematically or just folding

> reading into your regular curriculum. 

>    

>   I would like to invite you to tell us a sentence

> or two about yourself and your work and your

> experience before you post your messages.

>    

>   Just a bit of background: I’m Heide Spruck Wrigley

> and my work revolves around the intersection of

> research, policy and practice. I’ve been involved in

> several studies on ESL literacy (broader than just

> reading) that we can talk about, and this year I’m

> doing quite a bit of work around workplace literacy.

>  Most of my work has been with language minority

> adults 

=== message truncated ===>
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