Hi, Robin,

One factor that is perhaps politically incorrect and seems to be missing in these exchanges, is that there is a clear division between cultures that read for information, enlightenment and pleasure and cultures that don't. Persons can at least partially fulfill these objectives from conversation, from television, from the radio, etc. I have dealt over the years with ESL students who are high school, and in some cases university graduates, who admit that they don't read much if any in their own languages. I won't make specific comparisons, because some embarrassment could result. However, an interesting experiment for teachers would be to ask students who have had higher educations and are quite functional in their native written languages how much they read anything. If they don't habitually read in their native languages, the incentive to read in English is less. This may be one of the bigger challenges facing conscientious teachers. I am an active intercultural trainer and this problem sometimes comes up in seminars and workshops.
I don't know the answer.   

Ted
www.tedklein-ESL.com


  ----- Original Message ----- 
  From: robinschwarz1 at aim.com 
  To: englishlanguage at nifl.gov 
  Sent: Wednesday, May 14, 2008 4:52 PM
  Subject: [EnglishLanguage 2472] Re: literacy for very low literate or non-literate learners


  Thanks Lynda-- will do-- I will do it on a fresh message-- some of these are getting very long tails!!  Robin  





  -----Original Message-----
  From: Lynda Terrill <lterrill at cal.org>
  To: The Adult English Language Learners Discussion List <englishlanguage at nifl.gov>
  Sent: Wed, 14 May 2008 3:42 pm
  Subject: [EnglishLanguage 2465] Re: literacy for very low literate or non-literate learners


  Hi, Robin, 
  Sure you can attach the PowerPoint you presented at COABE. 
  Thanks, 
  Lynda Terrill 
  list moderator 
  lterrill at cal.org 
    
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