I've also found a huge differences between the classes in Virginia and Texas.  In Virginia I had 20-25 students with, oh, 18 to 23 different langauges.  From zero level they progressed to being able to communicate with each other and read children's book typically in one semester (3 months).   In Texas, where the majority of my students are Spanish or Brazilian Potuguese speakers, I find that it takes a lot longer.  Of course, external pressures to learn the language were greater in Virginia as well, but I think part of the difference is that students who wanted to get to know each other had to use English as lingua franca.  It didn't matter that it wasn't technically good English.  The point is the classroom was a safe place for them to practice and to overcome their fear of using English.

"Sledd, Lee" <lsledd at tacomacc.edu> wrote:  "I fail to see how getting people who struggle with the language to speak to each other will help them. That time is better spent listening to a native speaker, even on an MP3 player, especially if the content and voice are pleasing to the listener. Only after a lot of exposure to the language, should then learner worry about speaking, and then, ideally with a native speaker. For lower level learners, a little bit of one on one with a teacher and a lot of "passive learning", is, in my view, preferable to interacting with other lower level learners."

When I taught level 1 refugees who were welfare recipients, a typical class would include myself and perhaps one volunteer as native speakers, and 20-some students. All the refugees being on public assistance, they were expected to get a job within a few years- now that timeline is, I think, 6 months in WA. Not only that, but they had to go into the community and shop and bank and use the bus, etc..much of that can be done without speaking, but my students needed to begin producing immediately. Production in class was the only opportunity for me to assist them with the physical struggle of pronunciation, and unfortunately one-on-one was not often possible.

In my experience, practicing with one another was, especially for learners of different language backgrounds, very productive. Some of the best peer learning in my current class of high-intermediate still occurs in informal discussions where one participant is from another culture. One possible reason non-native interactions work to enhance fluency is that communication anxiety is less when one's audience is also non-native; this parallels the research that shows an increase in CA when the audience is less personally familiar (I'd be happy to share my own unpublished data on CA- grad school nostalgia). No matter the mix, the instructor has to create a relaxed and trusting, cooperative atmosphere where speakers can take risks, make mistakes, and give and receive feedback politely (good job skills as well).

Perhaps the passive method described is more effective- I like the MP3 idea, a colleague of mine uses Voice of America content that way- and I'd be interested in research on this. But that method as described seems a luxury few programs serving immigrants on a timeline with limited staff can provide.

Lee Sledd
Madison Family Literacy, ESL
Tacoma Community College
253-571-1887



-----Original Message-----
From: englishlanguage-bounces at nifl.gov on behalf of Steve Kaufmann
Sent: Tue 5/13/2008 9:54 AM
To: The Adult English Language Learners Discussion List
Subject: [EnglishLanguage 2413] Re: Reading and Adult English LanguageLearners

I believe that for busy learners the MP3 player is a more useful tool than any dictionary. Let people listen to content they have chosen, very often if they are at a beginner or lower intermediate level, or less often as they progress. Ask them to read after listening a few times, and then ask them to listen again. Help them with vocabulary, via a glossary, but advise them not to try to remember the dictionary definition nor to put too much faith in it. Treat the dictionary definition as a hint. Encourage them to read and listen to so much content that eventually they will form their own natural sense of what the word means and how it is used.
Ideally the learner should be able to choose what to listen to and read, and it should be a meaningful context, a story, not just a collection of phrases.

I fail to see how getting people who struggle with the language to speak to each other will help them. That time is better spent listening to a native speaker, even on an MP3 player, especially if the content and voice are pleasing to the listener. Only after a lot of exposure to the language, should then learner worry about speaking, and then, ideally with a native speaker. For lower level learners, a little bit of one on one with a teacher and a lot of "passive learning", is, in my view, preferable to interacting with other lower level learners.

Here is a short piece I did on passive learning .

Steve Kaufmann
West Vancouver, BC.
www.lingq.com
Skypename: lingosteve


On Tue, May 13, 2008 at 8:19 AM, Tina McGaughey wrote:


Hi Everyone:
My name is Melinda Whittlesy and I teach two level 3 ESL classes for Houston Community College in Houston, TX. Most of my student are preparing for GED and require lots of reading practice to make the transition from ESL to GED. In my classes I find that teaching decoding skills and phonemic awareness is not really necessary. Most of my student have basic work calling - skills by the time they get to me. My main concern is comprehension skills. I've found that comprehension goes up for all the students if I pair the students to co-cooperatively discuss, read, and answer comprehension questions about readings that has been read as a whole class reading before hand. The students support each other in reading the questions, searching the material for the information, and arguing over which answer is correct. My main challenge is the student who can word-call anything you give to him or her but has difficultly understanding the words he or she has read even with a second
 language dictionary(the student can't understand the entry in the primary language even though he or she can word call them). What's surprising these students can discuss things with me and with other students. I give these students extra support in their small groups but I would really love to find a dual language dictionary that is simply worded but advanced enough for a level 3 student that functions well in all other aspects. 


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Hello All:

My name is Tina McGaughey. I teach ESL and GED in adult ed and developmental writing in the regular curriculum at Austin Community College. I'm joining the group to deal with a specific problem: the older adult non-romance-language-based ESL learner who is a few points shy of getting the GED but can't make it all the way and has been frustrated for some time. What I'm discovering is that many students may have bad habits regarding reading strategies and vocabulary building, and their previous "teaching-to-the-test" background may make them resistant to skill-building activities not directly related to their perceived goals. They are also typically overbooked in their lives and say they don't have time to read outside of class. Since I teach a multilevel GED class, addressing the particular needs of these students is problematic.

I'm going to try Melinda's pairing strategy. I encourage all my students to buy and use a Longman's yellow dictionary - easy to understand entries. TM 

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