I think the problem with delaying L2 literacy, at least in the context of immigrant adults in the US, is the students have a real and immediate need for basic L2 literacy.   In fact, I've met many who had to be convinced that learning to read and write in Spanish was a good investment of time.  
 
Unlike the K-12 system, a lot of adult education is "consumer" driven.  Students will not stay in classes that they do not perceive as meeting their needs.  There are waiting lists for ESL classes (at least in our program, and in the one offered by the public schools here as well).  I have not seen a huge demand for L1 literacy classes for adults among international students.
 
I observed many bilingual classes in the K-12 program, and most were mis-named.  They were Spanish classes with a little ESL instruction for 30-60 minutes a day.  However, there was one class that to me was exemplary.
 
A "bilingual" teacher and a "straight-English" teacher were in classrooms right next to each other divided by those pull apart dividers they use in elementary schools.  The teachers had gotten together and gotten permission to remove the wall (isn't that symbolic) and co-teach the two classes as though it were one.   What I observed between the "frogs" and the "ranas" was truly amazing.  Little white kids were speaking Spanish and the little Mexicanos were speaking English - to each other!  During direct instruction time, there separated out for their own language instruction, but centers time, art, and music were all conducted bilingually.  
 
The research I've read shows that children who are in truly bilingual instruction (not Spanish instruction under a bilingual name) may appear to be behind the first year or two, but will eventually catch up and exceed their monlingual classmates.


Grace and Peace!
Glenda Lynn Rose, PhD

ESL Instructor
Austin Learning Academy
841-4777
 

--- On Tue, 7/7/09, Michael Gyori <mgyori at mauilanguage.com> wrote:


From: Michael Gyori <mgyori at mauilanguage.com>
Subject: [EnglishLanguage 4556] Re: Biliteracy for new readers
To: "The Adult English Language Learners Discussion List" <englishlanguage at nifl.gov>
Date: Tuesday, July 7, 2009, 5:52 AM




#yiv449846847 .hmmessage P
{
margin:0px;padding:0px;}
#yiv449846847 {
font-size:10pt;font-family:Verdana;}

Hello all,

Firstly, please let me know whether issues with how my text  renders persist. I apologize for the perceptual challenges I have created (might they, however, have some unintended pedagogic value?).

As for biliteracy: I am concerned about the impact of subractive bilingual practices. Native Spanish speakers' L1, for example, could be allowed to atrophy only to be  learned later as an L2.  Go figure...

I believe that immigrants who have little or no literacy should initially become literate in their L1 if instructional resources permit and perhaps especially if their L1 uses the Latin alphabet. 

Please let me know if you have experienced accelerated literacy development teaching literacy in two languages rather than one, keeping in mind that you would need to be able to make informed comparisons with similar student populations having used both approaches.

As I've mentioned before, there are two issues that L1 literacy learners do not need to prominently contend with: developing aural phonemic discrimination and ENcoding, in addition to DEcoding  many words known to them  in their L1 but not  L2.

Since L1 proficiency is, also in my own experience, such a key predictor of likely attainable L2 proficiency, shouldn't we focus on L1 literacy first and foremost and later allow it to transfer to L2 literacy?

I'm interested in your experiences. Thank you!

Michael
www.mauilanguage.com

Sent via Blackberry by Turkcell 





Date: Mon, 6 Jul 2009 09:02:33 -0700
From: glyndalin at yahoo.com
To: englishlanguage at nifl.gov
Subject: [EnglishLanguage 4551] Re: Sharing anecdotal information






By "biliteracy" I mean that I will be teaching ESL (including reading/writing) alongside L1 literacy, much like they do in k-5 here in Texas. 
 
Life skills are issues like time mangement, budgeting, parenting and other family skills.  They are usually integrated into our program.
 
The parenting specialist would handle the life skills (in Spanish) and I would focus primarily (but no exclusively) on language use.  



Grace and Peace!
Glenda Lynn Rose, PhD

ESL Instructor
Austin Learning Academy
841-4777
 

--- On Sat, 7/4/09, Michael Gyori <michael_gyori at yahoo.com> wrote:


From: Michael Gyori <michael_gyori at yahoo.com>
Subject: [EnglishLanguage 4548] Sharing anecdotal information
To: "englishlanguage at nifl.gov" <englishlanguage at nifl.gov>
Date: Saturday, July 4, 2009, 6:48 AM



Glenda, you wrote (please see my embedded questions):

My concerns for the class in the fall, the biliteracy class +++ What do you mean by biliteracy and are you targeting nonreaders? +++ is how to accommodate these individual needs in a class setting.  However, I'm beginning to think that coordinating with the parenting specialist (I work on an elementary school site) may be one way to do so.  If I teach the general L1/L2 class and let her handle life skills,+++ what do you mean by life skills: R-W literacy or something else in addition? +++ it may work well.  I'm having trouble visualizing how that might work, though.+++ Could you clarify your vision for this arrangement? I  can't form an image of it as stated. +++

Michael
www.mauilanguage.com

Sent via Blackberry by Turkcell


      
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