Maricel and others,

The topic of this email is about L1 Literacy but the
questions and responses are not directly addressing
this area.  None-the-less I'd like to touch on the
literacy aspect of L1 use in the classroom.

Developing literacy in a second language is often
(always?) much easier when one is literate in their
first language.  Using the L1 to bridge to English (or
another second language) I think is advisable.  Though
there is an ever-growing population of ESL learners
particularly adolescents and adults who are
preliterate (meaning that their L1 does not have a
written form).  Which means that this population does
not have the opportunity of being literate in their
L1.  

With this population, in my experiences it is useful
to go from the more concrete (the actual object) to
the abstract (the word that represents the object)
with other steps in between (visual representations
(pictures and drawings and symbols).  Also, ensuring
that the students know and understand the words
verbally before trying to teach them the word in
written form is advisable.  Lastly, I think using
words from the students language/culture - like their
names, names of cities, and little words that you
learn along the way can really help students make the
connection between the spoken word and the written
word (this is somehow an appropriation of the
LEA/Frierian approach).  By the way, my classes of
preliterate learners have always been speakers of the
same L1 and I believe the research supports the
grouping of preliterate learners by language.

Another thing that is not specific to preliterate
populations that I have found useful is using the
students L1 to determine comprehension - for example I
teach numbers then I want to be sure my students know
that I talking about numbers so i ask them to count
together in their L1 - if there is agreement then I
know they are all on the same page.  When there has
been confusion in comprehending the topic at hand
there has always been disagreement in telling me the
words for the same ideas in their language. This works
if you have at least two students who speak the same
L1.

I hope these random thoughts are in some way helpful
to your students.  Feel free to send any questions or
comments you have to me - leenhd78 at yahoo.com

Colleen Shaughnessy
Grad Student
University of MD, Baltimore County

--- Maricel Santos <maricelgsantos at yahoo.com> wrote:


> Hello -- I train pre-service adult ESL teachers

> at San Francisco State University. For a class

> project, two of my students are interested in

> gathering insights from adult ESL teachers about

> L1 use in the classroom.  Here are their

> questions:

> 

> 1. What advice would you give to a new adult ESL

> teacher about L1 use in the classroom? For

> example, what strategies about L1 use do you

> think are useful with adult ESL learners?

> 

> 2. How do you think adult learners perceive L1

> use in the class?

> 

> The students have read and discussed articles by

> Heide Wrigely (e.g., the "What Works" study),

> Klaudia Rivera, Tomas Kalmar, Julie Belz,

> articles out of Focus on Basics (NCSALL), among

> others... but they are hungry to find out what

> actually goes on in the classroom. 

> 

> I would appreciate your help and input. 

> 

> Thank you, Maricel Santos

> 

> 

> 

> 

> 		

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"In the end we conserve only what we love.  We will love only what we understand and we will understand only what we are taught." ~Bata Dioum~


		
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