Colleen, these are very interesting distinctions among populations. You
might want to refer to the digest at the url below, which gives a
typology of learners according to their literacy in their native
language and the type of writing system that their native language has. 

http://www.cal.org/caela/esl_resources/digests/reading.html

 

-----Original Message-----
From: englishlanguage-bounces at dev.nifl.gov
[mailto:englishlanguage-bounces at dev.nifl.gov] On Behalf Of Colleen
Shaughnessy
Sent: Tuesday, November 08, 2005 9:40 AM
To: englishlanguage at dev.nifl.gov
Subject: Re: [EnglishLanguage] pre-literate?

Hi Paul and others,

In my posting regarding pre-literate populations, I was referring to the
over 12,000 Somali Bantu refugees who have arrived in the US over the
past 2 years.  I also was thinking of the increasing African refugee
population in general.  

In the past, the Hmong and Haitian Creole have pre-literate populations
but since arriving linguistics have developed written forms of their
languages (though the Haitian Creole form is still debated as I think
someone on the list mentioned).

Additionally, there is an increasing non-literate population such as
Spanish-speakers from Central and South America who have no or very
minimal formal education in Spanish.

I believe the distinction between pre and non literate is of importance
in regards to instruction...to practitioners in the field.
Instructional techniques in my opinion should be different for these two
populations.  

Just for reference - preliterate = no written form of
L1 while non-literate = written form of L1 but student never learned
this written form.  I use these terms as defined by K. Lynn Savage
(1993) in Approaches to Adult ESL Literacy Instruction Edited by JoAnn
Crandall and Joy Kreeft Peyton

Thanks for the great discussion!
Colleen Shaughnessy


--- PAUL ROGERS <pwaynerogers at yahoo.com> wrote:


> In a previous post, someone mentioned the following:

> 

> 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.

> 

> I am interested in knowing which people do not have a language with a 

> written form.

> And what percentage of ESL students fall into this catgegory?

> 

> In my experience, most Spanish speakers are very literate. Mexico, for



> example, has a fairly decent public education system.

> Paul Rogers

> 

> 

> 

> 	

> 		

> __________________________________

> Yahoo! Mail - PC Magazine Editors' Choice 2005 http://mail.yahoo.com

> 

> 

> ----------------------------------------------------

> English Language Learners mailing list EnglishLanguage at dev.nifl.gov To



> unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to 

> http://dev.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/englishlanguage

> 



"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~


		
__________________________________ 
Yahoo! FareChase: Search multiple travel sites in one
click.
http://farechase.yahoo.com



"The soul would have no rainbow, if the eyes had no tears." 
-Native American Proverb


		
__________________________________ 
Yahoo! FareChase: Search multiple travel sites in one click.
http://farechase.yahoo.com


----------------------------------------------------
English Language Learners mailing list
EnglishLanguage at dev.nifl.gov
To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to 
http://dev.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/englishlanguage