Hello, Ali - You raise some good questions here. In a nutshell, I'd say that
any approach to helping adult English language learners should emphasize two
things: Balance and relevance.

 

Students need a balance of the four language skills in the classroom so that
they can communicate in different situations and in different ways. Reading
should be a part of that skill balance, and part of the reading instruction
- by necessity - should involve practice in deciphering sounds and sound
combinations so that readers can decode unfamiliar words. 

 

But that brings us to the other point: Relevance. Adults are motivated to
learn when instruction is relevant to their everyday lives and needs. If
they are sounding out unrelated words, or words in a context that is
irrelevant to them (such as children's stories, although I'd argue that in
certain circumstances, carefully chosen children's books can supplement
instruction quite nicely), then they're not making connections between what
they're practicing and what they need to accomplish outside of class.

 

Why not practice reading documents that are relevant to adults - forms, job
applications, help wanted ads, bills, children's report cards, etc. This can
be done in thematic lifeskill units, so learners are getting both phonetic
and communicative practice in context.

 

For instance, let's say learners have a need for health-related vocabulary.
You can teach the vocabulary needed to describe health conditions and write
a conversation on the board between a doctor and patient. You can then work
in the phonics by asking learners to identify all the words that start with
two particular sounds (such as "s" and "f"), and have an initial-consonant
dictation so that students practice linking those sounds with letters.
Sound-symbol correspondence is a prerequisite to reading in the English
language, so I would not throw out the phonics, so to speak!

 

You can go from there into the more communicative functions: Have students
role-play a brief doctor-patient interaction; practice filling out basic
information (name, address, phone number) on simplified medical forms;
listen to phone conversations asking for a clinic appointment and noting the
day and time, etc.

 

So, you get balance and relevance - and literacy practice as well.

 

If you'd like more examples of practical strategies for working with
literacy-level adult English language learners, I'd urge you to look at the
archives of a NIFL listserv discussion that we had on this very topic last
December. For a summary and link, see:

 

http://www.cal.org/caela/esl_resources/practlitdiscussion.html

 

Good luck!

 

----------------------------------------------------------------

Betsy Lindeman Wong

Lead ESL Teacher

Alexandria Adult and Community Education

 

  _____  

From: englishlanguage-bounces at nifl.gov
[mailto:englishlanguage-bounces at nifl.gov] On Behalf Of Ali Hesami
Sent: Tuesday, December 02, 2008 12:30 AM
To: englishlanguage at nifl.gov
Subject: [EnglishLanguage 3184] I don't understand the current
thinkingbehind teaching reading to adults!

 

Hello all.
My name is Ali Hesami, and I am currently a graduate student in the adult
literacy program at Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond, Virginia.
I've been attending a class called "Teaching Reading to Adults" as part of
my required curriculum, and I have been wondering about the current methods
used to teach reading to adults. It seems to me that the teacher teach
adults just as they would teach children, often even using research and
writing on teaching reading to children as guidelines. 
While I understand the usefulness of phonics, phonetics, etc. by themselves,
I firmly believe that an adult can better benefit from learning to read by
simply reading in a classroom environment, guided by teachers, tutors, etc.
An adult in his or her 40s or even 50s simply should not have to sit through
long sessions of syllable by syllable instruction if all they desire id to
be better able to communicate with others and better express their opinions
about the world surrounding them. 
I speak from experience here. I began learning English as a 14 year old in
an international school in Tanzania. I placed into the 9th grade to start;
no one ever even approached phonics, phonemes, etc. I read and listened, all
the while guided by teachers who helped me with the material at hand. I
became conversational in about three months or so, while I worked on my
writing, also with guidance from my teachers. Conversely, while in school in
my native Tehran, Iran, I was taught English in a similar manner as here,
and I spoke a grand total of three phrases when I left Iran for Tanzania:
Hello, Fine thank you, and Beg your pardon? I'm not even joking here!
I admit as a 14 year old I had an advantage over adults here, but I can't
help but wonder if what worked for me would help adults much more than
playing word games and reading children's books. 
Let's have them read material they can identify with in some way, and keep
them reading, while slowly working on their writing skill alongside.
Let me know any thoughts, ideas, criticisms, etc. It has been eating away at
me for a few months now.
Thanks in advance,
Ali Hesami
hesamiar at gmail.com

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