Hi all-- first, thanks to Will for reminding us that talking uniquely about phonics and this or that approach to that method of teaching reading is indeed going backwards.?? I have to add a 'Hear, hear!" to the comment about using many different approaches, --especially WHATEVER WORKS for a particular learner.? 

On top of that, I would like to caution all that phonics programs for ESOL learners (or EAL, as they are known in Britain), is a very =little explored topic.? First, phonics programs that are designed for native English speakers do not approach the language in a linguistically-designed way. They approach the language in a systematic way that depends on a strong vocabulary base, as Tom Woods points out.? With that vocabulary base, the rule or sound pattern being taught can be demonstrated in a variety of words. Language learners need to approach the language from a different perspective----from a language acquisition progression--simple grammar and basic words gradually moving to more complex features.? Language learners generally do not have the depth of vocabulary that typical phonics programs employ.? 

Second, how ESOL learners are "taught" reading depends enormously on how educated they are.? Those who are fully literate in another language using the Roman alphabet need only minimal instruction in phonics, and a lot of guidance about how to deal with the irregularities of English (e.g. that the letter a has many sounds in English and only a few are predictable),? as well as with obvious differences between the phonics system of their language vs. the English system (e.g how i is? pronounced in English vs in Spanish).? Those who are literate in another alphabet or in a system that is not phonemic have conceptual challenges in learning how the English sound system works, and in my experience, phonics does not address those challenges adequately because it is such a bottom-up approach, whereas these learners often need a far more top-down or global approach to figuring out how the English writing system works.? 

Those who are NOT literate will definitely profit from a careful, systematic approach to the language, but again, remember that phonics programs designed for English speakers do not satisfy the requirement of controlled vocabulary and linguistically logical presentation of the sound system of English for language learners.?? 

Third, this discussion is teetering back and forth around the assumption that persons who do not read English are somehow learning disabled.? It should not ever be forgotten that Orton-Gillingham and its derivative, i.e. The Wilson System, were designed for English speaking adults who have struggled with learning how to read.? Until you have evidence to the contrary, no ESOL learner should ever be approached as if she or he struggled in learning how to read.?? Even those who are illiterate in any language more often had no opportunity to learn to read than had trouble learning to read, which is the opposite of the situation in ABE or literacy settings where English speaking adults who don't read are in that fix because they struggled in learning in some way.? Thus ESOL learners should be treated as any foreign language learners and be helped to learn the new system quickly, not laboriously, so they can get on with reading.? 

Personally, as a tutor of reading disabled persons (English-speaking) of MANY years' experience as well as a person whose work has focused for over 20 years on why adult ESOL learners struggle to learn in their educational settings in this country,? I am very concerned about this discussion.? My work in ESOL has made it clear that often adult ESOL learners struggle because the method being used to teach them is not suited to language learners, or that they drop out because the methods used to teach them are too elementary, not suited to literate language learners and generally hold them back.? 

I am DEEPLY in Will's camp of using what works with individual learners and that includes looking at the realities of each learner's situation-- is the learner already literate in another language?? What exactly is the reading issue we are looking at?? Is it merely that the person needs to know how to learn the sound-symbol system of English??? A normally learning adult can learn that VERY quickly, just as any foreign language learner can learn the Greek or Thai, or Japanese writing systems quickly-- not over years and years of struggling one rule at a time through a phonics system designed for young native speakers of a language.? 

One other thought that that last paragraph brings up--it is really important in adult ESOL in this country that teachers get over the belief that all the learning needs to happen through direct instruction.?? In a normal foreign language learning situation, adults have a lot of responsibility for going home and learning the writing system of the language they are learning and for learning lots of other things, too.? The learner-driven approach of learning centers or other independent learning also allow learners to learn what they NEED and not what a single-approach class or a book prescribes. ? I so often see adult ESOL learners in this country being taken through phonics and reading instruction at a virtual snail's pace because the teacher has a deep-seated, maybe unrecognized, assumption that since the learner does not know how to read English it is the teacher's responsibility to teach the system one sound at a time, and perhaps the assumption that learners who do not read English don't know how to learn ( do not sneer, I do my work from observation, and this has been frequently observed.....).

Also, one other danger of the phonics-only approach is the temptation to beat things to death and over-use the rule-based approach.? I will never forget watching an adult ESOL class laboring through the Wilson system. The teacher was presenting the silent-e rule as if the learners had never encountered it ( which of course, being adult learners they had often encountered--everytime they saw the words home or write, or ride, or late, etc. ),? She gave them cards with 7--count them-- SEVEN rules-- that had to be addressed before the decision could be made whether the e was indeed silent or not.? NO one can read that way, and making the reaction automatic, which is what Sally Shaywitz and everyone else who researches reading has been telling us for a LONG time MUST happen, will never, or rarely happen with this type of approach!? For ESOL learners, I find the first step is simply SEEING the e on the end of words--then sorting out the ones that are exception- ( live, give, some, etc. ) and then read the words. Rhyming works wonderfully for this pattern!-- the silent e part of it really only comes into play when spelling is concerned, and that is a different set of rules!!?? 

Finally, a lot of research on adult reading is indicating that adults do not learn to read--nor need to learn to read--in the order that phonics instruction implies.? Adults need-and can deal with-- a lot of sight reading? from words they see and need on a regular basis.? Phonics --or more accurately a systematic approach to new words-- is one of several skills an adult learner needs, and again, I see a terribly narrow focus on phonics instruction and not enough on sight words, environmental words, analogy reading ( rhyming) etc--all excellent ways of speeding up the process of access to the code of English.? 

I am SURE that those of you who have written about your success with such and so phonics approach or book with ESOL learners will dismiss much of this as ranting, but I would propose that your success has much to do a) with your quality as a teacher and b) the particular needs of a student.?? Of course, as with any system some will profit from it if it is taught well--what I am saying is that a linguistically-logical, more streamlined and also mixed approach to reading would probably work much, much better--faster and more logically for a language learner? who has no learning challenges.? 

Robin Lovrien Schwarz, Consultant in Adult ESOL/Learning Difficulties.? 
 

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