Hi, Joanne and others 
 
As many of you know by now, one of the major findings of the What Works
Study was that a set of instructional strategies we clustered under the
heading of "Bringing in the Outside" made a significant difference in
learner outcomes. 
 
This finding is consistent with other research (Sticht, Purcell-Gates)
that points to the importance of keeping adult language and literacy
connected to the language and literacy tasks that students encounter in
their daily lives (in the community; at work; in training). 
 
It is indeed difficult to find authentic materials that are accessible
to first level learners, especially if you are looking for "connected
text" (written pieces that use paragraphs as part of prose literacy).
Examples of document literacy, particularly environmental print, are
much easier to find and they provide a great many opportunities to
develop sight words, read for meaning, skim and scan for specific
information, compare and contrast various texts and develop critical
literacy (do we really think that this medicine will flush out fat and
make us slim and thin?)- 
 
Here is a listing that provides a great starting point (more on
connected text later) 
 
1. Authentic real life products that students can identify and talk
about (what is it? Where do you find it? What is it for? Do you like
it?) - these can include cans of food from the store, soft drink cans,
fast food bags or wrappers; toothpaste tubes, aspirin bottles. Students
can work in groups to discuss and categories or fill in charts - it's a
great starting point for low level learners. If you want to see how
these materials can be used as part of an assessment, go to
www.clese.org <http://www.clese.org/>  and click on "Reading
Demonstration" and you'll see me work with Bessima, a woman from Bosnia
who is a refugee who had never had the opportunity to go to school. 
 
If you work with learners who don't have much experience with reading
and writing in their own language, real materials (products, not just
pictures) make a lot of sense as a starting point. 
 
You then can move on to using print that students often see and are
probably interested in and that contains lots of picture support. 
 
2. Grocery flyers, Sunday paper inserts, Home Depot ads and catalogues
(tools, gear; department store) 
 
 
3. Then you may want to move to environmental print that has some
pictures (just because it's not as intimidating as print alone)
Ads are great (you can have students design their own); TV schedules;
magazine articles ("How to" are sometimes accessible but you may want to
just start with the headings and pictures); brochures
 
4. Next comes environmental print that does not have visual support but
still reflects every day tasks. These might include: 
Lottery tickets; Penny Saver type ads; simple medicine labels, simple
maps; utility bills; yard sale announcements; street signs; signs in and
around the airport, etc;  
 
Basic reading development tends to move through the following stages
*        from recognition of common products and labels as a whole (how
else would anyone manage to shop)
*        to being able to recognize a word when the product name appears
clearly in a photograph with the logo prominent
*        to being able to read the word in question on a piece of paper
when visual support is not there  (e.g., if Coca Cola or Crest is
written on a drawing of a can and toothpaste
*        to being able to manipulate words (which word says "coca" which
word says "cola"), 
*        to being able to manipulate the string of letters the word
represents (if we take out the "c" in cola - what word is left?) 
*        to being able to decode simple words (Cola and Lola; Mac and
pack) 
 
You can then, of course, use the products you've worked with, and
categorize them into sound patterns so that you don't have to do
decontextualized phonics work, but can keep going back to real words
that students recognize as you introduce new words that follow the same
pattern. The beauty here is that you can use real products that the
students know about and use at home (they can copy the labels at home
and bring them in and do various forms of Word Sorts). We don't see
these types of activities in textbooks, since publishers, for good
reason, don't use real products. 
 
By the way, even when doing phonics and decoding work with low level
learners, I would still continue with recognitions and comprehension
work around real things (including newspaper headlines or magazine
articles on common topics), since comprehension is where the rubber hits
the road in reading. 
 
More on connected text later - and I apologize Joanne if your learners
are at much higher levels of proficiency than what is indicated here 
 
All the best 
 
Soon more 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
-----Original Message-----
From: specialtopics-bounces at nifl.gov
[mailto:specialtopics-bounces at nifl.gov] On Behalf Of Hartel, Joanne
Sent: Wednesday, April 11, 2007 12:49 PM
To: specialtopics at nifl.gov
Subject: [SpecialTopics 278] [Special Topics] What Works Study for Adult
ESLLiteracy Students
 
I work at a a community-based adult education program.  We run two
levels of ESL literacy classes, one for beginning speakers who may not
be literate in their native languages or in English (although some in
this level can read and write in a non-Roman alphabet.)  The other
literacy class is for students who know the alphabet and can read very
simple text. Both classes work with written material that is controlled
for useful, every day vocabulary, length of sentences, and grammar.  In
both levels, it is typical for students to be  better at reading than at
writing.  We use a combination of a structured approach, including
phonics, and more traditional ESL approaches that include listening and
speaking activities. The students come from many different countries,
including Haiti, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Nepal, and some Central American
countries. I have two questions: 
 
1. I don't know of any standardized reading assessments for low level
ESOL students.  I think the Woodcock-Johnson Basic Reading Skills Tests
were developed for native speakers of English.  Was the comprehension
subtest controlled for vocabulary that would be unfamiliar to someone
who is a beginning speaker? In my experience teaching ESL literacy, ESOL
students do not do well with nonsense words because they can't relate or
get any meaning from them.  Also it is difficult for the test
administrator to judge correct pronunciation of words and separate out
issues due to second language interference.
 
2. I've always had difficulty using authentic materials with beginning
literacy students.  Can you suggest ways to use them without simplifying
them so much that they don't resemble the real thing? 
 
Thanks for all of your work.  I think this will be very useful to the
field. 
-------------------------------
National Institute for Literacy
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