Summary of Online Discussion on Practical Strategies for Working with Literacy-Level Adult English Language Learners

Below is a summary of an electronic discussion that took place on the Adult English Language discussion list on December 10-14, 2007. The discussion list is part of the National Institute for Literacy's Literacy Information and Communication System (LINCS) and is moderated by staff at the Center for Adult English Language Acquisition at the Center for Applied Linguistics.

For information about subscribing to the adult English language discussion list or to read current and past postings, go to www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/Englishlanguage. To read about the guest facilitators for the discussion, click here.

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If you wish to read or reread the individual postings from this discussion you can access them from the National Institute for Literacy’s Web site at www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/Englishlanguage and click on 2007 in the archives section.  From there you can search by date, thread, subject, or author. The official dates of the discussion were December 10-14, 2007, and the posting numbers roughly from 1949-2032.

This discussion was offered in response the many requests for practical, hands on information about working with literacy-level adult English language learners. This discussion was wide-ranging and included such topics as using picture dictionaries and other visuals, the role of phonics and phonemics, and the pros and cons of reading aloud in adult ESL classes.

Several postings described classroom and programmatic responses to mixed-ability or multilevel classes. Some postings focused on the issue of learners with widely differing levels of education and familiarity with school settings working together in the same class. Other postings related to varying proficiencies--within individuals and classes--in the four skills: reading, writing, speaking, and listening. Subscribers also discussed acquisition of vocabulary and the importance of developing a comfortable classroom learning environment. In this discussion approximately 35 individuals shared their expertise, practical applications, resources, questions, and answers.

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MaryAnn Cunningham Florez. MaryAnn Cunningham Florez is Project Director
Adult Education Professional Development Center at DC Learns. Before this, she  was Lead ESL Specialist, Arlington Education and Employment Program (REEP), Arlington, Virginia.   Prior working at  REEP, Ms. Florez  was lead ESL specialist in Fairfax County (VA) adult ESL.  Previously, while she was Assistant Director at the National Center for ESL Literacy Education (NCLE), she moderated the NIFL-ESL list. Ms. Florez  is the author of Lifeprints Literacy (New Readers Press) and  "Beginning ESOL Learners' Advice to Their Teachers" (www.ncsall.net/?id=279). She also is also coauthor of Working With Literacy-Level Adult English Language Learners  (www.cal.org/caela/esl_resources/digests/litQA.html). Ms. Florez  has also had a great deal of experience as a teacher and administrator in a program that served many literacy-level English language learners in a faith-based program in Falls Church, VA. 

Betsy Lindeman Wong  One of BetsyLindeman Wong’s many jobs in adult ESL has been as online facilitator, ESOL Basics, Virginia Adult Learning Resource Center. In this role, Ms. Wong has had experience working very closely with teachers who are new to adult ESL. She  has taught adult ESL in several programs in Northern Virginia--specializing in classes geared for literacy- and beginning-level learners-- and developed EL/Civics, ESOL family literacy, and other curricula for Fairfax County, Virginia and  the state of Virginia (www.aelweb.vcu.edu/publications/famlitcurric/). As lead teacher in an adult ESL program in Alexandria, Ms. Wong has opportunities to mentor teachers who may not be familiar with appropriate strategies, techniques, and resources for working with literacy-level and other adult English language learners.

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Lynda Terrill
Adult English language discussion list moderator
lterrill@cal.org
February 2008